BHUBANESWAR  FRIDAY  DECEMBER 06, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  JEYPORE EDITION BITCOIN’S VALUE TOPS $1,00,000 AFTER 50% RISE IN ONE MONTH Bitcoin crossed the $100,000-mark on Thursday amid a massive price rally sparked by the election of Donald Trump as US president TRUMP NAMES CRYPTO ADVOCATE TO CHAIR SEC Bitcoin surged on Thursday after Trump said he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins as the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), signalling a lighter regulatory approach to the crypto industry. The current SEC chair Gary Gensler has cracked down on the industry, penalising many firms for violating securities laws ■ 2009 EXPERTS DIVIDED ON POTENTIAL FOR MORE GAINS ■ Bitcoin was trading at $69,374 on the day of US elections. Two years ago, it fell below $17,000 after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX While some experts are bullish, others have warned of risks given the recent surge. Lighter regulation from the coming Trump administration, while a good news for the crypto industry, could mean less guardrails WHEN BITCOIN WAS LAUNCHED, MAKING IT THE OLDEST CRYPTOCURRENCY 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 AUS VS IND Rohit makes bold call, to bat in middle at Adelaide G O M E S H S @ Chennai AND there it was. About 24 hours after KL Rahul told the media in Adelaide jokingly that he had been informed about his batting position but asked not to reveal it, captain Rohit Sharma cleared the air by announcing that he will be moving down the order to pave way for the 32-year-old at the top in the second Test against Australia beginning Friday . “Yes, he (Rahul) will be opening the batting. I’ll bat somewhere in the middle,” Sharma told reporters on the eve of the pink-ball Test in Adelaide. Leaders are known or recognised for the choices they make, especially for them and the team. Sharma acknowledged that it will not be easy in the middle, but for the greater good of the team this was the best solution. “Not easy for me, but it’s the best for the team,” he said. The significance of this call — to have Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top after their success in Perth — cannot be understated, especially in the Indian cricketing context. Barring the occasional tactical moves, captains or top-order batters, have rarely opted to sacrifice their positions. With Rahul and Jaiswal combining into a potent force in the first Test, Sharma did not want to tinker with it. “We want success. Those two guys at the top, just looking at this one Test, they batted brilliantly I was . at home with my newborn in my arms and I was watching how KL batted. It was brilliant. Maybe, in the future things will be different. I don’t know. Based on what has happened and what KL has shown outside of India, he probably deserves that place at this point in time,” Sharma said. FADNAVIS BACK AS Uproar in LS over MAHARASHTRA CM, Oppn-Soros link SHINDE, PAWAR DCMs P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi No other ministers sworn in; cabinet expansion talks on This team is a blend of experience and dynamism, and it is due to its collective efforts that Mahayuti got a historic mandate Narendra Modi, PM I will extend all possible cooperation and backing to the chief minister. We will work as a team Eknath Shinde, Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis after taking oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister | X S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai DEVENDRA Fadnavis on Thursday took oath as Maharashtra chief minister for the third time, marking the BJP leader’s return to the top post after a gap of five years. Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief ministers. No other ministers were sworn in. The cabinet is likely to be expanded next week, ahead of the winter session of state legislature in Nagpur. Fadnavis said portfolio allocations have been more or less finalised but a few more rounds of consultations with allies are pending. An announcement will be made later, he said. “The posts may have changed among them, but the direction of work will remain the same. We will also hear out the Opposition if they bring the relevant points. The Speaker’s name will be decided on December 9. Maharashtra will have a very stable government in next five years,” Fadnavis said. Before taking the oath, Fadnavis visited the Siddhivinayak temple and also took the blessing of his mother. Shinde invoked late Balasaheb Thackeray and his Guru Anand Dighe while taking oath. That Shinde would join the government as deputy CM was confirmed only hours before the swearing-in ceremony amid the protracted political drama over his reported reluctance to accept the post. Over 42,000 people gathered at Azad Maidan to witness the swearing-in ceremony Prime Minis. ter Narendra Modi and Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, J P Nadda, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan besides chief ministers of various states were present at the ceremony . Also in attendance were cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, and Janhvi Kapoor. From the business world, Mukesh Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla attended. P8 There is no doubt that the grand coalition government will take the state to new heights on the path of development Ajit Pawar, Dy CM PORTFOLIO SHARING FORMULA Sources said out of the total 43 portfolios, 24 will be kept by BJP as the single largest party with 132 MLAs, while 10 will go to Shinde-led Shiv Sena that has 57 MLAs, and nine to Pawar-led NCP that has 41 MLAs Pujari mulls spl fund for tribals to monetise land B I J O Y P R A D H A N @ Bhubaneswar REVENUE and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari has floated the idea of setting up a revolving fund to address the financial needs of tribals at the time of exigencies in exchange of their land assets. Pujari mooted the idea in the assembly on Thursday and called for a wider debate on the issue as the existing laws prohibit tribals to mortgage or sell part of their landholding to nontribals at the time of need. Sharing his thought with members of the assembly, Purjari suggested that the proposed revolving fund would give an opportunity to tribals to monetise land assets to meet urgent needs of social obligations like marriage or to fund for education of ch i l d re n o r s t a r t a n ew business. “The land can be either mortgaged or sold to the state government and the same can reverted to the original owner on repayment of the amount taken from the revolving fund in lieu of the asset. In case the beneficiary of the revolving fund expressed inability to repay, the government may have the option to auction the land as per the benchmark valuation and excess proceedings from the auction, if any, could be handed over to the owner of the land,” Pujari said. The minister said there are many first timers in the 17th assembly but there is no dearth of members with long experience in parliamentary business while some of them are well versed CONTINUED ON P5 with law. The land can be either mortgaged or sold to the state government and the same can reverted to the original owner on repayment Suresh Pujari, minister LOK SABHA proceedings were on Thursday disrupted after the Opposition and Treasury Benches clashed over the latter’s allegation linking Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other leaders with US-based multi-billionaire George Soros. Chaos erupted during the zero hour after BJP member Nishikant Dubey cited reports in a publication based on findings of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which had alleged links to Soros. Dubey said an international conspiracy was hatched to derail India’s success story under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also alleged that the Congress had sought to halt Parliament on various issues published by OCCRP includ, ing the Pegasus spying row, questioning the efficacy of Covid vaccines developed in India, and the Hindenburg reports. Dubey said several Opposition leaders raised the issues flagged in media reports, many of which were published on the eve of Parliament Rahul Gandhi with other sessions in India. opposition MPs at a protest As the House wit- during the Winter session | PTI nessed massive uproar, the Speaker called Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi to raise the issue of violence in Sambhal. Gogoi tried to counter the allegations levelled by Dubey leading to a ruckus. The House was adjourned for the day after the Speaker adjourned it twice at 2 pm and 3 pm. Later, Congress MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and demanded that Dubey must apologise for his remarks. Meanwhile, in an unusual protest, leaders of opposition parties wore black jackets with stickers reading ‘Modi Adani Ek Hai’ and ‘ dani Safe Hai’ on A them and raised slogans on the Parliament premises to demand a joint parliamentary probe into the Adani issue. Rahul Gandhi put the sticker on his trademark white T-shirt. EXPRESS READ Vaishnaw checks track monitoring system New Delhi: Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, along Railway Board chairman Satish Kumar, inspected the Integrated Track Monitoring System at New Delhi Railway Station on Thursday. The system is installed on Track Recording Cars and road-cum-rail inspection vehicles. During the inspection, Vaishnaw announced that the integrated track monitoring system will be implemented across all railway zones to enhance comprehensive track monitoring. “The initiative aims to enhance safety and efficiency of railway network by leveraging advanced technology to improve track inspection and maintenance,” he stated | P7 Maoists kill 2 former sarpanchs in Bijapur Raipur: Ahead of elections to the three-tier panchayats in Chhattisgarh, Maoists allegedly killed two former sarpanchs— one of them associated with the ruling BJP -- in separate incidents in of Bijapur district, police said on Thursday. The two were abducted before they were killed. Police identified them as Suklu Parsa, who was with the BJP’s Kisan Morcha in Bhairamgarh block, and Sukram Avlam, former sarpanch of Kader village. In their pamphlets, the Maoists claimed that both acted as police informers and helped the police in setting up a security base camp | P8 GJAY integration hurdle for PMJAY rollout as state govt readies for MoU H E M A N T K U M A R R O U T @ Bhubaneswar EVEN as Odisha government readies for the MoU with the Centre for implementation of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in the state six years after its nation-wide rollout, finalisation of modalities for integration with the state-funded Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (GJAY) remains the key challenge. The GJAY was previously known as Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY). The previous BJD government had introduced BSKY in 2018 by forgoing the central scheme following disagreement over the number of beneficiaries and eligibility criteria. Now, around 1.1 crore beneficiaries are covered under GJAY that provides annual cashless treatment of `5 lakh per family and additional `5 lakh for women beneficiaries. As per the eligibility criteria, sources said, around 67.8 lakh families will be covered under AB-PMJAY while the state government will cover the remaining beneficiaries under GJAY. The process has already begun for integration of both the schemes and it is likely to be named AB-GJAY. However, seamlessly integration is the challenge, especially when it comes to issuing a single health card to beneficiaries of two schemes A central team from the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) will be here here on Friday. Every issue will be discussed and finalised. Each family will be issued new cards Senior official having different eligibility criteria and coverage limits. The GJAY is a trust-based health assurance scheme with additional coverage of `5 lakh for women beneficiaries while the other is an insurance model. A major hurdle could be identifying and categorising beneficiaries between PMJAY and GJAY without duplication or omission and finalising healthcare packages. Sources pointed out that as decided, both the schemes will be integrated into a single card for ease of access. But challenges may crop up in certain surgery packages which are already being availed by GJAY beneficiaries, and not available under PMJAY. “It remains to be seen how this can be addressed in the one-card system and whether wom- en beneficiaries under PMJAY will get additional coverage of `5 lakh. With differing eligibility criteria and data sets, a significant task will be to ensure unfair inclusion or exclusion,” the sources said. Health and Family Welfare minister Mukesh Mahaling had recently said individual health cards will be provided to nearly 3.5 crore people in the state after the MoU is signed with the Centre. It will also benefit elderly persons above 70 years irrespective of their income. Beneficiaries will avail treatment in around 27,000 hospitals across the country he said. , Besides, balancing two funding structures under a unified framework, technicalities of merging data and enabling interoperability for hospitals will need work. Hospitals empanelled under GJAY are still unaware about modalities and how the integrated system will function once rolled out. Integrating IT systems for realtime monitoring, claim processing and beneficiary verification will also require significant investments in technology and human resources, the sources said. Although PMJAY does not cover OPD expenses, it may not be an issue for its beneficiaries in the state with separate provisioning of funds under different initiatives under GJAY CONTINUED ON P5 in the budget. CURIOUS CASE A rapidly growing new glacier discovered in Uttarakhand N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun A group of scientists have discovered a new glacier in Uttarakhand that is rapidly growing in size. The newly-discovered glacier is located in the Niti Valley a remote area in the north, ernmost region of of the state, close to the India-Tibet border. Stretching 10 kilometres in length, the unnamed glacier, which lies adjacent to the Randolph and Rekana glaciers, spans approximately 48 square kilometres. It was identified by glaciologists Manish Mehta, Vineet Kumar, Ajay Rana, and Gautam Rawat of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology. Their study, titled Manifestations of a Glacier Surge in Central The site of new glacier Himalaya Using Multi-Temporal Satellite Data, was done using satellite data. The findings indicate that this glacier is currently “surging”. “A glacier surge refers to the sudden and rapid increase in the size of a glacier. While it’s challenging to physically access the area, satellite data suggests three primary reasons for this phenomenon,” Dr Me- hta, who is a senior geologist at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology said. , One reason, Mehta said, could be hydrological imbalance, which occurs when the porosity of water causes the ice layers to weaken and lose stability This, in turn, leads to . the ice sliding downwards. Another reason could be thermal contrast. “The surface beneath the glacier becomes smooth and slippery, increasing the lubrication between the upper and lower layers of the glacier,” he said. The third reason could be sedimentary terrain. “The mixture of water and soil creates a slippery surface, causing the glacier’s layers to slide over each other,” Mehta said. ADMISSION NORMS FOR UG AND PG COURSES TWEAKED BY UGC UG and PG aspirants can now seek admission in any discipline irrespective of the one studied in Class 12 or at the undergraduate level (for PG aspirants) | P7