The New Indian Express wishes its readers a Our offices and press will remain closed today and there will be no issue of the paper on Friday sambalpur l thursday l january 26, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l city EDITION Pay day, pay day: Women’s Premier League gets big The Indian cricket board (BCCI) announced on Wednesday that five WPL teams were sold for `4,669.99 crore Adani bid of `1,289 crore is the highest Board gets richer by `5,650.99 crore Having missed out on a chance to buy a men’s team, the Adani Group made the highest bid of `1,289 crore in the auction to secure Ahmedabad as one of the five franchises. Others include Mumbai Indians (`912.99 crore), Delhi Capitals (`810 crore) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (`901 crore). Capri Global (`757 crore) will be based out of Lucknow ■ ■ ■ After adding media rights value — sold for `951 crore — the BCCI has made `5,650.99 crore even before a ball is bowled at the WPL The average cost of a team — `933.99 crore — is 10 times more than the cost of what WNBA teams were sold for A total of 22 games will be played in the inaugural season `447.60cr Was Mumbai Indians’ bid in 2008. It’s `842 cr less than Adani’s buy 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 Biggest of Padmas to Mulayam, S M Krishna BBC documentary E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ New Delhi FORMER Uttar Pradesh chief minister late Mulayam Singh Yadav, ex-foreign minister in the UPA government S M Krishna, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and ORS pioneer Dilip Mahalanabis were among the luminaries selected for the country’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan. A total of 106 Padma awards were announced on Wednesday — six Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan and 91 Padma Shri. No one has been named for padma vibushan padma bushan padma shri Four from odisha Puppeteer Maguni Kuanr, writer and researcher Antaryami Mishra, agriculturist as well as traditional healer Patayat Sahu and singer of the iconic ‘Rangabati” Krishna Patel will receive the Padma Shri award. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan congratulated the awardees | P2 the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award. Eminent architect B V Doshi (posthumous), industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, educationist and social worker Sudha Murty, actress Raveena Ravi Tandon and noted singers Vani Jairam and Suman Kalyanpur were also on the list. Among the awardees are 102-year-old Mangala Kanti Roy the oldest living folk musi, cian of West Bengal, and expert snake catchers Vadivel Gopal and Masi Sadaiyan. Dr Ratan Chandra Kar was recognised for his exemplary Snide Pompeo remark on Sushma rapped Ye s h i Se l i @ New Delhi External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday took offence to former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s condescending remarks about his predecessor Sushma Swaraj, in his book titled Never Give an inch: Fighting for the America I love. Pompeo said he never considered Swaraj as an “important political player”, while describing her as a “goofball’’ and “heartland political hack’’. His book was in the news as he claimed that India and Pakistan were “this close” to a nuclear war after the Pulwama attack in 2019. Jaishankar hit back, saying, “I have seen a passage in Secretary Pompeo’s book referring to Sushma Swaraj ji. I always held her in great esteem and had an exceptionally close and war m relationship with her. I deplore the disrespectful colloquialism used for her.” In contrast, Pompeo had good things to say about Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval. “On the Indian side, my original counterpart was not an important player on the Indian foreign policy team. In- stead, I worked much more closely with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a close and trusted confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” Expressing his fondness for ‘J’ which stands for Jaishankar, he wrote, “my second Indian counterpart was Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. In May 2019, we welcomed “J” as India’s new foreign minister. I could not have asked for a better counterpart. I love this guy English is . one of the seven languages he speaks, and his is somewhat better than mine.” work that brought Jarawa tribe from the verge of extinction during the measles epidemic in 1999 while 99-year-old V P Appukuttan Poduval, a freedom fighter from Payyanur in Kerala was honoured for his relentless efforts for the upliftment of the weaker sections of society for the past eight decades. Also among the Padma awardees is 81-year-old Ghulam Muhammad Zaz, the 8th generation Santoor craftsman from a family based out of Srinagar that is known for making the finest Santoors in Kashmir for the past 200 years. express read Most sectors of economy have recovered from Covid: Prez Murmu New Delhi: India has become the 5th largest economy in the world, thanks to timely and proactive interventions from the government amid uncertainties persisted around the world, President Droupadi Murmu said in her maiden address to the nation on the eve of 74th Republic Day. She lauded the country’s efforts to come out from the downturn brought by the pandemic. “Guided by our able leadership and driven by our resilience, we soon came out of the downturn and resumed the growth saga,” she said | P9 row snowballs Jamia Milia Islamia thwarts students’ bid to show the film; Bengal univs plan screening ing of the documentary adding , that no permission has been A day after the Jawaharlal Ne- given for it. It also warned the hru University, University of students of strict disciplinary Hyderabad and a few campuses action if they fail to adhere to in Kerala screened the contro- the directives. versial BBC film on the 2002 Throughout the day, there Godhra riots, Left-afiliated stu- was heavy deployment of podent groups of Delhi’s Jamia lice in and around the univerMilia Islamia tried to show the sity area. The police blocked film but the adminisaround 1 km stretch of tration and police AK Antony’s the road from both thwarted the move. sides using anti-riot son quits Hours before the party posts vehicles and buses. scheduled screening, Po l i c e h a d a l s o Congress veteran Delhi Police detained placed water cannons A K Antony’s son over a dozen students. in front of the varsity Anil quit all party Deputy Commissioner gate to disperse protesposts citing of Police (southeast) ‘intolerant calls’ tors in case of any Esha Pandey said the and ‘abuses’ from ruckus, but it was not Jamia University ad- partymen over his used as the protest was ministration had in- tweet against the tackled immediately . for med police that BBC documentary Meanwhile, SFI said some students were it will screen the docucreating ruckus on the mentary at Kolkata’s streets following which 13 stu- Presidency University on Janudents were detained, four of ary 27 at an open air field. A them SFI members, around 4 separate group of students said pm to ensure peace in the they will screen the documenarea. tary on February 1 at the unverThe action came after the sity A similar event will be or. university administration had g anised at the Jadavpur asked students not to partici- University by the All India Stupate in any gathering or screen- dents’ Association. UJ WAL JALALI @ New Delhi Sania gets final call Playing her last Grand Slam tournament, Sania Mirza has a chance to win her seventh major title by reaching the Australian Open mixed doubles final with compatriot Rohan Bopanna on Wednesday The unseeded Indian pair knocked out third seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 10-6 in the semifinal in one hour 52 minutes “I’m not a crier but I’m almost there right now, I feel the love for the last 18 years I have been coming here. It feels like home for me,” Sania said Sania-Bopanna will meet Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos of Brazil, who beat Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans 4-6, 6-4, 11-9