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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2024 `12.00 PAGES 26 LATE CITY EDITION Voting for the island nation Sri Lanka’s first presidential since 2022 was held peacefully with estimated turnout of around 75% | P11 INDIA & US CLOSER THAN EVER: BIDEN US president hosts PM Modi at his private residence in Delaware ahead of Quad meet Y ESHI S EL I @ New Delhi Folk poet Haladhar Nag recites one of his poems at OLF | DEBADATTA MALLICK Former CM Naveen Patnaik speaks to TNIE editorial director Prabhu Chawla Literature guides people BJP govt has failed on law on the path of truth: Nag and order front: Naveen B I J AY C H A K I @ Bhubaneswar WITH THIS ISSUE THE PARTITION OF PAKISTAN PLUS 12 PAGES CELEBRATED Koshali poet and Padma Shri awardee Haladhar Nag on Saturday said literature guides people on the path of truth, and true poets are Yugajanmas (born in ages) who take society on the right path. Inaugurating the 12th edition of the Odisha Literary Festival organised by The New Indian Express here, the poet, who is known as ‘Loka Ratan Kabi’ (people’s poet) for his down-to-earth writings on the basic issues and problems of the society, delved into the essence of humanism and literature. “There may be different castes, but every human being is one. There may be different languages, but literature is inherently one and has the singular object to uplift the human being. A person may belong to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Atishi takes oath as Delhi CM, thanks political guru Kejriwal A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi EXPRESS READ Health camps in all dists soon: Majhi Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Saturday said the state government is planning to organise health camps in all the district headquarters of the state to ensure better healthcare services to the people. Majhi said, “We have been receiving complaints from people coming to the grievance cell about lapses in peripheral hospitals. We have been thinking of taking new initiatives for them.”| P7 Tribe or Brahmin, but his feelings towards others make him an ideal human being,” he said. Clad in a cotton dhoti and his typical cotton vest, the legendary folk poet from western Odisha thanked the TNIE for giving a platform to regional language writers like him. His rustic simplicity and inspiring words touched the hearts of the packed audience, who responded with loud claps and cheers to his every word. Nag recounted the difficulties of being born to an impoverished family which could not afford him education beyond class three. He became an orphan at the age of 10 and had to work in hotels and as a cook in school and college hostels to eke out CONTINUED ON P7 a living. ATISHI on Saturday took oath as the third woman chief minister of Delhi after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit. At 43, she became the youngest CM of Delhi and is the second woman CM after Mamata Ban a r j e e i n I n d i a at present. Along with her, five cabinet ministers were sworn in — Gopal Rai, Kailash Gehlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Imran Hussain, and Mukesh Ahlawat. After taking oath, Atishi took AAP supremo and her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal’s blessings by touching his feet at Raj Niwas. In her first press confer- ence after the ceremony, she profusely thanked him. “I thank my elder brother and political guru Arvind Kejriwal for entrusting me with the responsibility of looking after the people of Delhi. He is the one who shaped the future of millions of children, provided free bus travel to women, gave free electricity to the people, free medical treatment so that people do not have to mortgage their house or land for any of their family members,” she said. The new CM said her only job till the assembly poll would be to complete the work that has been stopped due to the conspiracies of the BJP and the Lt Governor. B I J AY C H A K I @ Bhubaneswar FORMER chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Saturday lashed out at the BJP government for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. “We can all see how the law and order situation in the state has declined from the initial period of the gover nment with the incident of Governor’s son at Puri. Recently , an army major and his fiancee were harassed in a violent manner at a major police station in the capital city This is not a good record,” . he said during a conversation with editorial director of The New Indian Express during the Odisha Literary Festival here. Naveen, who is now the leader of Opposition, also said that the stench of corruption has begun to permeate in a big way which will be have to be rectified. The former chief minister, however, refrained from rating the BJP government in the state and the NDA at the Centre on their performance on completion of their first 100 days in office. “It is too early to start counting. Elections to several states will be held in the near future. Let us wait for the results,” he said. Naveen said he will continue to serve the people of Odisha in his new role as the leader of the Opposition as he was doing for the last 24 years as the chief minister. He also adopted a non-committal approach on the issue of ‘One Nation, One Election’ plan of the Centre and said that details will have to be studied before taking a stand CONTINUED ON P7 on it. lines of the Quad summit. According to sources, some key PRIME Minister Narendra pacts are likely to be signed. Modi, who arrived in the US on The PM was accompanied by Saturday for a three-day visit, foreign minister S Jaishankar, met US President Joe Biden at foreign secretary Vikram Misri his residence in Wilmington, and India’s Ambassador to the Delaware. Biden welcomed Modi US Vinay Mohan Kwatra. with a warm hug and The US team includheld the Indian PM’s ed Secretary of State hand as he led him into Antony Blinken, Assistthe house. ant to President for NaWhile the US side tional Security Affairs ter med the meeting T H Jake Sullivan, and ‘private’, sources said US Ambassador to Inthe two leaders disdia Eric Garcetti. UKRAINE cussed ways to strengthModi has a packed ON TABLE en bilateral ties and schedule in the US, with also shared their views US National Security the first day dedicated Adviser Jake on important global isto meetings with Biden Sullivan said the sues including the Rusand other Quad leaders. Ukraine war and sia-Ukraine conflict. On Sunday, Modi will Modi’s recent visit “Discussions focused travel to New York to aton ways to further deep- to Kyiv would figure tend an Indian commuen India-US bilateral prominently in the nity event at Long Isbilateral meeting partnership in areas of land. He will also hold mutual interest. Leadan interaction with the ers exchanged views on global CEOs of leading US-based comand regional issues, including panies working on new technolthe Indo-Pacific region and be- ogies such as artificial intelliyond,” MEA spokesperson Ran- gence, quantum computing, and dhir Jaiswal said. The meeting semiconductors. lasted about an hour. On Monday, the PM is sched“The United States’ partner- uled to attend the Summit of the ship with India is stronger, clos- Future at United Nations Gener, and more dynamic than any eral Assembly in New York. time in history Prime Minister . Earlier, after landing in PhilaModi, each time we sit down, I’m delphia, Modi said his meeting struck by our ability to find new with Biden, Australian PM Anareas of cooperation. Today was thony Albanese, and Japanese no different,” Biden wrote on X. premier Fumio Kishida at the Modi and Biden will have for- Quad Summit would contribute mal bilateral talks on the side- to the betterment of the world. OLYMPIC 2036 BID Ahmedabad? Selected region name not sent to IOC I N D R A N E E L D A S @ Chennai IT is almost close to one year since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would be bidding for the 2036 Olympics, but the name of the host city is yet to be sent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Since last October, when the announcement was made during the IOC Session in Mumbai, there have been multiple reports that Ahmedabad would be one of the host cities. The IOC, however, is yet to receive any confirmation from the IOA. “The IOC has not been informed by the IOA of any selected region,” the IOC said in an email to this daily . Interestingly, countries like Indonesia and Turkey nations , considered as serious bidders for the 2036 Games, have selected the hosts/region. Though the IOC doesn’t reveal the number of interested parties or bidding process, its president Thomas Bach had reaffirmed that it was in double digits. However, the infight- ing in the IOA too seems to be a sour point. It is understood that even during the Paris Olympics, where some of potential hosts’ top officials met the IOC, there were apparently no meetings between the IOA and other stakeholders with the Future Hosts Commission. What needs to be more troubling is that the IOA is yet to formally announce a bid committee, which will deal with the IOC. Even for the 2030 Youth Olympics IOA would need to open dialogues with the IOC. In reply to this newspaper’s query whether the present unsavoury stand-off between the IOA president and the EC would affect the bidding process the IOC said: “IOC is happy to see interest in hosting from India, with its huge passion for sport and youthful population. To move forward, any project from India would need the official support of the National Olympic Committee (NOC).” The IOC has said that there are a number of “Interested Parties, including India, taking part in a non-committal Continuous Dialogue with the IOC.” This, according to the IOC, helps the potential host to “explore and improve its Olympic project, without linking it to any specific Games edition or year”.
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