KOCHI l Wednesday l december 25, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Champions Trophy: India and Pakistan clubbed in same group The ICC finally announces the schedule for the global 50-over competition that begins from February 19 in Karachi rival neighbours play in dubai on feb 23 Boxing day test: India hope for MCG heist India are clubbed with Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh in Group A. Group B comprises South Africa, Australia, Afghanistan and England. India vs Pakistan is on February 23. If India progress to semis, they will play in Dubai on March 4. If Pak advance, they play in 2nd semis in Lahore next day. If India enter final, it will be in Dubai or else in Lahore on March 9 ■ The Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch is expected to be seamer-friendly ■ when India take on Australia in fourth Test on Thursday morning India are yet to decide on the final XI, but the Aussies have said they will hand 19-year-old Sam Konstas his debut. The visitors need a win to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Match live: 5 am | P11 1-1 The five-Test series is level at one a piece 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 Guv Appointments, shuffles Arif transferred to Bihar, Arlekar new Kerala guv Strife-torn Manipur gets former Union home secy Ajay Kumar Bhalla as its new governor Ra j e s h K u ma r T h a k u r @ New Delhi The Rashtrapati Bhavan announced a major gubernatorial reshuffle on Tuesday evening, swapping Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and his Bihar counterpart Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. Strife-torn Manipur got a seasoned hand in former Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla as its new governor. The state is yet to emerge from the ethnic conflict between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups that led to violence since May last year. Bhalla, the longest-serving Union Home Secretary, completed his five-year tenure on August 22 this year. He is known to be a tough administrator and a strategist. Bhalla is a retired 1984-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. If he manages to help bring some stability to Manipur, it would be a job well done. Till now, Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya, who was holding additional charge of Manipur. This newspaper had reported earlier that Arif would figure in the gubernatorial reshuf fle this year. Khan’s appointment in Bihar is being seen as a strategic move ahead of assembly elections in the Arif Mohd Khan R V Arlekar state in 2025 in which the BJP as a major ally of the Bihar NDA nurtures dreams of coming to power on its own. Khan is a liberal Muslim scholar who articulates the Centre’s policies upfront. He was forever on a collision course with Kerala LDF government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Retired General V K Singh was appointed governor of Mizoram. The BJP had denied him a ticket for the Lok Sabha polls this year. Gen Singh replaces Dr Hari Babu Kambhampati, who has been transferred as governor of Odisha after incumbent Raghubar Das put in his papers citing personal reasons. Gen Singh’s name was doing the rounds for a gubernatorial assignment for long time and his appointment was expected to be either in J&K or Manipur but it went to Mizoram. Sources said many more gubernatorial appointments are on the cards for states like UP , J&K, Bengal and some UTs. CPM, Jama’at ‘bhai bhai’ outside Kerala E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kozhikode Taking the wind out of the CPM’s attack on its “theocratic state’ ideology the Jama’at-e-Isla, mi has released “proofs” for its close ties with the Communist party outside Kerala. In a Facebook post, Jama’at secretary Shihab Pookkottur said three among the four CPM MPs in Lok Sabha enjoyed the support of his organisation in the recent general elections. “Two of them are from Tamil Nadu and one from Rajasthan. Jama’at had supported CPM candidates in Tamil Nadu in 2019 elections too,” he said. Pookkottur shared the photos of CPM MPs with Jama’at leaders. In one photo Amra Ram, CPM MP from Sikar, is seen with Jama’at Rajasthan amir Muhammad Nazimuddin. In another picture, Ram is seen with Jama’at shura member Khurshid Hussein and Sikar district president Arif Jattu. Pookkottur also posted a photo of former CPM MP from Tamil Nadu P R Natarajan sitting at the Jama’at office in Coimbatore. Jama’at cadre also shared the photo of the memorial meeting of former CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury held in Rajasthan, which was attended by CPM Sikar MP along with Jama’at leaders. 23 deaths in ’24: Suicides back to haunt Tvm tribal settlements A n i l S @ T’Puram Four suicides by tribal people in four days – two men and two women, all aged below 30! The death of newly-wed Induja of Palode two weeks ago is a pertinent pointer to the alarming increase in suicides among tribal people in Thiruvananthapuram. As per available data, 23 tribal residents — five of them young women — ended their lives in the district this year alone. Induja, 25, a Kani tribe member who chose to marry out- side the community, took the extreme step on December 6, after alle g edly being caught in a vicious cycle of domestic abuse and harassment. Three more suicides followed in the next three days: 20-year-old Ajith of Idinjar on December 7; Namitha, 19, of Elavattom on December 8, and Vish- manuspeak lapse yes but motivated Olympics double medallist Manu Bhaker said “there has been a lapse” from her side while filing nominations for awards but says she is motivated to win medals | P11 81-year-old woman dies in stray dog attack Alappuzha: An elderly woman was mauled to death by a stray dog at Valiyazheekal in Arattupuzha, Alappuzha, on Tuesday. The is Karthyayani, 81, of Arayanchira in Thakazhi. P4 Allu Arjun grilled for three hours holy night Varappuzha Archbishop Rev Joseph Kalathiparambil leads the ‘Thirupiravi’ procession during the Christmas midnight mass at St Francis Assisi Cathedral, Ernakulam | A Sanesh The New Indian Express wishes its readers a Merry Christmas. Our offices will remain closed today. There will be no issue of the paper tomorrow Hyderabad: Actor Allu Arjun, accused in the theatre stampede case, was on Tuesday grilled for over three hours by police. Arjun faces charges of culpable homicide as a woman was crushed to death in the stampede. P5 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express E l e m e n t ar y , m y d e ar . . . Classic crime & nostalgia pay, iconic detectives of Malayalam lit strike back The sleuths strike back! Decades after fading into obscurity, the iconic detectives of Malayalam literature — Bhaskar, Pushparaj and Marxin — are making a comeback. Collectors are clamouring for reprints, and translations are flying off the shelves. Moreover, academia has finally recognised their significance, incorporating these works into the syllabus for popular culture studies. Rayan Pushpanath, grandson of renowned author Kottayam Pushpanath, attests to the resurgence of crime thrillers. In 2018, he reprinted his grandfather’s debut novel, ‘Chuvanna Manushyan,’ featuring Detective Marxin. The book’s second life has seen a remarkable print run of 50,000 copies, with demand remaining robust. The revival of Kottayam Pushpanath’s works began as a tribute to his legacy “We had a publishing compa. ny and my grandfather wrote nearly , 350 books. Although the company was almost defunct, we decided to reprint his first book as a testament to his body of work. T he response was overwhelming, and we now publish 30 books annually, having revived 70 titles,” Rayan explained. Additionally trans, nu, 30, of Alummoodu on December 9. This is not the first time suicides by tribal people in the state capital have set alarm bells ringing. As per rough estimates, around 138 such suicides were reported in the district between 2011 and 2022, mostly in Peringammala panchayat. There is confusion among the younger generation of tribals, as they don’t grow up in their natural ecosystem that exists among the elders. They go to hostels and learn from the outside world. This causes existential dilemma — Abhimanyu, Adivasi Congress mandalam prez EXPRESS READ Ra j e s h Ra v i @ Kochi CPM politburo member A Vijayaraghavan had blasted Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for accepting the support of ‘communal elements among the Muslim community’ in Wayanad LS polls. CPM leaders including s t at e s e c re t a r y M V Govindan, central committee memeber P K Sreemathi and LDF convener T P Ramakrishnan had endorsed Vijayaraghavan’s stand. “CPM views Jama’at support to Priyanka and Rahul as a great crime. The party is trying to whip up Hindu communalism using this as a tool,” Pookkottur said in ● More on P4 the post.  lations in Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali have expanded the readership base. Dr Thomas Scaria, professor of Malayalam at St Thomas College, Pala, corroborates the renewed interest in crime thrillers. “The decline of weeklies that serialised these works was a significant factor in their temporary disappearance. However, with the recent reprinting of these works, there has been a notable demand from libraries and enthusiasts at book festivals.” As a member of the expert committee at Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU), Scaria notes that academia has acknowledged the cultural significance of these works, leading to renewed interest and research. Notably MGU and Kerala University have , both included ‘Chuvanna Manushy● More on P4 an’ in their syllabus.  Now, after a relative calm, the string of suicides has returned to haunt tribal settlements on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. A majority of those who ended their life belonged to the 2030 age group. Going by their families and tribal activists, tremendous stress due to extreme social scenarios coupled with pressure and harassment due to marriages and relationships outside the community, along with burgeoning liquor rackets, contribute to the deaths. “They (Induja and her husband Abhijith) studied together. After marriage, she was under immense pressure. His family wouldn’t let us tribal people enter their house. They were even reluctant to register the marriage,” said Sasidharan Kani, Induja’s father. “My daughter was murdered. No other family should have to endure this pain,” he said. Adivasi Mahasabha president Mohanan Triveni said lack of follow-up measures to tackle criminal acts too contribute to the increasing deaths ● More on P4 by suicide.