The New Indian Express wishes its readers a HUBBALLI l Monday l January 01, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l CITY EDITION U.S. shoots down two ballistic missiles of Houthis in red sea The US on Sunday said it shot down two antiship ballistic missiles fired towards a container ship by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea Forces foil bid to hijack ship, kill rebels u.s. Navy sinks three boats of insurgents Hours later, four boats tried to attack the same ship, but US forces opened fire, killing several of the armed crews, the US Central Command said. No one was injured on the ship. The Singapore-flagged MAERSK HANZGHOU reported they had already been hit by a missile Saturday night while transiting the Southern Red Sea and requested assistance, the US said ■ ■ The US Navy helicopters sank three of the four boats, killing the crew while the fourth boat fled the area, US Central Command said, and no damage to US personnel or equipment was reported The Iran-backed Houthis claim they are targeting only ships with Israeli links and the aim is to end Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza | P11 FIVE Warships from the U.S., FRANCE, and u.k. are patrolling the red sea 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 Navy on high alert after ship attacks Warships, missile destroyers, and surveillance aircraft deployed in Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi welcome 2024 Hundreds of revellers welcome the New Year on Brigade Road in Bengaluru on Sunday | Shashidhar Byrappa With the dramatic rise in targeted attacks on merchant vessels transiting through international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Central/ North Arabian Sea, the Indian Navy has significantly beefed up its maritime surveillance efforts and augmented force levels. Warships and surveillance aircraft have been deployed in view of the heightened threat perce ption, Indian Navy spokesperson Commander Vive k M a d h w a l s a i d o n Sunday . The development comes after attack on two merchant vessels. MV Ruen was hijacked and currently she is docked off the Somalia coast while While MV Chem Pluto, with 20 Indian crew members, was hit by a drone, MV Ruen was hijacked and taken to the territorial waters of Somalia. “Task groups comprising destroyers and frigates have been deployed to undertake maritime security operations and render assistance to merchant vessels in case of any incident. Aerial surveillance by long-range maritime patrol aircraft and RPAs (remotely piloted aircraft) has been enhanced to have complete maritime domain awareness,” Madhwal said. The deployment into the Arabian Sea includes Navy’s missile destroyers INS Kolkata, INS Kochi, INS Mormugao, INS Chennai, and INS Visakhapatnam. INS Kolkata is deployed on the mouth of the Red Sea; INS Kochi in south of Yemen Socotra Island; INS Mormugao in west Arabian sea; and INS Chennai in Central Arabian sea. INS Visakhapatnam was moved in early this week and was tasked to patrol the north Arabian Sea. The Indian Navy has also deployed Boeing-made Boeing P8I multi-mission aircraft along with long endurance Sea Guardian drone to constantly survey the vessels in Arabian Sea and up to Gulf of Aden to identify suspicious ships. These assets have been pressed in to keep the sea lanes of communication between Bab el-Mandeb to Indian coast safe for merchant shipping and missile attack by taking place in West Asia. Follow the money r a j es h kum a r t h a ku r Several associates of TeH have been chargesheeted by the NIA for raising money to support terror in Kashmir including Geelani’s son in law The Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday declared the ‘Tehreek-e-Hurriyat’ (TeH), Jammu and Kashmir, as “unlawful association” for the next five years with immediate effect, saying it was involved in activities to separate J&K from India and to establish Islamic rule. “The outfit has been found spreading anti-India propaganda and continuing terror activi- ties to fuel and fan secessionism in J &K,” Home Minister Amit Shah said. The government has adopted zero tolerance policy against terrorism, any individual or organisation involved in anti-India activities and agendas, he added. Three days ago, the Centre declared a faction led by Masarat Alam, ‘unlawful association’ for the next five years. TeH was founded by the late separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani in 2004. Many criminal cas- express read ISRO’s polarimetry mission launch today Bengaluru: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is geared up to launch India’s first dedicated polarimetry mission to study black holes and neutron stars on Monday. The countdown for XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite) began at the SDSCSHAR, Sriharikota, on Sunday | P7 Pratap Simha’s bro gets bail in tree-felling case Hassan: Vikram Simha, brother of Kodagu-Mysuru MP Pratap Simha, was granted bail by the Belur JMFC on Sunday, in a case of alleged felling of 125 trees on revenue land in Belur taluk of Hassan district recently. After getting bail, he said his arrest is politically motivated | P4 Gifts from Sita’s birthplace to reach Ayodhya on Jan 6 Panagariya appointed MHA declares Tehreek-e-Hurriyat ‘unlawful assn’ Yes h i se l i @ New Delhi Days before the consecration of the Ram Temple on January 22, a 500-member procession, carrying 1,100 bhars (baskets) of items meant as wedding gifts for Lord Ram will reach Ayodhya from Janakpur, Nepal, the birthplace of his bride Sita. The procession will start from Janaki Mandir in Janakpur on January 4 and is expected to reach Ayodhya two days later on January 6. “The bhars will contain lots of wedding gifts including jewellery, gold and silver items, dry fruits, utensils, garments, cosmetics and quintals of food grains like rice – all of which we traditionally give as gifts to a bride when she gets married and goes to live with her groom. Since Sita was from Janakpur, we will carry all this to Ayodhya as an offering to Lord Rama on January 6, which be ahead of the consecration of Ram Temple on January 22,” Lalit Class 8 girl’s project helps save stream E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ Madikeri An honest effort from an eighth grade girl of the government school at Kodagarahalli of Suntikoppa in Kodagu district has helped preserve a local stream. The work for her science project has now earned the respect of the district administration and district police, who have ordered that CCTV cameras be installed to p r e ve n t dumping of waste near the stream. Shreesha AS, daughter of Suntikoppa residents Shiju and Sandhya, is a student of the Kodagarahalli Suntikoppa Nadu Government High School. She was nominated to represent the school at the 31st National Children’s Science Convention, where she won the ‘Young Scientist’ recognition for her presentation -- ‘Pollution across river banks’. While a majority of science projects are done using the internet, Shreesha went a step ahead, and did a real world project. With the help from her father, she visited the stream near her locality to collect inputs for her project. She surveyed the Haraduru stream, collected details about its importance to the locality She recorded . sound bytes from local residents and learnt that the stream has been the lifeline of the locality for ages. P7 Shah, a member of the Janakpurdhamash Ayodhyadham Bhar Yatra, a committee which is organising the visit told this newspaper. The local authorities in Ayodhya have made arrangements to accommodate 251 people who are part of the procession. Arrangements are being made by the organising committee to accommodate the rest at various private facilities. The distance between Janakpur and Ayodhya is 458 km. “We will begin our journey from Janaki Mandir, and then, via Jaleshwar, reach Birganj where we will rest for the night. Around 30 cars and five buses will be a part of the procession that will carry these gifts. On January 5, we will enter India via Raxaul and have lunch at Betia. Then via Gorakpur and Bastipur we will reach Ayodhya,’’ said Shah. At 8 am on January 6, the delegation will hand over the 1,100 bhars to the trustees of Rama Lala Mandir. finance panel chief E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi former vice-chairman of Niti Aayog Arvind Panagariya was on Sunday appointed the chairman of 16th Finance Commission. Panagariya was the first vice-chairman of the government’s policy think-tank and held the position from January 2015 to August 2017, when he resigned. As a chairman of the finance commission, Panagariya will have the difficult task of formulating a revenue-sharing model amid the growing chasm between the northern and the southern states, which have been complaining of getting very little from the Centre’s divisible tax pool due to the poor performance of northern states like Bihar. Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey, joint secretary in the Union finance ministry has been appointed , secretary to the Commission. The other members will be notified separately . The Finance Commission is expected to present its comprehensive report by October 31, 2025, covering a period of five years commencing from April 1, 2026. @ New Delhi es have been registered against TeH for its of anti-India messaging and its efforts to sustain terrorism, Shah said. MHA, in a notification, highlighted the group’s involvement in raising funds from various sources including Pakistan to sustain terrorist acts and orchestrating stone-pelting against security forces. The MHA has pointed out the outfit’s disregard for constitutional authority by its repeated calls to boycott elections.