WEDNESDAY 25 DECEMBER 2024 www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR DHANKHAR ANGUISHED OVER OPPOSITION’S NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION ISRAEL ADMITS KILLING HANIYEH IN TEHERAN P9 SENSEX 78,472.87q67.30 WEATHER Mostly cloudy. Hazy in the evening. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 27°C and 18°C respectively. TEMPERATURE Max: 27.2˚C SUN RISES 06:13 hrs MOON RISES 01:06 hrs P8 23,727.65q25.80 ` vs $ 85.16 NEW DELHI, 24 DECEMBER Min: 18.3˚C SUN SETS 16:59 hrs MOON SETS 12:42 hrs F New Moon on 31 December THUMBNAILS Devotees visit the Sacred Heart Cathedral Church on the eve of the Christmas festival in New Delhi on Tuesday. n ANI 5 soldiers killed in mishap in J&K's Poonch: Five Army soldiers were killed and five others critically injured when a truck in which they were travelling plunged into a nearly 300 ft deep gorge along the Line of Control in Poonch district on Tuesday evening. The Army has ruled out a terrorist-Initiated Incident. The mishap occurred around 5.40 p.m when the Army vehicle of 11 Maratha Light Infantry, fell into the gorge near the Ghora Post. our days after confirming that estranged neighbours India and Pakistan will not play in each other’s territories at least till 2027, the International Cricket Council on Tuesday unveiled the official schedule of the Champions Trophy 2025 that runs from 19 February to 9 March with Pakistan hosting their first global cricket tournament since 1996, alongside the UAE which was confirmed as the neutral venue for matches involving India. The decision to hold India’s matches away from Pakistan, the official host country, was finalised after Mohsin Naqvi, the PCB chairman, met with Sheikh Nahyan Al Mubarak in Pakistan. Sheikh Nahyan is a senior UAE minister and the head of the Emirates Cricket Board. Accordingly, the Indian team will begin their Champions Trophy 2025 campaign against Bangladesh in Dubai on 20 February, a day after the tournament officially kicks off in Karachi with a match between defending champions Pakistan and New Zealand. The highly-anticipated match between archrivals India and Pakistan will be played on 23 February in Dubai before the Men-in-Blue take on the Black Caps for their final group stage match on 2 March in Dubai. The 19-day competition will feature eight teams, divided into two groups of four each. India, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Pakistan form Group A while Afghanistan, Aus- Cong stages protests against Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar NEW DELHI, 24 DECEMBER Leaders and party workers of the Congress in parts of the country on Tuesday took to the streets in their respective states and UTs in protest against Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent remarks Budget 2025: PM Modi meets economists STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 24 DECEMBER Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with a group of eminent economists and thought leaders in preparation for the Union Budget 2025-26 at NITI Aayog. In his remarks at the meeting, PM Modi emphasised that Viksit Bharat can be achieved through a fundamental change in mindset which is focused towards making India developed by 2047. During the meeting which was also attended by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, economists shared suggestions on wide range of topics including employment generation, skill development, enhancing agricultural productivity, attracting investment, boosting exports among others. The participants included eminent economists and analysts like Surjit S Bhalla, Ashok Gulati, Sudipto Mundle, Dharmakirti Joshi, Janmejaya Sinha, Madan Sabnavis, Amita Batra, Ridham Desai, Chetan Ghate, Bharat Ramaswami, Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Siddhartha Sanyal, Laveesh Bhandari, ajani Sinha, Keshab Das, Pritam Banerjee, Rahul Bajoria, Nikhil Gupta and Shashwat Alok. Mrs Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget 2025-26 in the Lok Sabha on 1 February 2025. GOLD 78,250.00 CT 2025: India to play all matches in Dubai TRIDIB BAPARNASH Min. 54% STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE P7 India-Pakistan match to take place on 23 February; final on 9 March RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 69% NIFTY on Babasaheb Ambedkar. The demonstrations in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pardesh, Bihar, Punjab, Telangana, Assam and other states were held as part of the nationwide protest announced by the Congress in protest against Mr Shah’s remarks. They held ROHIT REFUSES TO REVEAL BATTING ORDER FOR MCG TEST MAN WHO NEVER RESTED ON HIS LAURELS Babasaheb Ambedkar Samman Marches and submitted a memorandum to the President through District Collectors demanding Mr Shah’s resignation. In Delhi, the demonstrations were held in various parts of the national capital. In J&K, the party leaders carried out the Babasaheb Ambedkar Samman March, starting from Panama Chowk. The leaders presented a memorandum to the President through the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, to honour Ambedkar's legacy and protest against Shah's remarks, demanding his resignation, according to the J&KCongress post on X. tralia, England and South Africa are in Group B. The matches for both groups ~ apart from the India games ~ will be played across Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. A total of 12 group-stage matches will be played, followed by the semifinals and final. The tournament returns to the cricket calendar for the first time since the last edition was staged in 2017. The two semi-final matches will take place on 4 and 5 March, and with both games being allocated reserve days, it's not impossible that they end up taking place on the same day, though Dubai is usually dry at that time of the year. The final is slated for 9 March, with a reserve day. The first semi-final will be played in the UAE, irrespective of India’s involvement, while the second semifinal will be in Lahore. The final has been slotted for Lahore, with the provision of holding it in the UAE if 2013 champions India make it to the title clash. P12 SILVER 99,000 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 72.86p0.54 New Governors for five states; Arif Md Khan shifted to Bihar NEW DELHI, 24 DECEMBER The President of India Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday appointed former Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla as the governor of Manipur, replacing Lakshman Prasad Acharya. Mr Bhalla's appointment comes in the midst of the ongoing conflict between the Meitei and Kuki communities, which has so far claimed well over 200 lives. Further, Hari Babu Kambhampati, Governor of Mizoram, has been appointed as the Governor of Odisha, following the resignation of Raghubar Das. Mr Kambhampati will be replaced by Former Union Minister of State and former Army chief, General Vijay Kumar Singh as Mizoram Governor. In addition, the President has appointed Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan as Governor of Bihar. Current Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar will succeed Mr Khan as the Governor of Kerala. Notably, the Bihar Assembly elections are scheduled to take place next year. The appointments will take effect from the dates the Governors assume charge of their respective offices, an official statement said. AGENCIES First JPC meeting on ONOE Bills on 8 Jan STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 24 DECEMBER A 39-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) will hold its first meeting on the Bills related to 'One Nation, One Election' bills on 8 January, next year, sources said. The JPC was constituted on Friday to review two Bills related to “one nation, one election”. According to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, BJP MP PP Chaudhary has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Joint Parliamentary Committee. The panel com- prises 39 members, with 27 from the Lok Sabha and 12 from the Rajya Sabha. Among the members of the JPC are Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (Congress), Anurag Thakur and Anil Baluni (BJP), as well as other Opposition leaders such as Kalyan Banerjee (TMC), and Dharmendra Yadav (Samajwadi Party). The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth) Amendment Bill, 2024 and The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 were introduced in the Lok Sabha on 17 December