Hasina poised to retain power in Today’s Bangladesh election Opposition leader under House Arrest Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to win a fourth straight term in Bangladesh general elections today amid an Oppn call for strike The main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, of former premier Khaleda Zia, who is under house arrest after convicted for graft, on Saturday began a 48-hour nationwide strike against the government amidst sporadic violence. About 27 political parties are contesting the elections, including the opposition Jatiya Party 100 global observers to monitor polls kochi l Sunday l january 07, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l late city edition As many as 100 observers from across the world, including three from India, will be scrutinising the polls. 700 Rapid Action Battalion teams deputed on duty 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 s t a t e g o v t o pp o ses m o ve HC orders mitigation probe of 8 convicts on death row P R a m d a s @Kochi Flying colours Students of HDPS HSS Edathirinji, Thrissur, performing chavittu nadakam at the 62nd State School Arts Festival in Kollam on Saturday. The team won ‘A’ grade in the competition | Vincent Pulickal Day after attack, suo motu police case against ED Agency officers attacked at Bongaon as well; ex-head of civic body arrested in ration scam connection with the attack on the ED officers. Parallelly, Union A day after the horrific attacks on Home minister Amit Shah is unEnforcement Directorate (ED) of- derstood to have sought a report ficers when they raided the house from West Bengal Governor C V of Trinamool Congress leader Ananda Bose on Friday’s attack. Shahjahan Sheikh in North 24 Though Bose summoned the state Parganas in a ration scam case, chief secretary and the director both sides filed police complaints general of police to Raj Bhavan against each other. on Friday, both failed to turn up Besides, the police even a day after the lodged a suo motu case incident. Late on Friday night, against the ED officers, another set of ED officers charging them with mofaced a similar attack lestation, forcible enfrom Trinamool supporttrance and theft. Another ers while arresting former FIR lodged on the basis of chairman of Bongaon civa complaint from the careShahjahan ic body Shankar Adhya in taker of Shahjahan’s Sheikh the same ration scam. Adhouse charged the agenhya’s followers surroundcy’s officers with attempte d b re a k i n w i t h o u t a ny ed the sleuths and smashed the rear windshield of one of its vewarrant. For its part, the ED e-mailed its hicles. Fortunately, none of the complaint to the director general ED officers was injured. “A group of Adhya’s followers of police and superintendent of Basirhat police district, making attacked us when we were taking serious charges, including at- him out of his Bongaon resitempt to murder against the at- dence. The central police persontackers and its perpetrators. nel had to lathi-charge the However, no one was arrested in crowd,” said an ED officer. P r a n a b M o n d a l @ Kolkata India gets bigger halo as Aditya reaches its final Sun study orbit E x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ Bengaluru In its maiden solar mission, ISRO successfully placed Aditya-L1 spacecraft into its final orbit on Saturday at 4 pm. The insertion of Aditya-L1 in the halo orbit presented a critical mission phase, which demanded precise navigation and control. A successful insertion further involved constant monitoring along with the adjustment of the spacecraft’s speed and position by using onboard thrusters. “The success of this insertion not only signifies ISRO’s capabilities in such complex orbital manoeuvres, but also gives confidence to handle future interplanetary missions,” ISRO said. The satellite placed in the orbit of the SunEarth system, which is about 1.5 million kms from Earth, has covered only 1 per cent of the distance to the Sun. It will be undertaking several studies on the impact of the Sun’s radiation, solar flares, solar storms and other particles on the Earth through payloads. Artistic impression of Aditya in orbit | ISRO Continuous viewing From the L1 point, Aditya has the advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses, ISRO scientists said. It will help observe solar activities and their effects in real time ‘ u m a ’ m a k es w a y f o r ‘ P o u r n a m i ’ Kuttanad’s paddy fields are undergoing a generational shift B I J U E PA U L @ Alappuzha The farming sector in Kuttanad, the rice bowl of Kerala, is experiencing a generational shift. After two decades of constant use, the paddy variety Uma (MO 16) is making way for Pournami (MO 23), developed by the Regional Rice Station (RRS) of the Kerala Agricultural University Mankombu. The seed is gain, ing popularity and many paddy polders in the region now use Pournami, which has a lower maturity period and weighs more than other varieties. Around 1,500-2,000 farmers in Kuttanad shifted to Pournami last season. The variety is being cultivated on about 2,500-3,000 acres this puncha season. Researchers, led by former RRS director Leena Kumari S, developed the variety in the 2017-18 period. “More than 10 Pournami paddy cultivated in Kuttanad years of constant research helped develop the new variety which can sustain , the vagaries of nature and climate change,” said RRS chief M Surendran, who was part of the research team. “Pournami is more weightier than Uma and other seed varieties. Uma has been used in Kuttanad for the last two decades. Its 1,000 grains weigh around 25-26 grams, while the same amount of Pournami seeds weigh 28 grams,” Suren● More on P5 dran said.  Final check Offering a glimmer of hope to The mitigation investigation involves a eight convicts on death row, currently thorough examination of the death row confined to the dark rooms of central convicts’ social, psychological, and prisons in the state, the Kerala High economic backgrounds before making a Court has ordered a mitigation invesfinal decision on their capital punishment. tigation before determining their ultimate fate. The eight include two former police officers convicted in a based research centre focused on hucustodial murder case and a former man rights. CPM local leader. The court issued the order on the Earlier, the court had ordered a petitions filed by Rejith, Anil Kumar similar investigation in the cases of alias Jacky, Ajith Kumar, Gireesh KuNino Mathew and Muhammed mar, former police officers K JithakuAmeerul Islam, who mar and S V Sreekumar, were convicted in the former CPM leader R press 2014 Attingal twin murclusive Byju, and Narendra der case and the PerumKumar. bavoor Jisha murder Rejith was convicted case, respectively However, when the for the murder of a four-and-a-half. petitions of the eight convicts came year-old girl at Chottanikkara in 2013, up for hearing, the state government while Anil Kumar and Ajith were opposed the move to extend the ben- sentenced to death for the murder of efit of earlier orders to them. The criminal Santhosh Kumar alias Jet court has entrusted the mitigation Santhosh in Thiruvananthapuram in ● More on P5 probe with Project 39A, a New Delhi- 2004. EXPRESS READ ED issues fresh summons to Isaac Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the alleged violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) by KIIFB in issuing masala bonds, has issued fresh summons to former finance minister Thomas Isaac to appear before it for interrogation on January 12. P5 Students complain of wrong answers in NET key Kochi: Students who appeared for the archaeology NET exam in December last year woke up to an agonising morning on January 4. In the answer key published the previous night, several students found at least 40 to 60 wrong answers. P2 WITH THIS ISSUE e-volution PLUS 12 PAGES