BHUBANESWAR  FRIDAY  DECEMBER 27, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE CITY EDITION CHINA TO BUILD WORLD’S LARGEST DAM CLOSE TO INDIAN BORDER China on Thursday approved the construction of the world’s largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to its border with India $137 BILLION PROJECT AT HIMALAYAN GORGE WORRY OVER CHINA FLOODING NORTHEAST Costing $137 billion, it is set to be the world’s biggest infra project till date. The dam is to be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh. Construction poses huge challenges as the project site is located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes regularly occur ■ ■ An official statement on Wednesday sought to allay concerns about earthquakes, saying “a solid foundation has been laid for the sciencebased, secure, and high-quality development” of the project There are worries in India, given the massive size of the dam, that China could weaponise it and flood areas in the northeast during war 300 bn kWh OF POWER TO BE GENERATED EACH YEAR, ENOUGH FOR ANNUAL NEEDS 30 CR HOUSES 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 ARCHITECT OF INDIA OF OUR TIMES I hope history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media Manmohan Singh on January 3, 2014 at the fag end of his tenure as PM INDIA WIDE AWAKE “India is now wide awake. We shall prevail. We shall overcome,” Manmohan Singh said in his maiden speech in Parliament on July 24, 1991 DAYS after the BJD reached out to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking clarification over the ‘glaring and unusual discrepancies’ in the voting and counting numbers in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, party supremo and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said he was in favour of going back to paper ballot. Speaking to mediapersons during the 28th foundation day celebrations of BJD here, Naveen said the complaint filed by the BJD on huge variations in the polling percentage as well as vote numbers should be examined carefully and the ECI should come up with an explanation. Coming down heavily on the BJP for reacting to the complaint, he said “I do not know why the BJP is getting so riled by it. Nobody has accused them of anything yet. It seems to be an example of one person claiming to be innocent even as he is not accused of committing any wrong,” he said. Alluding to irregularities in EVM-based elections, the BJD supremo for the first time joined voice with several Opposition parties and said his party was also in favour of holding polls through paper ballot. He also supported the Opposition protest against the remarks of Union Home minister Amit Shah on BR Ambedkar and termed it very unfortunate. “I think the Union MELBOURNE TEST KOHLI SHOULDER BUMPS KONSTAS, ICC PENALISES G O M E S H S @ Melbourne WHAT is India versus Australia match without a dash of controversy and pinch of heated exchanges. What makes this even more riveting are the two protagonists involved. One a teenager on debut and the other a veteran of 121 Tests and at 36, is almost double the former’s age. Sam Konstas and Virat Kohli. The two cricketing figures of contrasting fame clashed on the field. In short, there were two headlines on Day One here — Konstas’s fiery knock (60 off 65 balls) and his shoulder episode with Kohli after 10th over. Konstas was on fire, hitting the almost-invincible Jasprit Bumrah, including a sux, in the most unc o nve n - E CONOMICAL with his words, but gentle in his phrasing, the conversations he struck up were with the times. And he persuaded the times to change. That was Dr Manmohan Singh, the self-effacing savant who rose to perform two big roles for an India in transition — that of prime minister and finance minister. In both roles, he is likely to win a contest with history for having been the most clean of spirit and genuinely courteous, the most LAST RITES WILL BE CONDUCTED WITH FULL STATE HONOURS knowledgeable and, arguably, the most transformational. Perhaps only India’s first prime minister could run him close. If Jawaharlal Nehru was the founder-statesman of independent India, the guardian spirit of our formative decades, it was Manmohan who fathered the India we see around us today Its architect, its engineer, . its reticent philosopher. When another gnomic prime minister, Narasimha Rao, picked a safari suit-clad former Reserve Bank of India governor as his second choice finance minister in 1991, it was in a country not yet out of a long famine of new ideas and fresh energy also one wracked , by a decade of militancy, riots and assassinations. Everyone associates Manmohan Singh’s FM years for the way he clanged open the shutters of the Indian economy the , wholesale shift to the so-called Washington Consensus. That became grist for interminable debates — eliciting hurrahs, protectionist fears from local industry and trenchant socialist critique all at once. It didn’t register much in that moment how the unleashing of India’s free market “animal spirits”, to use one of his favourite phrases, helped sublimate animal spirits of the other kind. New cities came up, new landscapes of desire, malls, television channels, affordable flights, mint-fresh IT industries, the telecom boom, the Internet, global cuisine on the local thali — in fact, everything we now know India to be experientially. We perhaps didn’t then realise how much all of that healed us from other traumas of the past. That silent therapeutic effect scaled up to another level during Manmohan’s decade-long incumbency at 7 Race Course Road. Instant historians often saw only the ‘notional losses’, while the long-range lens captures some of India’s best growth years, qualitatively deepened with humane reform. But that was not all. Did India really have a prime minister from a minority community for a whole decade — and nobody didn’t even much notice? Yes, till just the other day . That’s the kind of conversation Manmohan Singh had with history the future and the , present, in his quiet monotone. P7 That will not die away . tional style in Tests, especially by an opener. The two were seen engageming in verbal altercation after Kohli seemed to have nudged the youngster on his shoulder while walking to the other end. Later, the match referee fined Kohli 20 per cent of match fee after hearing. “Kohli was found to have breached Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct... which relates to ‘inappropriate physical contact with a Player...’,” the ICC stated. Though former players criticsed Kohli, Konstas later said, “I was just doing my gloves and I think he accidentally bumped me. I think that’s just cricket and can happen with tension. I think the emotions got to both of us.” P11 Home minister’s remark on such an illustrious figure as Dr BR Ambedkar is very unfortunate,” the former chief minister said. He, however, said the BJD is yet to take stand on ‘one nation one election’ as it is still examining the issue. Replying to a question on his successor, Naveen said, he has not given a thought to it. “Well, I am here for a long time. I have not thought about this,” he said. He also refuted questions on the future of the BJD and said the regional outfit was still very strong and had a bright future. The popularity of the party has not diminished as is evident from the fact that the BJD got more votes than the BJP in the 2024 elections, he CONTINUED ON P5 said. EXPRESS READ Govt to start Krushak ID registration from Jan 1 Bhubaneswar: In a move to digitise the agriculture sector, the government is all set to start farmers registration across the state from January 1. The farmers will be provided a unique digital identity similar to Aadhaar. To be known as Krushak Parichaya Patra (Farmer ID), it will be an Aadhaarlinked unique digital identity that is connected dynamically to the land records of the state, livestock ownership, crops sown, and benefits availed under different schemes | P3 We interacted regularly when he was PM and I was the CM of Gujarat... His wisdom and humility were always visible He led India with immense wisdom and integrity. His humility and understanding of economics inspired the nation Droupadi Murmu, President Naveen asks ECI to probe discrepancies in EVMs, supports paper ballot elections @ Bhubaneswar EDITOR SEVEN-DAY NATIONAL MOURNING EXPECTED TO BE OBSERVED He will always be remembered for his service to the nation, his unblemished political life and his utmost humility 26 SEP 1932 - 26 DEC 2024 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE SANTWANA BHATTACHARYA PASSES AWAY AT 92 FOLLOWING AGE RELATED MEDICAL ISSUES. DECLARED DEAD AT 9.51 PM Narendra Modi, prime minister Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader CWC flags attacks on Constitution Party pushback against barb on distorted map EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Belagavi Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with Rahul Gandhi and others during the Congress Working Committee meeting to mark the 100th anniversary of its Belgaum session presided over by Mahatma Gandhi, in Belagavi, on Thursday | NAGARAJA GADEKAL NAUSHAD BIJAPUR & SUBHASH C H A N D R A N S @ Belagavi THE extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) at Belagavi on Thursday sealed its commitment to revamp the party organisation in the coming months and fight “antiConstitutional” sentiments taking sway across India. The CWC resolved to commit to protecting the Indian Constitution and the ideals of the Independence Movement. It also planned to launch the “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan Abhiyan”, beginning with a rally in Belagavi on Friday and culminating in a rally at Mhow on January 26, 2025. However, in view of former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s death, Friday’s programme was cancelled. KPCC president D K Shivakumar held an emergency press meet, and said a meeting would be held at 10.30 am in Belgavi on Friday to mourn Singh’s demise. SAMVIDHAN BACHAO PADAYATRA The Congress said it will launch a year-long public outreach from January 26, 2025 called the Samvidhan Bachao Rashtriya Padayatra in which all leaders will participate Earlier in the day, it was decided to hold rallies and marches in every block, district, and state as well. The CWC met on Thursday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s historic taking over of the Presidency of Indian National Congress at its 39th Session in 1924. It expressed concerns over alleged state-sponsored increase in communal and ethnic hatred, particularly targeted against minority communities. Manipur, which has been on the boil since May 2023, continues to be met with indifference by the prime minister and his government, it said. Communal tension, it alleged, has been stoked in Sambhal and other places for the RSS-BJP’s political gain. The Places of Worship Act to which the Congress is firmly committed in letter and spirit has also come under needless and reckless debate, the CWC opined. The CWC also condemned the manner in which peaceful protests by Congress were dealt with by the governments in BJP-ruled states. A number of Congress workers lost their lives, which it said is unacceptable. The meeting demanded a socio-economic caste census be conducted at the earliest. The 50% ceiling on quota for SC, ST, and OBC must be increased to enhance the benefits to these disadvantaged groups. Reservations must be on the basis of social, economic, or educational backwardness determined through appropriate means, the CWC said. CONGRESS leaders on Thursday downplayed the controversy over party posters with “distorted” India map put up here for the centenary celebrations of the 1924 Congress session and said BJP was needlessly spreading false information. Reacting to BJP’s allegations that some posters had the distorted map, Congress leader Priyank Kharge said they were put up by some private companies. Those posters have already been removed. BJP is making baseless allegations in this regard, he added. Reacting to BJP leader Amit Malviya’s social media post on the alleged distorted map, KPCC president D K Shivakumar said those posters have been removed. The party has taken measures to hold the event successfully and meaningfully . BJP and JDS stated that the map did not have the Gilgit region of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir as well as the Aksai Chin region now under China, which are integral parts of Jammu and Kashmir. “Amit Malviya’s job is to spread fake news. Look at the cases filed against him,” said Priyank Kharge. 1 farmer dies by suicide, another of shock over crop damage EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Kendrapara/Berhampur WIDESPREAD damage to standing crops by the unseasonal rains has claimed lives of two farmers across the state which is in the midst of kharif paddy procurement. A sharecropper ended his life in Ganjam while another farmer died of shock in Kendrapara after watching his paddy harvest destroyed by the showers. Both the incidents were reported on Wednesday . In Ganjam’s Chatrapur block, a 64-year-old farmer of Barang village under Badamadhapur panchayat allegedly died by suicide over the crop loss. The farmer, Banamali Penthei had raised paddy over five acres of land on a sharecropping basis but saw his hard work washed away by the relentless rains. A father of three daughters and a son, Banamali had borrowed around 2 lakh from pri- vate lenders for the cultivation. On the morning of the incident, he visited his farmland to find the paddy fields submerged in water. Distraught, he returned home and took his life by hanging himself in the bathroom outside of his house. His sister, Apasara recounted that Banamali had been deeply worried about repaying his loans. Ganjam Collector, Dibya Jyoti Parida confirmed the farmer’s death but stated that authori- ties are probing the exact reason behind the suicide. Chatrapur police reached the spot, sent the body for postmortem and initiated an investigation. Ganjam has been reeling under continued rains, leading to extensive crop damage. Meanwhile, in Kendrapara, 52-year-old Gourahari Mallick died of cardiac arrest. A resident of Santhapur village under Derabishi block, he was rushed to the district headquar- ters hospital where doctors declared him dead. Ramakant Mallick, a local, said Gourahari had raised paddy crops on over three acre land after obtaining `60,000 loan from Santhapura PACS and `50,000 more from a bank to purchase paddy seeds and fertilisers. “But the unseasonal rains shattered his hopes of a good harvest,” he added. Gourahari is survived by a family of CONTINUED ON P5 five.