BHUBANESWAR l thursday l november 27, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Officially india’s, amdavad to host 2030 C’wealth Games Amdavad (aka Ahmedabad) has been formally ratified by the Commonwealth Sports general body for the Centenary CWG on Wednesday 74 15-17 The number of sports Commonwealth Sport has confirmed for 2030 Delegates of the 74 Commonwealth member nations and territories ratified the only bid after its executive committee forwarded the recommendation last month sports that are confirmed Athletics & para athletics, swimming & para swimming, table tennis & para table tennis, bowls & para bowls, netball and boxing are among confirmed names, said CS more disciplines to be added soon ■ ■ ■ Though sports like cricket, badminton, archery, shooting are not yet confirmed, there is all likelihood that they will be included later. Presently, archery, badminton, 3x3 basketball and 3x3 wheelchair basketball, beach volleyball, cricket T20, cycling, diving, hockey, judo, rhythmic gymnastics, rugby sevens, shooting, squash, triathlon and wrestling are being considered for 2030. Two new traditional sports can be added. Yoga likely to be added new look Local resonance & global appeal The 2030 team will work closely with CS and the International Federations to shape a dynamic and exciting sport programme that will have a strong local resonance and global appeal 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 History knocks as Prez Murmu to address Odisha Assembly B i j o y P r a d h a n @ Bhubaneswar History awaits the Odisha Legislative Assembly (OLA) as President Droupadi Murmu is all set to address the first day of the winter session of the House, commencing from Thursday . This will be the first time a sitting President of India will speak to the legislators from the podium of the Speaker, making it a momentous occasion. President Murmu is scheduled to arrive at Bhubaneswar at 2 pm and will directly proceed to Raj Bhawan, where she will inaugurate the new Kalinga Atithi Nivas and attend a luncheon hosted at the venue. She will arrive at the Assembly at 4:20 pm and address the House at 4:30 pm. The President will spend nearly 1 hour and 10 minutes in the Assembly until 5:30 pm, during which she is expected to visit Room No 11, the chamber she was allotted during her tenure as minister of state for Commerce and Transport from March 6, 2000, to August 6, 2002, and Fisheries and Animal Resources Development from August 6, 2002, to May 16, 2004, in the BJD-BJP coalition government. The Vidhan Sabha has been spruced up for the President’s visit and the room where she Odisha Legislative Assembly decked up for the winter session, in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday | Shamim Qureshy worked as a minister has been renovated. Sources in the Assembly said that she will spend some time in the room and meet the staff who worked in her office. Governor Dr Hari Babu Kambhampati will host a dinner for the President at Raj Bhavan, which will be attended by Speaker Surama Padhi, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, his council of ministers, all MLAs, and senior government officials, including the chief secretary and director general of police. Describing Murmu’s visit to Vidhan Sabha as momentous, Speaker Padhi said it will be a proud moment for the state and the MLAs who worked with her and for the new members who will listen to the President ad- dressing the House for the first time. A two-time MLA from Rairangpur Assembly constituency of Mayurbhanj district, Murmu was first elected to the Assembly on a BJP ticket in 2000 and was a minister in the Naveen Patnaik-led government. She retained the seat in the 2004 election. The winter session will continue till December 31 and have 29 sitting days. The first supplementary budget for 2025-26 will be presented by Chief Minister Majhi on November 28. Supplementary budgets of different departments will be discussed from December 4 to 6. Could defer date Lost empire: Gambhir times for India of post-SIR draft roll in TN, WB: SC s w a r o o p s w a m i n at h a n @ Guwahati Hearing on pleas challenging nationwide SIR; political parties creating a scare, alleges ECI U DAYAN K I S HOR E @ New Delhi Court can always say the CJI ,” said. THE Supreme Court on For its part, the ECI told the Wednesday said it would not court that some political parhesitate to extend the deadline ties are creating a ‘scare’ about for the publication of the draft the SIR being undertaken electoral rolls in West Bengal Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and and Tamil Nadu if the petition- Kerala. “Political parties are ers make a strong case, while creating unnecessary scare,” the Election Commisthe poll panel said. sion of India (ECI) Advocate Prashant claimed that some poBhushan said the SIR litical parties were trywas being conducted ing to create “a scare” in a “great hurry”. about the Special InThe bench asked the tensive Revision (SIR) ECI to file its counterof electoral rolls. affidavit to the peti‘Reason to A bench of Chief tions relating to Tamil challenge Justice Surya Kant and Nadu and West Bengal not good Justice Joymalya by December 4 and Deenough’ Bagchi made the oral cember 9, respectively . That the SIR o b s e r vat i o n wh i l e The bench also postwas never hearing petitions chaled the pleas seeking deconducted lenging the SIR exerferment of the Kerala before is not a cise in the two states. SIR to December 2, ground to The remark about while asking the ECI challenge the extending the deadline and State Election Election for publication of the Commission to file Commission’s draft rolls came after their responses by Dedecision to the parties appearing cember 1. SIR in Tamil carry out this in the SIR for West Nadu has been chalexercise in Bengal raised concerns lenged by DMK, several states, about the court fixing CPI(M), and actor Vithe SC said the next date of hearjay’s TVK. The AlADing to December 9, MK, on the other hand, which they claimed was the has filed an application supdate for publication of the draft porting the SIR. roll as per the SIR schedule. During the hearing, the “So what? If you make out a bench observed that the EC has case, then we can direct them “inherent power to determine to extend the date. Can that correctness of entry in Form date (publication of draft roll) 6”. be a ground for the court to say The hearing will continue on we don’t have any power now? Thursday . AS soon as Marco Jansen ran behind and took the catch to condemn India to their worst Test defeat in history (in terms of runs), attention and the focus had turned towards multiple things. What seems astonishing is that India allowed a proud home record to be smashed to bits. For a side that had lost four home Tests from the beginning of 2013 to the end of 2023, they have now endured a run of five losses in seven Tests in 13 months. By any measure, this makes for grim reading. Coach Gautam Gambhir, one of the few constants in all of those losses, offered transition but he was categorical in saying he wasn’t using that as an excuse. Sure, this team has India: Hasina extradition plea under scrutiny J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi India on Wednesday confirmed it has received a request from Bangladesh to extradite former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and said the matter is under examination through “ongoing judicial and internal legal processes”. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “The request is being examined as part of ongoing judicial and internal legal processes. We remain committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh, including peace, democracy in, clusion and stability in that country and will continue to engage constructively in this regard with all stakeholders.” Hasina has been living in exile in India since August 5 last year following the collapse of her government after violent student-led protests. Last week, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Dhaka sentenced her to death in absentia for “crimes against humanity” linked to her government’s handling of the unrest. Following the verdict, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry had requested Hasina’s return in a formal letter to New Delhi, calling her a “fugitive accused” and citing the bilateral extradition agreement. critical elements `7,300 cr push for rare earth atmanirbharta Supports govt’s ‘Net Zero 2070’ goal M U K E S H RANJAN @ New Delhi Amid a shortage of rare earth magnets blamed on China’s export restrictions, the Centre on Wednesday approved a `7,280-crore scheme to boost domestic manufacturing of these critical materials. Minister for Information & Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters that the ‘Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Sintered Rare Earth Permanent Magnets (REPM) has been approved with a financial outlay of `7,280 crore. The aim is to establish 6,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) of integrated manufacturing in the country, Vaishnaw added. “This first-of-its-kind initiative aims to establish 6,000 metric tonnes per annum of integrated rare earth Ashwini Vaishnaw | PTI The scheme will not only secure the REPM supply chain for domestic industries but also support the nation’s Net Zero 2070 commitment, the government said. It envisions allocating the total capacity to five beneficiaries through a global competitive bidding process. manufacturing in India, thereby enhancing self-reliance and positioning India as a key player in the global market,” a government statement noted. “The total financial outlay of the scheme is `7,280 crore, comprising a sales-linked incentives of `6,450 crore on REPM sales for five years and capital subsidy of `750 crore for setting up an aggregate of 6,000 MTPA of REPM manufacturing facilities,” the statement said. China controls about 60% of global rare earth mining and nearly 90% of refining and processing capacity. In April, it imposed restrictions on Sintered REPM exports, tightening supply to India’s automobile and electronics sectors. South Africa team celebrates with the trophy after winning the Test series | PTI had a significant amount of churn over the last year in terms of retirements, new non-playing staff and some injuries. But the top management legislate for this in all elite teams. This team either clearly hasn’t or thought the ones who were coming in as replacements were readymade. The team management including the coach seemed confused with what kind of pitch the team wanted and what kind of combination would succeed. Gambhir said: “That is why it is called transition. That is why these guys need time. Whether it’s the batting unit or the bowling unit. I don’t think ever in Indian cricket something like this has happened where the transition is happening in the spin-bowling department and in the batting department as well... in both skillsets.”  Continued on P5