The New Indian Express Wishes its readers BHUBANESWAR  WEDNESDAY  DECEMBER 25, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 14  JEYPORE 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 | P13 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 Teacher-politician Hari Babu is new Odisha Governor Arif Mohd Khan R V Arlekar A K Bhalla Gen V K Singh H B Kambhampati GUV APPOINTMENTS, SHUFFLES Arif transferred to Bihar, Bhalla goes to Manipur Kerala governor shifted to NDA-ruled Bihar; ex-home secy gets Manipur and VK Singh to manage Mizoram R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi STRIFE-TORN Manipur on Tuesday 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 fiveyear 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, was holding additional charge of Manipur. Bhalla was among the five gubernatorial appointments/transfers announced on Tuesday. The other big announcement was a swap between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and his Bihar counterpart Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. This newspaper had reported earlier that Arif would figure in the gubernatorial reshuffle this year. Khan’s appointment in Bihar is being seen as a strategic move ahead of assembly elections in the state in 2025 in which the BJP as a major ally of the Bihar NDA nurtures dreams of coming to power at 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. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bhubaneswar A qualified engineer with a PhD and a teacher in Andhra University Engineering College for 24 years, the newly-appointed Governor of Odisha, Hari Babu Kambhampati has had a long political career to boot. The 71-year-old Mizoram Governor who will replace Raghubar Das had joined student politics in 1972. He was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during Emergency and imprisoned for six months. Hari Babu, who holds a PhD degree in Control Systems, became a state executive member of Janata Party in 1977 and worked in different capacities till the formation of BJP in 1980. He became general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh BJP in 1993 and continued till 2003. He tasted his first electoral success in 1999 when he was elected to Andhra Pradesh Assembly from Visakhapatnam. He was also appointed a member of the task force constituted by the NDA government led by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for interlinking of rivers during 2003-2004. His political graph rose when he was appointed as one of the national secretaries of the BJP in 2005. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam parliamentary constituency in 2014. He served as Andhra Pradesh unit of BJP president from 2014-2018 before being appointed Mizoram Governor in 2021. BJP X’MAS OUTREACH HITS KERALA WALL K S S R E E J I T H @ T’Puram A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the Christmas celebration hosted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in Delhi, a senior Orthodox Church Bishop in Kerala on Tuesday openly questioned the saffron party’s outreach to the Christian community . “There (in Delhi), they honour the bishops and revere cribs. Here (in Kerala), they destroy the cribs,” the metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church’s Lokpal calls Sebi chief for oral hearing P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi TAKING cognizance of complaints of impropriety and conflict of interest filed by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and two others, anticorruption body Lokpal on Tuesday called Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch and the complainants for ‘oral hearing’ on January 28. The complaints were made on the basis of a report by USbased short-seller Hindenburg Research, according to an official order. In its report, Hindenburg alleged that Buch and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the alleged money siphoning scandal involving the Adani Group. The Lokpal had on November 8 sought Buch’s ‘explanation’ on the complaints filed by Moitra, a Lok Sabha member and two others. In its order, the Lokpal asked the Registry to issue notices to the RPS (respondent public s e r v a n t ) a s we l l a s t h e complainant(s) to avail of the opportunity of oral hearing on January 28. Thrissur Diocese, Yuhanon Mar Meletius, said in a Facebook post. The bishop’s sharp remarks come in the backdrop of the arrest of three VHP workers in Palakkad for trying to disrupt Christmas celebrations at a school and the destruction of a crib made by students of another school by unidentified persons. The two incidents sparked widespread protests in Kerala, where the state There (in Delhi), they honour the bishops and revere cribs. Here (in Kerala), they destroy the cribs – Yuhanon Mar Meletius unit of the BJP had started its outreach programme in which leaders will visit church heads as well as 10 lakh Christian homes till December 30. According to sources, the central leadership of the BJP asked Union minister George Kurian and state BJP president K Surendran to openly condemn the act of the three VHP workers. However, the powerful Syro Malabar Church is also not convinced by the outreach bid. “This is part of a strategy to display dominance over the minority community,” said Fr CONTINUED ON P7 Joby Kachappilly . Have been duped by chit fund companies twice in my life: CM E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar MAKING a startling revelation, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday admitted that he too was taken in by the chit fund lure and cheated by the ponzi companies twice - in 1990 and again in 2002. Addressing a function to celebrate the National Consumer Day here, Majhi urged people to remain cautious about activities of the chit fund companies to save their hard-earned money . “I was also a victim of chit fund scam. Two firms duped me in 1990 and 2002. I could not recover my money as the process was very long,” he said. The chief minister said he was influenced by the sweet talk of the agents and deposited in some schemes after arranging money. “But when the schemes matured, the companies had vanished,” he said. He said things have changed now as the Centre has brought in new regulations to make the chit fund firms accountable to the depositors unlike the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the central government amended the Consumer Protection Act in 2019 which is being implemented in the entire country from July 20, 2020. The amended Act has corrected the loopholes in the previous Act of 1986,” he said. He said the state government has also initiated several measures including formation of Consumer Protection Authority to protect the consumers. The Authority will investigate and provide justice to the consumers if any of their rights have been violated. Consumers can also file their complaints from their homes digitally and get justice, he added. Majhi said the state government has initiated measures to spread awareness among the people. EXPRESS READ Allu Arjun grilled for three hours, seeks bail Hyderabad: Actor Allu Arjun, accused in the Sandhya Theatre stampede case, was on Tuesday grilled for more than three hours by the police. Parallelly, a bail petition was filed on his behalf in the Nampally court here. Arjun faces charges of culpable homicide as a woman was crushed to death in the stampede. And her son continues to be in a critical state in a hospital | P7 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 | P13