belagavi l thursday l november 06, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION Pant checks in, shami ignored for tests against South Africa Rishabh Pant made comeback into India’s Test squad for two-match series against SA. However, Mohammed Shami has been ignored once again Rishabh Pant Delhi keeper-batter passes fitness test akash deep in, prasidh krishna out India’s wicketkeeper batter Pant was an automatic choice after recovering from a foot fracture sustained during the fourth Test against England in Manchester in July. He missed the West Indies series but led India A team against South Africa A. Shami, who has had a creditable Ranji campaign as of now, has been overlooked again ■ ■ Pacer Akash Deep Singh recovered from shoulder injury and has been picked but Prasidh Krishna’s name has been dropped India’s pace attack features Jasprit Bumrah and Mohd Siraj while the spin will be led by veteran Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and all-rounder Washington Sundar. Shubman Gill is captain | P13 Two India will play two tests against SA in Kolkata, GUwahatI 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 Americans of Indian origin make major political gains Mamdani first Indian-American and Muslim to be elected New York mayor Ghazala Hashmi Security personnel carrying election materials ahead of the first phase of Bihar polls, in Muzaffarpur on Wednesday | PTI Stillness of the discerning in Bihar B ihar has never been short of noise. Certainly not when it mattered. Its politics has marched through history with a daring swagger — JP’s call that shook New Delhi, Mandal’s churn that redrafted power, the long years of Lalu raj that jolted the old order. Even the subtler Nitish era made bold strokes on the canvas, turning India’s polity yet again with the caste census narrative and grand alliance politics. Yet this election arrives on soft feet. On November 5, the campaign for the first stretch of 121 constituencies is winding down, and the battle for the remaining 122 — those border districts where sentiment often travels across rivers and frontiers — will begin soon. And through it all, there hangs a curious quiet. Whether in Nitish Kumar’s native Bakhtiyarpur, or hamlets like Gauspur and Chitapur fringing Patna, whether in Dalit ‘tolas’ where caste is still geo-tagged or along the mobile 100-km sweep to Gaya on NH-22, out in villages like Barachati and Tekari near where a legend named Dashrath Manjhi once moved mountains, the stillness is audible. Even in places like Mokama where bullets flew the other day or Barh, , which saw fisticuffs after this writer left, the action is all on one slim band where politics does its business. The people santwana seem unmoved. Almost cold. bhattacharya This is not indifference. It is Editor an extended pause — a thinking state, perhaps it’s the hush of crores of people thinking harder. The old Bihar election grammar is still here: the woven caste alliances, the search for the right symbol atop the right community the deft stitch, ing of booth workers and social equations. But listen closely, and the dialogues are shifting pitch. It is no longer enough to promise representation; people want opportunity Bihar’s young . — impatient, painfully aware of the ticket-to-life stamped “migration” that’s been their lot for years, and now uniformly literate about the ways of the world beyond their panchayat WhatsApp group — are asking sharper questions. Identity of the other sort has not dissolved; only its fabric has thinned in the face of this new common identity, an identity of experience. Numbers are never incidental here. OBCs and EBCs together form roughly two-thirds of Bihar — a demographic truth that still underwrites strategy Yadavs remain the single biggest OBC . bloc, Kurmis and Kushwahas count in pockets where one village’s mood can bend a seat, Dalits and Mahadalits together hold a weight politicians can never ignore, and the elite castes — though numerically modest — continue to influence candidate choice and the political discourse, particularly in the plains.  Continued on: P10 Aftab Pureval Indian roots Ghazala Hashmi, L-G-elect Virginia was born in Hyderabad. Aftab Pureval is the son of a Punjabi father and a Tibetan mother In an extraordinary moment for diversity in American politics, three Indian-origin Americans carved history across key states signalling a possible new era in the United States. Zohran Mamdani became the first Indian-American and Muslim to be elected Mayor of New York City, Ghazala Hashmi was chosen as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and Aftab Pureval secured a second term as Mayor of Cincinnati. Together, their victories mark a milestone in the growing political influence of South Asian Americans. At just 34, Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s stunning win has made him New York City’s youngest mayor in over a 100 years and the first of Indian heritage to hold the post. Running as a Democratic Socialist, Mamdani triumphed over two formidable opponents, former governor Andrew Cuomo, contesting as an independent with the backing of President Donald Trump, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. With 83% of votes counted, Mamdani secured Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (2nd from right), with wife Rama Duwaji (2nd from left), father Mahmood Mamdani and mother Mira Nair in New York on Tuesday | AP 948,202 votes (50.6%), while Cuomo managed 776,547 (41.3%). The city saw a record turnout of nearly two million votes, the highest since 1969. Born in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York at the age of seven. His mother, acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, and father, Columbia University scholar Mahmood Mamdani, have long been symbols of cultural and intellectual achievement. In his victory speech, Mam- dani called his win a “mandate for change,” thanking his parents and wife, Syrian-American artist Rama Duwaji. His campaign, which resonated with young and workingclass voters, centered on reducing living costs, expanding housing, and improving public transport—a continuation of his progressive record as a Queens assemblyman, where he introduced a pilot programme for free city buses.  Continued on: P11 express read Nandini ghee price up by `90/kg National pride Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets the victorious ICC Women’s World Cup team in New Delhi on Wednesday | PTI Govt depts to get funds only after uploading project details to portal A s h w i n i M S r i pa d @ Bengaluru With various government departments failing to upload details regarding tenders awarded and works being implemented to the Karnataka Public Procurement Portal (KPPP), Finance Secretary (Budget and Allocation) PC Jaffer has said that funds will be released only if uploading is completed. Of the 36,706 tendered works, details of only 505 have been uploaded. In 2023, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched the portal and introduced a contract management module to track projects worth Rs 50 lakh and above being implemented across the state. This was introduced in the Public Works, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and Water Resources de- partments, and in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on a pilot basis. In July 2024, a notification was issued by the Finance Department to upload details right from inviting tenders to clearance of bills. In the previous system, there was no mechanism to monitor work on the projects. Sources said officials had to spend a lot of time checking papers related to various projects and bills for the works implemented. Later, the bills and papers related to development projects had to be submitted to the auditor general. “We have made it online. One need not carry papers now. It will help officials to know the financial status and physical progress of the project under implementation,” the sources said.  P4 Our intention is not to delay, but bring in transparency. Contractors are not against this, but they are seeking time Official @ Mangaluru A groundbreaking genomic study led by researchers from Mangalore University and Yenepoya (Deemed-to-be University) has identified a distinct ancestral source in the Koraga tribe that may date back to the Indus Valley Civilisation. The findings, published in the European Journal of Human Genetics (EJHG), propose the existence of a fourth ancestral component-the ‘Proto-Dra- vidian’ ancestry-thereby refining the current understanding of the genetic structure of the Indian subcontinent. Until now, genetic models of Indian ancestry have generally recognised three major ancestral sources: Iranian plateau farmer-related, Pontic-Caspian steppe pastoralistrelated, and Andamanese hunter-gatherer-related. However, the new study led by Dr M S Mustak and Dr Rana- jit Das suggests this framework may be oversimplified. Their analysis reveals evidence for a fourth genetic stream that appears to have diverged around 4,400 years ago in the region between the Iranian plateau and the Indus Valley coinciding , with the time-depth of the Indus Valley Civilisation. The study proposes that this Proto-Dravidian ancestry represents a unique lineage distinct from previously recognised sources. According to the authors, this genetic component forms a bridge between ancient Middle Eastern populations and early inhabitants of South Asia, supporting the hypothesis of a Dravidian heartland that predated the arrival of Indo-European languages. The research team, which includes noted linguist Prof George Van Driem of the University of Bern, demonstrates a correlation between linguistic and genetic lineages within Dravidian-speaking communities. P7 Genetic variants The analysis identified multiple genetic variants linked to LoeysDietz Syndrome and other disorders SSLC, II PU timetable announced Bengaluru: Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) has announced a steep hike in the price of Nandini ghee by Rs 90 per kilo, and butter rates by Rs 26 per kilo. Nandini ghee, which was sold at Rs 610 per kilo, will now cost Rs 700, and butter sold at Rs 544 would now cost Rs 570. The rates came into effect on Wednesday. Meanwhile, speculation is rife that Nandini milk rates would also go up. Study traces Koraga tribe ancestry to Indus Valley era E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e “We have crystal-clear proof that 25 lakh voters in Haryana Leader of Opposition Rahul are fake, that they either don’t Gandhi on Wednesday accused exist, are duplicates, or were the Election Commission of designed in a way that allows India of colluding with the anybody to vote. One in eight BJP to ‘steal’ the 2024 Haryana voters in Haryana is fake, elections in the saffron party’s that’s 12.5%,” he said. favour and claimed To substantiate the same sinister his claim, he cited plan will be used in the example of a Bihar to ensure the woman who apBJP’s victory . peared 223 times on Addressing a the voter list. He press conference at also showed the the AICC headphoto of another quarters here on woman, which he We d n e s d ay, t h e SIR: Integrity of claimed was a BraCongress leader alzilian, saying it appoll main issue leged that 25 lakh peared 22 times unOn INDIA bloc’s votes were ‘stolen’ der different names strategy to protest in Haryana through in 10 booths. 5.21 lakh duplicate against SIR, Rahul said “This is proof of the “integrity of the votes, 93,174 invalid a centralised operaelection” is the addresses, and 19.26 tion. What is a Brafundamental issue lakh bulk voters. zilian person doing Haryana has a total on the voters’ list of two crore voters. in Haryana?” he asked. “I am confident that after the Responding to the allegaBihar poll, we will make a pres- tions, Election Commission ofentation that the same thing ficials said the vote manipulahappened in Bihar,” he said, tion charge is unfounded as no adding political parties are un- appeals were filed against Harable to check the ‘vote theft’ as yana electoral rolls, nor was they are provided with the vot- any multiple voting flagged er list at the last moment. when it allegedly happened. PR E E TH A N A IR @ New Delhi Ha p r ee t Ba j w a @ Chandigarh All set BJP ‘stole’ Haryana poll with 25 lakh fake votes, Bihar next target: Rahul Bengaluru: The Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) released the timetable for the first round of final examinations for SSLC and second PU courses. The SSLC exams will start from March 18, 2026, and continue till April 2, and will be held from 10 am to 1.15 pm. Similarly, the II PU exams will begin from April 25, 2026, and end on May 5 | TIMETABLE: P6