BENGALURU  TUESDAY  JANUARY 17, 2023  `9.00  PAGES 20  LATE CITY EDITION WOMEN'S IPL GETS RICH, `951 CRORE FOR FIVE YEARS THE BIG LEAGUE GENERATES MORE INTEREST In a landmark deal for women’s cricket, Viacom18 bags WIPL global rights during a closed-bid auction on Monday The Indian cricket board feels WIPL is headed towards the right direction. With 22 matches per year for the first three seasons and a possibility of increasing it to 33/34 games for 2026-27 seasons, Viacom18 will be paying around B7.09 crore per match till 2027. Unlike the men's IPL, the bid was for all three categories — linear (TV), digital and combined (TV and digital) | P15 FIRST EDITION, MORE ENTHUSIASM To put into context, Disney Star paid `2.5 crore per match in the Women’s T20 Challenge There will be five teams this time. All matches in Mumbai When men’s IPL began in 2008, the first 10-yr deal was `12.73 crore per match (B8,200 crore for 644 games) `23,758 cr VIACOM18'S MEN’S IPL DIGITAL (ONLY) RIGHTS FOR FIVE YEARS CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Must win all state polls in ’23: Nadda Cong: `2K/m for woman family heads if elected BJP president sets big target for the party THE Congress party on Monday promised Rs 2,000 per month as financial aid to woman heads and unemployed housewives of every household if the party is voted to power in Karnataka in the Assembly polls due in April/May this year. Last week the party had announced 200 units of free electricity to all households in the state if voted to power in the state. AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra unveiled the Gruhalakshmi Yo- will address the gathering on @ New Delhi Tuesday outlining the party’s strategy for the future. SOUNDING the poll bugle for Briefing reporters on Nadda’s the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, closed-door address, BJP leader BJP president J P Nadda said Ravi Shankar Prasad said the on Monday that the party wants party president highlighted Into win all the nine state elec- dia’s performance and growing tions slated to be held global acceptance unin 2023 before the bigder Modi’s leadership. Call on ger battle next year. “India has become the Nadda’s Tripura, Meghalaya, world’s fifth-largest extension Nagaland, Karnataka, economy and the sectoday Chhattisgarh, Madhya ond-largest manufacThe national Pradesh, Mizoram, Raturer of smart phones. executive jasthan and Telangana About 95% of mobile are slated to go to polls meeting is likely phones used in the to take a call on country are now made this year. Tuesday on “Our josh (enthusiin India,” Prasad quotextending asm) is high under the ed Nadda as saying. Nadda’s tenure leadership of Prime L a u d i n g I n d i a ’s till the LS Minister Narendra progress under Modi, Modi. We have to fight elections are over Nadda highlighted and win the Assembly that the country is the elections in all the states in third-largest manufacturer in 2023,” Nadda said on the first the auto sector while the highday of the party’s two-day na- way being built every day has tional executive meeting here, risen to 37 km from 12 km dururging party members to work ing the UPA regime. hard for the crucial polls. Ahead of the national counModi, Union ministers in- cil meet, the BJP held a grand cluding Amit Shah, chief min- road show led by PM Modi in isters of BJP-ruled states and Delhi with enthused party other senior party leaders at- workers and supporters hitting tended the key meeting. Modi the roads to greet Modi. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra participates in the Congress’ ‘Naa Nayaki’ convention at Palace Grounds in Bengaluru on Monday | SHASHIDHAR BYRAPPA PRESS INTAKE Bengaluru’s first evening post office opens doors | P2 ‘Santro’ Ravi case to be probed by CID, says Araga | P4 Ahead of polls, Siddu becomes BJP’s target No. 1 | P4 Gadkari threat call: No phone found in Hindalga prison | P5 Govt misread NJAC verdict: Advocate Vikas Singh | P9 jana scheme at the party’s ‘Naa Nayaki’ (I am a leader) rally in Bengaluru on Monday . The party said the scheme will benefit over 1.5 crore women and the amount will directly be credited to the accounts of the woman heads of families. Priyanka, who came down heavily on the Central government over price rise and unemployment, said the Gruhalakshmi scheme will help women run their households by overcoming the burden of price rise and increase in LPG prices. CONTINUED ON: P4 This vax can prevent lumpy skin disease B A L A C H A U H A N @ Bengaluru THE dreaded lumpy skin disease (LSD), which has killed more than two lakh cattle in India since 2020, can now be completely prevented by a new homologous vaccine developed indigenously by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnag ar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh and National Research Centre on Equines (NRCE), Hisar, Haryana. Dr BR Gulati, Director, National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (NIVEDI), told The New Indian Express, that the homologous vaccine, which uses the same virus which causes the LSD “will provide 100 per cent protection against the virus. Two veterinary vaccine makers — Biovet Pvt Ltd, Malur, Karnataka and Hester Biosciences Ltd, Ahmedabad, Gujarat — have signed a commercial agreement for manufacture and supply of the vac- cine. Biovet has submitted the test batches of the vaccine to IVRI for testing. The vaccine will be out in the market once approved.” The LSD virus is a pox virus that belongs to the same genus as sheep pox and goat pox viruses. Presently, the goat pox vaccine is being given to cattle as prevention against LSD. “Goat pox is a heterologous vaccine. It provides 70 to 80 per cent protection against the disease,” P5 said Gulati. Contractor: BJP MLA took `90L to clear bills EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru THE Karnataka State Contractors’ Association (KSCA) on Monday accused a BJP MLA of taking kickbacks to clear bills. The association released an audio clip which purportedly carries a conversation between its working president and the ruling party legislator. KSCA president R Manjunath alleged that in the last three years, he had paid Rs 90 lakh to Chitradurga BJP MLA GH Thippareddy to get bills of building construction works cleared. “I have proof and I will file a case with the Lokayukta,” Manjunath said. The audio clip was released during a press meet attended by the association state president D Kempanna. The BJP MLA rubbished the allegations and warned of initiating action against the contractor. The fresh allegation from the association, which had earlier written to the Prime Minister demanding a probe into alleged kickbacks to the tune of 40 per cent, is likely to embarrass the government in the run-up to the polls. Manjunath claimed that he has several audio clips, WhatsApp messages and a letter he P4 had written to the MLA.