Modi congratulates tribal students for scaling Mount Everest
New Delhi, May 27: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday congratulated five tribal students for scaling Mount Everest and also praised the all-women crew of INSV Tarini for circumventing the globe.
The tribal students -- Maneesha Dhurve, Pramesh Ale, Umakant Madhavi, Kavidas Katmode and Vikas Soyam -- from an Ashram School in Maharashtra's Chandrapur, scaled the world's highest peak on May 16.
Modi, in the 44th edition of his monthly radio address "Mann Ki Baat", said: "These Ashram School students began training in August 2017, covering Wardha, Hyderabad, Darjeeling and Leh-Ladakh. These young boys and girls had been selected under 'Mission Shaurya'. True to its name, they brought glory to the country with their brave deed of conquering the Everest."
He also praised several others, including 16-year-old Shivangi Pathak, for scaling the Everest.
Pathak became the youngest Indian woman to scale Everest from the Nepal side.
"For centuries, Everest has been throwing the gauntlet at humankind. And for long, brave hearts have been responding to the challenge," he said.
He spoke about Ajit Bajaj and his daughter -- the first ever father-daughter duo to ascend Everest.
Speaking about a Border Security Force (BSF) group who scaled the Everest and while returning, they brought loads of trash littered there, he said: "This deed is commendable indeed; it also displays their commitment towards cleanliness and the environment."
Modi congratulated the all-women crew of INSV Tarini for circumventing the globe.
The team, led by Lt. Commander Vartika Joshi and comprising Lt. Commanders Pratibha Jamwal and P. Swathi and Lieutenants S. Vijaya Devi, B. Aishwarya and Payal Gupta, had sailed out from Goa in September 2017.
"These six illustrious daughters of India circumnavigated the globe for over more than 250 days on board the INSV Tarini, returning home on May 21," he said.
Travelling across different oceans and seas, they covered almost twenty thousand nautical miles, "this was a first of a kind incident in the world", the Prime Minister said.
"I congratulate these daredevils, especially the daughters from the core of my heart," he added.
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IPL mega auction to be held in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on November 24, 25: BCCI
New Delhi, Nov 5: The mega auction ahead of the Indian Premier League 2025 will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24 and 25, the BCCI announced on Tuesday.
This is the second successive year the auction is being held overseas as Dubai hosted the previous one ahead of the IPL 2024.
The player registration officially closed on Monday and a total of 1,574 cricketers (1,165 Indian and 409 overseas) have been signed up for the auction, which will clash with the third and fourth day’s play of the first Test between India and Australia in Perth, which begins on November 22.
Each franchise will be able to form a maximum squad of 25 players (including respective retained players), and a total of 204 slots will be up for grabs from the auction.
The list includes 320 capped players, 1,224 uncapped players and 30 players from the Associate Nations.
Among capped players, 48 are from India. Moreover, 965 uncapped players of the country will also be part of the auction.
This year’s auction will feature some high-profile India stars such as Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Arshdeep Singh.
The 10 franchises will collectively have around Rs 641.5 crore to spend for the available 204 slots.
Out of those 204 slots, 70 are earmarked for overseas players.
As of now, 46 players have been retained by the 10 franchises with cumulative expenditure of Rs 558.5 crore.
Each franchise was allocated Rs 120 crore to build their squads but after the retention process, which was announced on October 31, Punjab Kings have the biggest purse -- Rs 110.5 crore.
The Punjab outfit retained just two uncapped players -- Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh for Rs 9.5 crore.
Rajasthan Royals, under Sanju Samson, have the smallest purse of Rs 41 crore after retaining six players.
The Kolkata Knight Riders have also retained six players but they have a remaining purse of Rs 51 crore.
