FP FREE PRESS The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms VOL. XXXX NO. 162 | INDORE | SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 19, 2023 | PAGES 18 `4 - r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE WORLD SHIFA HOSPITAL PATIENTS, STAFF LEAVE WEATHER STAGE SET FOR GRAND FINALE ‘SARMA SPEAKING TOO MUCH TO PLEASE HIS MASTERS’ Pg-7 28.40c. 15.00c Sunrise : 06.42 Sunset : 05.43 CRICKET WORLD CUP FINAL BETWEEN INDIA & AUSTRALIA IN AHMEDABAD TODAY PM MODI to watch the match likely with Australian Prime Minister; Air show by IAF AHMEDABAD When Kapil's Devils won the World Cup in 1983, cricket was still one of the sports in India and a champion team needed a true blue cricket fan Lata Mangeshkar to hold a concert so that each member could earn ? 1 lakh. In 2011, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team won, the BCCI was already a billion dollar entity. And, in the 28 years between 1983 and 2011, cr\icket had become an "industry". A dozen of years have passed by and as Rohit Sharma and his men go all out to win the Cup for the third time on Sunday, cricket as a sport is now a medium of 'Soft Power' for the country . 'Soft Power' is a term that defines countries which use sports and culture to enhance their geo-political influence. Cricket does give India the chance to flex its muscles not only in the sporting community but also socio-politically, in the larger context. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence during the final on Sunday, a grand air-show by the Indian Air Force, two former Cup winning captains Kapil and Dhoni watching from the stands with a Special prayers for Team India at Mahakal Team India captain Rohit Sharma and Australia captain Pat Cummins pose with ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 trophy ahead of its final in Ahmedabad on Saturday bevy of who's who from the world of entertainment and politics in attendance, the grandeur will be unmatched. There will be cultural programmes by Bollywood music director Pritam, singer Jonita Gandhi and current Coke Studio's Gujarati singing sensation Aditya Gadhavi of 'Gotilo' fame. Programmes have been lined up before toss and at the innings break with 500 dancers from Mumbai expected to gyrate to popular Bollywood numbers. Possibly for the visiting Australian team and also for the greater TV audience across the globe, it would be a taste of India's soft power with cricket being a tool. There will be audience too, at least 1.30 lakh, who wouldn't want to settle for anything less than a global crown and another 1.39 billion sitting in their homes. Like every India match in this World Cup, it will be an 'Ocean of Blue' in the stands and on the streets. The counterfeit industry had a boom time, and all the No. 18s and 45s -- jersey numbers of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma respectively -- will be whipped away from the street corner in a flash. Little ones, their dads, Special prayers were held at Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar temple on Saturday. Pandit Jitendra Pujari said that the vijay anusthan was performed to invoke blessings of Lord Mahakal on the players. The photos of players were kept near Shivlinga and tilak was applied on all of them. “We wished for Team India’s victory while reciting mantras,” he said. moms, grand dads and the pesky neighbour, everyone will 'Bleed Blue' come Sunday . This will certainly be an 'Evening to Remember' but only time will tell whether Rohit and his men can make it an 'Evening to Savour'. have done well. It has not crowd's opposition and have been professional. Our bowlersdonedefending totals. Theybeen easy containing Our andthere's nothing more satisfyingbe veryhearing a bigbut it's also silent Thethat's the obviously going to than one-sided crowd go in sport spinners have well in the middle overs by taking wickets aim for us tomorrow. SHOCKER! ROHIT SHARMA, SKIPPER, INDIA PAT CUMMINS, SKIPPER, AUSTRALIA Diggy stages sit-in outside police stn with party worker's body ‘Israeli PM be shot & killed without trial for war crimes in Gaza,' says Congress MP WON'T BUDGE an inch from Rajnagar unless justice is done, says former CM THIRUVANANTHAPURAM THREE KILLED IN CLASH IN SHIVPURI OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Three persons were killed and a few others injured in a clash between two families over old rivalry in Chakrampur of Shivpuri on Friday night. Police have registered a case and investigation is on. Shivpuri police said the deceased were identified as Amar alias Himanshu (20), Asha Devi Bhadoria wife of Munna Bhadoria (42) and Laxman Bhadoria (45). Sources said a controversy arose between families of Munna Bhadoria and Veer Singh Kushwah on Friday evening. After sometime, when the Bhadoria family was returning in a jeep, the Kushwahs pelted stones and set the vehicle on fire. Guns were also used in the incident. The victims were rushed to the hospital where three succumbed to injuries. One of the survivors, Saurav said about 50 people intercepted the jeep and set it on fire. Himanshu who sat inthe vehicle, was burnt. Two others tried to escape but were gunned down. Amid the ongoing Israeli ground offensive against Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip, in the wake of the October 7 terror attacks, Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan came up with a shocker on Saturday, saying that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- S Africa leads criminal charge against Israel Five countries have asked the International Criminal Court to determine whether crimes have been committed in the Palestine territories during the course of Israel’s retribution for Hamas terror attacks on October 7. The countries are South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti. tanyahu "should be shot and killed without a trial". Speaking at a rally to demonstrate solidarity with Palestine in Kasargod, Kerala, amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, the Congress leader openly advocated the "Nuremberg model" (invoking the trial of Nazis in Nuremberg for the holocaust) against the Israeli PM. "You can ask what should be done to those who break all agreements under the Geneva Convention. CONTD. ON P6 FP NEWS SERVICE Chhatarpur The alleged murder of Congress worker in Rajnagar Assembly constituency in Chhatarpur district has generated a lot of heat in the state. Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, who reached the house of Salman reportedly murdered on the night of Thursday, staged a sit-in outside police station putting the body of the murdered worker on the spot. The state went to polls on Friday . Singh said he would be in Rajnagar unless the demands of the bereaved family Salman were met. Salman was just sitting on the road and let the vehicle move ahead, but the car of BJP candidate Arvind Pateria ran over him. Now, the accused is saying that it was just an accident, Digvijaya said. The police registered a named FIR against Pateria and 20 others, but they did not arrest any of the culprits. Singh said he would adopt the family of Salman, and speak to the collector and the superintendent of police of the district, seeking sternest action against the accused. He wanted to know the reasons for not arresting the culprits. Singh also said that had there been anyone else, his house would have been bulldozed by now, and that the government should give job to one of the members of Salman's family . He also took the national media to task saying they did not take up such a tragic incident. He said the national media as well as the local administration was under pressure from the government. Singh further said he would not budge an inch from Rajnagar unless the family of Salman got justice. CONTD. ON P6 Open AI sacks CEO, co-founder Altman FP NEWS SERVICE San Francisco The board of ChatGPT-maker Open AI said it has pushed out its co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Sam Altman after a review found he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board. Altman s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI, the company said on Friday . It has appointed chief technology officer Mira Murati as the interim CEO effective immediately The company also . removed its co-founder Greg Brockman from the board over a quick call on Google Meet. CONTD. ON P6 Maldives asks India to withdraw military presence NEW DELHI: A day after he was sworn in, the office of Maldives president Mohamed Muizzu on Saturday announced that the government has officially asked India to withdraw its military presence from the country. The announcement said Muizzu formally made the request when he met Union Minister Kiren Rijiju at President's Office earlier in the day. Rijiju was in the country to attend the swearing-in ceremony. Martyrs remembered on Rezang La Day CHANDIGARH The sacrifices made by the Indian soldiers in were remembered on Rezang La Day here on Saturday . In the Battle of Rezang La against the Chinese army on November 18 in 1962, 120 Indian soldiers of the Charlie Company of 13 Kumaon Regiment defended the Rezang pass in the strategically important lo- cation near the Chushul airfield in Ladakh. In the action, 114 Indian soldiers lost their lives, while more than 1,000 Chinese troops were also killed. Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, while paying tribute to the martyrs, stressed on the need to make NCC compulsory in all schools. He was the chief guest at the programme, which was organised by Suvichar, a think-tank. General (retd.) V . Malik was the guest of .P honour. Param Vir Chakra awardees, honorary Capt (retd) Bana Singh and SubMajor Sanjay Kumar, were felicitated on the occasion. They narrated the indomitable courage displayed by the Indian soldiers during the war. Purohit said, "I take pride in saluting the soldiers of Charlie Company of 13 Kumaon Regiment who fought the Chinese against all odds. It was a saga of unparalleled bravery as Major Shaitan Singh and his soldiers made the supreme sacrifice, fighting one of the world's rarest 'last man, last bullet' battles. "We have been listening to bravery stories of our martyrs and it's a privilege for us to have two Param Vir Chakra awardees among us. CONTD. ON P6 QUALITY AT VALUE r RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in AWESOME TWOSOME Pg-18 BE AGGRESSIVE: Vaishnaw cautions social media platforms on deepfakes NEW DELHI: Amid serious concerns over 'deepfake' videos, the government is all set to meet social media platforms on the issue, with IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday asserting that safe harbour immunity clause will not apply if platforms do not take adequate steps to remove deepfakes. Vaishnaw told reporters that the government had recently issued notices to companies on the deepfake issue, and while the plat- ‘Immunity won't apply if platforms don't take action’ forms have responded, companies will have to be "more aggressive" in taking action on such content. "They are taking steps...but we think that many more steps will have to be taken. And we are very soon going to have a meeting of all the platforms. "Maybe in the next 34 days, we'll call them for brainstorming on that and make sure that platforms make adequate efforts for preventing it (deepfakes), and for cleaning up their platforms," Vaishnaw said on the sidelines of a conference. Asked if big platforms like Meta and Google would be called for the meeting, the minister replied in the affirmative. CONTD. ON P6 State records 77.15% polling, more women vote in 38 seats than men Male voting percentage 78.21, female 76.03 OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL The polling percentage which was 76.22% on Friday shot up to 77.15% after the State Election Commission released the final data of polling percentage on Saturday . The political parties, especially the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have begun to guess at how many seats they are going to win on the basis of the high percentage of voting, especially of women. Of 230 constituencies, the percentage of votes cast by women was more than that of the votes cast by their male counterparts on 38 seats. The overall male voting percentage stood at 78.21 % while overall female voting percentage was 76.03%. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress focused on women voters in the assembly election. The BJP laid emphasis on the Ladli Behna Yojana and on providing LPG cylinders at cheaper rates. The Congress party also highlighted on the Nari Samman Yojna and on supplying gas cylinders for Rs 500 during the electioneering. As many as 1.32 crore women are getting the benefits under the Ladli Behna Yojana. The BJP counted on the women voters. The names of many women were included in the voter's list, so the saffron party and Congress spared no effort to woo women voters. The women voters of Vindhya region took special interest in this election. In the 2018 assembly election, the saffron party won 24 of 30 seats in the region. Because the percentage of voters was very in the region, the BJP looks enthusiastic. WOMEN VOTERS PREVAIL Names of assembly constituencies where women voting percentage was quite high. They are: Sheopur (79.38%), Vijaypur (81.15%), Pichhore (84.34%), Raghogarh (81.08%), Prithvipur (81.81%), Jaisinghnagar (82.28%), Jaithpur (81.11 %), Pushprajgarh (80.21 %), Bahoriband (80.97%), Sihora (80.52%), Dindori (82.81 %), Bichiya (82.05%), Keolari (88.12%), Churai (86.77%), Ghodadongri (83.70%), Sohagpur (85%), Budhni (82.77%)Kasrawad (84.48%), Malhargarh (84.06%) etc. BJP, Cong into wishful thinking after high polling percentage ALL POLITICIANS are claiming victory NITENDRA SHARMA BHOPAL Leaders of the BJP and the Congress began to claim their win on the basis of high percentage of polling in the state on Friday . After the formation of Madhya Pradesh in 1956, it happened for the first time that the state registered over 77% of polling. So both the parties are doing wishful thinking. The BJP leaders feel that most of the women may have voted for the ruling party and that it may have been the impact of the Ladli Behna Yojana. The BJP supporters are also thinking in this direction. According to BJP supporters, the party is going to get an upper hand in Mahakaushal and Malwa Nimar. They said the seats the BJP lost in the Assembly election of 2018 would return to the party but it may , not happen in that way . The Congress is counting on anti-incumbency The . Congress leaders feel the people in rural areas voted for the party . The high voting percentage goes in favour of the opposition party said Congress , leaders, adding that it shows people are very angry with the government. Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh again claimed that his party would win more than 130 seats. On the other hand, BJP's state president VD Sharma said his party would return to power with a huge majority . CONTD. ON P6 SpaceX’s 2nd rocket launch ends in explosion WASHINGTON: SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship on Saturday, but lost the booster and then the spacecraft minutes into the test flight. The booster had sent the rocketship toward space, but communication was lost eight minutes after liftoff from South Texas and SpaceX declared that the vehicle had failed. The trouble cropped up as the ship's engines were almost done firing to put it on an around-the-world path. SILKYARA TUNNEL COLLAPSE Hi-tech machine from Indore deployed to rescue labourers UTTARKASHI: A highperformance drilling machine airlifted from Indore in Madhya Pradesh reached Silkyara on Saturday where its three parts would be assembled before being deployed for drilling, officials over looking operation to rescue labourers stuck in partially-collapsed Silkyara tunnel said. The machine was rushed to Silkyara after an USmade auger machine deployed to drill and push in pipes through the rubble to prepare an escape passage for the trapped workers developed a snag. Meanwhile, the number of workers who have been trapped inside the tunnel since Sunday has been revised to 41. Deepak Kumar from Muzaffarpur district in Bihar was identified as A high-performance drilling machine airlifted from Indore brought for rescue operation in Uttarkashi on Saturday the 41st person to be stuck in the tunnel. A team of officials from the Centre including Additional Secretary, MoRTH Mahmood Ahmed, Deputy Secretary, PMO, Mangesh Ghildiyal, Varun Adhikari, Geologist Engg, and engineering expert Armando Capellan have arrived in Silkyara to do an on-thespot review of the rescue operations. At 2.45 pm on Friday, during the position- ing of the fifth pipe, a loud cracking sound was heard in the tunnel after which the rescue operation was suspended, a statement issued by the NHIDCL late on Friday night said. The sound created panic among the rescue team. The pipepushing activity was stopped after an expert involved with the project warned about the possibility of further collapse in the vicinity CONTD. ON P6 .