JAMES EARL CARTER JR. 1 OCT 1924 - 29 DEC 2024 BHUBANESWAR  TUESDAY  DECEMBER 31, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 14  LATE CITY EDITION FORMER U.S. PREZ AND HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE JIMMY CARTER DIES AT 100 WINNER OF 2002 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE During his single term at the White House, Carter’s initiatives led to the 1978 Camp David Accords, which ended hostilities between Israel and Egypt. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Human rights was a fulcrum of his foreign policy decisions. Condoling the death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Carter “a statesman of great vision” | P11 Democrat Jimmy Carter, who served as the 39th president of the United States between 1977 and 1981, died in Georgia on Monday at the age of 100 A VILLAGE IN HARYANA IS NAMED AFTER HIM ■ ■ In 1978, he visited India, becoming the third US president to do so. He travelled to a village in Haryana, where he left a lasting impression on its residents. They later renamed their village ‘Carterpuri’ The 1979 Iran hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan tarnished his reputation. He lost the subsequent re-election bid 43 years SINCE HE LEFT THE WHITE HOUSE, MAKING HIS THE LONGEST U.S. POST-PRESIDENCY 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 Honouring Gen Zorawar would have had more locational relevance Shivaji statue on Pangong Tso triggers debate SUDARSAN MAHARANA @ Bhubaneswar IN a curious twist of events that may acquire political overtones, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has sought to know from West Bengal’s chief wildlife warden (CWW) why tigress Zeenat, tranquilised on Sunday at Bankura, was not moved to Odisha and i n s t e a d housed at Alipore Zoo in Kolkata in violation of protocols. The three year-old Zeenat was tranquilised by an expert team of Odisha and West Bengal forest departments near Gopalpur village of Bankura district at around 4 pm on Mon- M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi evance to our unique environment and wildlife.” A statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Political activist Sajjad Karon the banks of Pangong Tso in gili echoed Stanzin, adding: Eastern Ladakh, inaugurated “These should not be placed in by the Indian Army unit there environmentally sensitive ara few days ago, triggered a live- eas like Pangong, which rely debate on social media on its quire careful preservation”. locational relevance. Brigadier Hardeep The Leh-based Fire Singh Sohi (Retd), deand Fury Corps proudly fended the gesture, sayposted on X that the ing it was meant to statue of Shivaji was inboost morale of the augurated on December troops. “In infantry 26 at an altitude of units where the hand14,300 ft, before it ran to-hand combat chances into a verbal crossfire. are more, heroes associWhile some veterans ated with the Units are applauded it, others given a high pedestal by As a local suggested that honourCdrs (Commanders) to resident, I must voice ing the memory of Dogboost morale of troops. my concerns ra General Zorawar Statue of Chhatrapati about the Singh (1784-1841) inShivaji by a Maratha stead with a statue there Shivaji statue unit on banks of Panat Pangong. would have been more It was erected gong Tso lake is a step appropriate, as he was without local in that direction.” an ace in mountain warBut Maj Gen B S Dhinput and I fare and had annexed anoa (Retd) and Col Sanquestion its relevance to Ladakh and parts of jay Pande (Retd) quesour unique Tibet. tioned the move. “There It was at Finger 4 on environment are the statutes (or laws) and wildlife the North Bank of the of war, but of late our Pangong Tso lake where Konchok Stanzin, armed forces are studyIndian soldiers and Chiing the “statues of Chusul nese PLA troops got into war”...,” he wrote on councillor a scuffle in May 2020. BiMaj Gen Birender Dhlateral relations went anoa (Retd) quipped on south before they were recent- X. ly restored. Col Sanjay Pande (Retd) said Chushul councillor Konchok Zorawar Singh died fighting in Stanzin said, “As a local resi- Tibet. The Leh Fort is called dent, I must voice my concerns Zorawar Fort. “Zorawar Singh about the Shivaji statue at Pan- fought wars 180 years back, gong. It was erected without lo- weather was as found today He . cal input and I question its rel- deserves to be there.” JANUARY  Holidays 14. Makar Sankranti 23. Subash Chandra Bose Jayanti/ Vir Surendra Sai Jayanti 26. Republic Day 5 6 7 New Year’s Day 1 2 3 4 8 9 10 11 Makar Sankranti 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Subash Chandra Bose Jayanti/ Vir Surendra Sai Jayanti 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Republic Day Triveni Amabasya 26 27 28 29 30 31 THIS EDITION CARRIES A SPECIAL WALL CALENDAR FOR 2025 WHY MOVED ZEENAT TO ALIPORE ZOO, NTCA ASKS WB FOREST CHIEF The statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji inaugurated on the banks of Pangong Tso in Ladakh on December 26 MARATHA REGIMENT RAISED THE STATUE Army sources said a Rashtriya Rifles unit comprising troops of the Maratha Regiment “got the statue raised within its area of responsibility with resources voluntarily collected from serving and retired personnel.” NO HISTORICAL OR CULTURAL RELEVANCE Political activist Sajjad Kargili said there is no cultural or historical relevance of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Ladakh. “While we respect his legacy, imposing such cultural symbols here is misplaced.” day after 23 days of its wild exploration. However, instead of being shifted back to Similipal, the caged tigress was taken to Alipore Zoo reportedly for its health examination by the vets. The apex tiger conservation body sought an answer as to why the standard operating procedure (SOP) was not followed in relocation of the big cat following its c ap t u re i n Bankura. The NTCA, in its letter to the head of West Bengal’s wildlife wing, on Monday stated that the tigress was brought to Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Maharashtra under a special PRESS CLUSIVE BJP, Cong spar over Rahul’s trip to Vietnam during national mourning P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi THE row over former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s funeral refuses to die down with the BJP targeting the Congress over its leadership’s absence during the immersion of Singh’s ashes and Rahul Gandhi’s Vietnam trip during the mourning period. In its pushback, the Congress said its leaders skipped the ceremony to give privacy to Singh’s family In a statement, . Congress leader Pawan Khera said after the cremation, Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi met Singh’s family at their resi- dence. “It was felt that since the family did not get any privacy at the time of the cremation and some extended family members could not reach the pyre site, it would be appropriate to give them some privacy for the Phool Chunana and the immersion of ashes, which is an emotionally painful and difficult ceremony for close family members,” Khera said. Raking up Rahul’s foreign trip, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said in an X post: “The country is in mourning. The government has announced seven days of national India lose Melbourne identity to Aussies G O M E S H S @ Melbourne AS Rohit Sharma sat on the dais for the fifth time this year to address the media after a Test match defeat, there was a sense of unease. The usual Rohit charisma was missing. The wit and humour and those frank admissions have deserted the room. Once again he was there to discuss another loss. The gloom before the New Year’s Eve night is not something the India team would have wanted. Yet, it was, after Australia beat them here on Monday. More than the loss, the way India capitulated is something the team management should ponder about. India had lost their last seven wickets for just 34 runs in 20.4 overs and what looked like a well-deserved draw, ended in a loss. As the bandwagon shifts to Sydney India trail Austral, ia 1-2 with one last Test to play for. The press conference freflected Rohit’s sombre mood. He was struggling, like his form and innings, to find the apt words. With guns training at his batting and leadership, there is little Rohit can do. In the five innings he played in Australia, he scored only 31 runs at an average of 6.2, considered dismal by his standard. By the look of Rohit, there seemed to be something omi- nous brewing within. With India needing him and the other senior player Virat Kohli most to salvage a draw, both perished in the most pitiable fashion. They had been the anti-thesis to the mercurial Jasprit Bumrah, who once again finished with a five-wicket haul. Such had been the dependency on his bowling, he had bowled almost one-third of overs sent down by India in the second innings. Kohli once again showed his vulnerability outside off and when he fell India were staring down the barrel. If not for young Yashasvi Jaiswal (84) and Rishabh Pant partnership of 88, India would have folded up their innings well before the last session. “There are things that we as a team need to look at,” Sharma said. “I personally need to look at as well. So we will try and see what happens.” He said Sydney is still there. “If we can play that game well, with 2-2, a draw will be P13 really nice.” JEANS EDITING Carlsen says Anand isn’t ready for FIDE job E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai THE Magnus Carlsen saga has taken new twist. A couple of days after being disqualified from the World Rapid Chess championships in New York for wearing jeans, the former world champion took a dig at Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand, who is a deputy president in the international chess federation (FIDE). While speaking to an online app, Carlsen said the disqualification was ‘draconian’ and criticised the FIDE for mishandling the issue. He even said that there was no grown-ups to discuss with in FIDE and called the officials “robots” unable to make independent decisions. “Well… let’s go back to a couple of days ago. I did have some choice words for FIDE in my interview with you. And I would say that it was a bit imprecise. I definitely mean it when it comes to cer tain people in FIDE. No question about it,” he told an app, adding he almost booked his flight back home. The Nor- initiative to improve the genetic diversity of the big cats in the landscape. “...apprise this authority for the reason why the said tigress was shifted to Alipore Zoo, instead of translocating it back to the state of Odisha as per the wegian is participating in World Blitz after FIDE chief Arkady Dvorkovich intervened. “We had long conversations with Anand yesterday and others, which generally didn’t lead anywhere. It was generally the same answers that arbiters are basically robots who cannot think on their own, who have no way to even deviate slightly from... I don’t even know if I broke any rules. I still haven’t gotten a clear answer on that,” Carlsen said. Anand told Chessbase India that Carlsen was penalised for breaking rules. For his part, Carlsen said he did not break any rules and at least he has not got a favourable reply from FIDE. “ Anand said very clearly that he didn’t know that he had any opportunity to do anything past, you know, go with the arbiters’ honestly draconian decision of not pairing me. And that means that he was, for all his good qualities, not ready for this job. That’s what I feel,” Carlsen said. The FIDE also tweaked the dress code that said “elegant minor deviations (that may in particular, , include appropriate jeans matching the jacket) are allowed.” mourning. As expected from Rahul Gandhi... he has left for tourism and to party .” Countering this, Congress MP B Manickam Tagore said Rahul is on a private visit. He termed the BJP’s allegations as ‘diversionary politics’. Tariq Anwar, another Congress MP said the trip was pre, planned and that Rahul left after paying tributes to Singh. Earlier, a war of words broke out between the Congress and the BJP over the venue and arrangements for Singh’s last rites. The Congress alleged that the BJP insulted Singh by arranging the cremation at Nigambodh Ghat. SOP of the NTCA,” said the letter which was accessed by The New Indian Express. The West Bengal CWW was also pointed out that Zeenat is to be released in the wild and in order to avoid any imprinting or human interaction in captivity the tigress must be translo, cated back to STR at the earliest following due process of SOP under section 38 O (2) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. A senior forest officer from Odisha said though they have been asking their West Bengal counterparts to allow shifting of the big cat to Similipal, the latter have remained silent on the matter citing they are awaiting permission. The West Beng al CWW couldn’t be reached for his comments on CONTINUED ON P4 the matter. EXPRESS READ Pvt banks write off loans to make books look good: RBI Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has warned private sector banks against writing off loans to make their books look good. This practice might be masking delinquencies in unsecured lending segment and hiding real asset quality picture, RBI said in its FSR, released on Monday. The banking regulator’s concern comes in the backdrop of data showing improvement in GNPA ratios, which fell to a decadal low in 2024-25 | P10