VILLUPURAM  MONDAY  MARCH 01, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 28  CITY EDITION MAIDEN MISSION OF ISRO’s COMMERCIAL ARM A SUCCESS NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) through PSLV-C51 injects Brazil’s Amazonia-1 into orbit 17 minutes after launch from Sriharikota 18 CO-PASSENGER SATELLITES, TOO, IN ORBIT An optical earth observation satellite, Amazonia-1 will provide remote sensing data for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region and analysing diversified farming. Apart from Amazonia-1, the PSLV rocket carried 18 other satellites that separated in a predetermined sequence. Of the 18, 14 were NSIL’s, comprising one from India and 13 from the US | P5 342 THREE SATS DEVELOPED BY COLLEGES ■ The other four sats belonged to IN-SPACe, of which three were developed jointly with Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, GH Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur, and Sri Shakti Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore. The fourth was Satish Dhawan Sat (SDSAT) by Chennai-based Space Kidz SATELLITES OF 34 CUSTOMER COUNTRIES LAUNCHED BY PSLV SO FAR CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Shah hails EPS, says TN is best in handling Covid-19 K R I T H I K A S R I N I V A S A N @ Villupuram THE BJP’s camaraderie with the AIADMK got a fresh booster shot on Sunday when Union Home Minister Amit Shah heaped praises on the Edappadi K Palaniswamy government in Tamil Nadu for its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. “Tamil Nadu stood number one in governance in general, and amid the pandemic too, for which I congratulate Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam,” Shah said while addressing a massive public meeting at Janakipuram Ground. Asserting that the BJP would ally with the AIADMK for the elections in April, he took potshots at the Opposition, accusing it of indulging in corruption. He lashed out at the DMK over the 2G spectrum case, saying Tamil Nadu has 2G, 3G and 4G — two generations of Murasoli Maran’s family, three of M Karunanidhi’s family and four of Jawaha, rlal Nehru’s family — all vying for power. In a scathingly raw attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said, “Rahul baba goes to watch jallikattu live to show solidarity with Tamil people, forgetting that it was the Congress that had banned jallikattu. The BJP and AIADMK had revoked the ban.” Greeting the crowd with a warm “vanakkam” when he climbed onto the dais, Shah proceeded with an elaborate introduction, highlighting that Tamil is the oldest and sweetest language. He P4 also apologised for not speaking in it. ‘Will use non-violence and love to beat Modi’ E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Tirunelveli CONGRESS leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “formidable enemy” who ‘crushed’ his opponents, and vowed to send him to political oblivion by following the path of love and non-violence. Speaking at the Educator’s Meet at St Xavier’s College in Palayamkottai, Gandhi, who is touring southern TN for the second day as part of his second leg of campaign, said he counted on people’s support to defeat the BJP. When a participant wanted to know if Gandhi felt it was possible to nudge the Modi government to implement his ‘good ideas’ rather than waiting to assume power which seemed ‘Utopian’, he said it could be done with the ‘powerful’ and ‘valuable’ support of the people. “It was important to dream big, though some of it may not come true,” he said, in an obvious reference to snatching the reins of power from the BJP “Yes, we are fighting a formidable en. emy (Modi). We are fighting an enemy that is dominating the money We are fighting an ene. my that is crushing its opponents. But we have done this before. We have defeated a much bigger enemy (British) than this new enemy P4 .” All set, says govt as elderly to get jab from today EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai THE Health department has sufficient doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for people above the age of 60 and those above 45 who have specified co-morbid conditions, officials of the department said on Sunday Peo. ple in these categories are set to get vaccinated from Monday . “We have enough doses of the vaccine for them. People in these groups will have to register on the CoWIN 2.0 app to- EXPRESS READ Stalin files application to contest from Kolathur Chennai: DMK chief MK Stalin will contest from Kolathur Assembly constituency for the third time in a row. He filed an application for this on Sunday. After shifting to Kolathur from Thousand Lights constituency in 2011, Stalin defeated AIADMK’s Saidai Sa Duraisamy in 2011 and AIADMK’s JCD Prabakar in 2016. WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) YOUR LIFE COACH morrow (Monday). But even if they can’t, they may walk in with their ID card for spot registration from 9 am,” Director of Public Health TS Selvavinayagam told Express. A c c o rd i n g t o t h e Health de par tment, Tamil Nadu received a total of 23.77 lakh doses of vaccines, of which 21 lakh are of Covishield and 2.77 lakh are Covaxin. So far, 4.57 lakh healthcare and frontline workers in the State have been vaccinated, against the target of 8.21 lakh people. Vaccines are being administered at 761 private centres in Tamil Nadu, and of them, 65 are in Chennai. At private hospitals, the vaccine is priced at `250, while it is administered free of cost at gover nment hospitals. The CoWIN 2.0 app will be opened for the above-mentioned categories of people, besides the option of self-registration using Aadhaar, voter’s ID, driver’s licence, PAN card, AZAD RAPPED FOR HAILING PM, POKING AT THE GANDHIS EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Srinagar/New Delhi A day after the G23 dissenters observed that the Congress was getting weaker, veteran party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for staying true to his roots while indirectly questioning the way the Gandhis function. On his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after his Rajya Sabha term ended on February 15, Azad said: “I appreciate that he (Modi) does not hide his true self. Those who do so are living in a bubble. I like a lot of things about many leaders. I am from a village and I am very proud of it. Politically we are opposed to , him but at least he does not hide his true (self) reality. We all should be proud of our roots.” However, his comments did not go down well with some party leaders, who countered it was the Modi-led Centre that abrogated the Article 370, and made the state a Union Territory after carving out Ladakh. or pension document with a photograph. People who register in advance, or those who opt for walk-in registration or on-site group mobilisation — such as through a pension association, resident welfare associations, or employee associations — may receive the vaccine from Monday . Advocacy and mobilisation in rural and semi-urban areas will be promoted to ensure those who want to get the vaccine have access to it. CB-CID to probe Rajesh Das case EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai THE Crime Branch-CID (CBCID) of the TN police has been tasked with investigating the allegations of sexual harassment against former special Director General of Police, Rajesh Das. An order to this effect was issued on Saturday sources in the , DGP’s office said. The move comes after the State government on Wednesday set up a panel to delve into a complaint from a woman IPS officer. The State Human Rights Commission has sought a detailed report from the government and the DGP within two weeks.