tiruchy l monday l january 23, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Institutional deliveries shoot up in India: REport Medical institutions handled 95.5% of all deliveries in India in 2021-22, up from 88.6% in 2019-2021 100% hospital delivery in TN, T’gana Home deliveries common in many states Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Goa and two Union Territories — Puducherry and Lakshadweep — reported 100% institutional deliveries in 20212022, as per the data released by the Union health ministry’s Health Management Information System. Nine states, including Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, recorded 99% births in institutions | P7 ■ In rural areas of many states, especially in the Northeast, giving birth at home continues to be prevalent, as people lack easy access to institutional health care facilities ■ For instance, in Meghalaya, 42.8% of all births were at home while the figure for Nagaland was 21.7% and 19.4% for Manipur 4.5% National average for home deliveries in 2021-22 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 Hit by mobile thief, man falls to death from train in TN Modi lauds CJI’s pitch for making SC judgments in regional languages Gautham S e lvarajan @ Chennai PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lauded Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud’s pitch for making Supreme Court judgments available in regional languages. “At a recent function, the Hon’ble CJI Justice DY Chandrachud spoke of the need to work towards making SC judgments available in regional languages. He also suggested the use of technology for it. This is a laudatory thought, which will help many people, particularly youngsters,” Modi tweeted on Sunday . The PM added that governemnt is all for encouraging regional languages and is in favour of making the option available for studying subjects such as engineering and medicine in Indian A 24-year-old worker from West Bengal died near Korukkupet on Saturday after he fell off a moving train after being hit by a mobile phone snatcher waiting near the tracks. According to the Korukkupet Railway Police, Rony Sheik was on his way to Chennai from Howrah along with his relative on Coromandel Express when he was attacked by the unidentified thief. He was heading for Kerala for a construction job. “Around 4.30pm on Saturday , when the train was moving on the Korukkupet-Basin Bridge stretch, an unidentified man standing near the railway tracks hit Rony who was sitting , on the footboard, with his hand and his mobile phone fell off the train. Rony too lost his balance and fell to the ground. The man then fled from the spot with the mobile phone,” a railway police officer said. After passersby informed the Korukkupet Railway Police, they rushed Rony to Stanley Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. The body was sent for postmortem. A case has been registered. In a similar incident on Friday a CISF constable had com, plained that he was pushed off a moving train near Korukkupet by an unidentified man who allegedly stole his mobile phone. Vivek Kumar, the 26year-old police officer from Bihar, was treated at the Government Stanley Hospital before he boarded another train to continue his journey. Police later located the mobile phone near the tracks and handed it over to Kumar. The victim attached to the CISF unit in Chhattisgarh was headed for Vijayawada on Coromandel Express from Chennai Central Railway Station on Friday when the attack happened.  P5 R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi FBI agents walk near the crime scene in Monterey Park, California, on Sunday | ap 10 shot dead at Chinese New Year event in US city Suspect at large; police probing hate crime angle; fifth mass killing in the US this month E x press N e ws S er v i c e AT least 10 people were killed and 10 others injured, some of the critically, when a gunman opened fire at a Chinese lunar year celebration at a ballroom dance club at Monterey Park in Southern California on Saturday around 10:20 pm local time. This is the fifth mass killing in the US this month. When local police first arrived, people were “pouring out of the location screaming,” Capt Andrew Meyer of the Los Angeles Sheriff ’s Department told reporters in a news briefing at the scene. He added that the police are on the lookout for the male suspect, who is on the run, and are probing whether it was a hate crime or not. While he gave no description of the wanted man, or the kind of gun he used, US media reports quoting witnesses said the gunman shot indiscriminately with a semiautomatic weapon. Footage posted on social media showed injured people on stretchers being taken to ambulances by emergency staff. Around the scene of the shoot- ing police guarded cordoned-off streets, the video showed. Chinese Lunar New Year is an annual 15-day festival to celebrate in the new year on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. Monterey Park is a city of about 60,000 people that sits at the eastern edge of Los Angeles. The majority of its residents are Asian immigrants or their descendants, most of them Chinese. Police said they are looking into an attempted shooting at a ballroom and dance studio in the neighboring city of Alhambra. Reports said an attack had been thwarted with the alleged gunman tackled and disarmed. “We have investigators on scene trying to determine if there’s a connection between these two incidents,” said Mayer. The Monterey Park violence also marked the deadliest since May 24, 2022 — when 21 people were killed in a school in Uvalde, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the US. It comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub. express read Gokulraj murder: HC judges visit temple Namakkal: Madras high court judges MS Ramesh and N Anand Venkatesh went to Arthanareeswarar temple and reviewed CCTV footage and inspected the temple premises in connection with Gokulraj murder case in Tiruchengode on Sunday. The two judges also visited Pallipalayam railway track where the victim was found dead | P2 433 more schools under free breakfast scheme Chennai: The state government has extended the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme to cover students in Classes 1-5 in 433 government middle and high schools in local bodies where the scheme is being implemented and allotted `4.6 crore for it. The scheme will now cover an additional 336 corporation schools and 97 schools in municipalities across TN | P2 pti languages. Tagging a video clip of Chandrachud’s speech, delivered at an event organised by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in Mumbai recently, the PM tweeted that the government at the Centre has been taking numerous efforts to encourage the Indian languages. Taking to his twitter, the prime minister said that India’s several languages add to cultural vibrancy . It may be recalled that the prime minister has in the past often pitched for making judicial verdicts more accessible to the common man by making those available in regional languages. On July 7 in 2022, PM Modi had also emphasised the importance of providing engineering education in local languages India has several languages, which add to our cultural vibrancy. The Central Government is undertaking numerous efforts to encourage Indian languages including giving the option of studying subjects like engineering and medicine in one’s Matru Bhasha Narendra Modi, PM Hours after asking ‘who’s SRK?’, Assam CM says he spoke to actor on protests P rasnata ma z um dar @ Guwahati Hours after he said, “Who is Shah Rukh Khan? I don’t know anything about him,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday tweeted saying the actor called him over phone at 2 am and expressed concerns over protests in Guwahati against his latest film Pathaan. “He expressed concern about an incident in Guwahati during screening of his film. I assured him that it’s duty of state govt to maintain law & order. We’ll enquire and ensure no such untoward incidents,” Sarma tweeted. Members of a right-wing organisation allegedly tore up and torched posters of the film in Guwahati. The movie is facing a backlash for showing actor Deepika Padukone clad in A poster of movie Pathaan torn down by miscreants in Guwahati | express a saffron bikini in the song Besharam Rang. Sarma’s tweet comes a day after he said: “Who is Shah Rukh Khan? We have many Shah Rukh Khans here.” Sarma was responding to a question at a press conference on what action his government has taken against those involved in the torching of posters. When pressed further, the Assam CM had said, “If some- Congress names EVKS Elangovan as its candidate for Erode bypoll, Selvaperunthagai may face heat S K U M A R E SA N @ Chennai Former Union Minister EVKS Elangovan has been named the Congress party’s candidate for the February 27 Erode (East) bypoll under the DMK alliance. A press statement of AICC issued on Sunday , signed by general secretary Mukul Wasnik, said, “ The Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the candidature of EVKS Elangovan as Congress candidate for the ensuing by-election.” The bypoll was announced by the Election Commission days ago following the death of the constituency MLA E Thiruma- han Everaa, son of Elangovan, on January 4 at the age of 46. A senior functionary said the party has chosen Elangovan considering his seniority and popularity The 74-year old . Elangovan is a former MLA and MP and was a union minister of state (commerce and industry) in the UPA regime. Though most of the party seniors expected Sanjay Sampath, brother of Thirumahan Everaa, to be the party candidate, AICC has picked EVKS Elangovan. Party sources said the move is aimed at countering the influence of Congress Legislat u re Pa r t y ( C L P ) l e a d e r K Selvaperunthagai. Elangovan hails from Erode and is from social reformer Thanthai Periyar’s family Elangovan had . himself said in the last few days that he was not interested in contesting the bypoll and wanted his younger son Sanjay Sampath to get the seat. Sanjay Sampath had also submitted his willingness to contest the bypoll to party-incharge Dinesh Gundurao. Speaking on condition of anonymity, some party sources Spl officers in Kovai police stations to ensure justice for abused Animals E x press N e ws S er v i c e @ Coimbatore In a possible first in Tamil Nadu, the Coimbatore City Police have appointed two animal welfare liaison officers (AWLO) in all police stations to handle animal abuse and animal cruelty cases in the city . Coimbatore city police commissioner V Balakrishnan said the officers were trained in laws related to animal welfare by four experts, including Ma- dras High Court advocates and animal welfare organisation members, at the commissioner office on Saturday . According to S Thangam, assistant commissioner of police and nodal officer for the project, though cases related to animal cruelty are registered regularly police , officers need to be sensitised to the special approach needed to handle such cases. Most police officers do not have the experience in registering such cases under suitable laws, arresting accused, taking such cases to their logical conclusion, and rescuing and treating affected animals. Most of the cases registered under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act are usually handled like regular cases. Policemen also need to have a clear idea about the Act. This project has been launched for the first time in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu to address these lacunae and offer immediate legal and medical assistance to the affected animals, Thangam said.  Continued on: p5 told TNIE, “A section of party MLAs are not happy with firsttime Congress MLA Selvaperunthagai being the floor leader of the party in the assembly Re. cently, a dispute erupted between Nanguneri MLA and party’s state treasurer Ruby R Manoharan and TNCC president KS Alagiri over appointing party functionaries in Nanguneri constituency. Selvaperunthagai extended his support to Manoharan. Since Elangovan’s victory is a foregone conclusion, after poll results, steps will be taken to remove Selvaperunthagai from floor leader post as Elangovan is a very senior leader of the party .” during a virtual meeting with the heads of 107 centrally funded technical institutions on July 7 in 2022. In recent times also, the prime minister cautioned against controversies erupted over languages saying that every regional language is ‘worth –worshiping’ as it keeps reflecting India’s culture and colloquial diversity . On the secuirty front, speaking at the 57th All India Conference of Director Generals and Inspector Generals of Police in Delhi, Modi called for more cooperation between state police forces and central agencies to leverage capabilities. While he said the police forces should be trained in emerging technologies, he also called for further strengthening of the traditional policing mechanisms such as foot patrols. body has done something which violated law and order and a case has been filed, we will take action. If there was a problem, Shah Rukh Khan would have called me. If he calls, I will see to it. I often get calls from Bollywood actors.” The Opposition slammed Sarma, reminding him that he had stated only a day ago that he does not know the actor. “People who became Sanghis to form the government also have to become Congressmen to run the government on Raj Dhar ma,” senior Congress leader Pawan Khera tweeted. Speaking in Guwahati, Trinamool Congress leader Babul Supriyo said, “Shah Rukh Khan has a fan following across the world. By refusing to recognise him, Sarma and his BJP demonstrated their mindset towards the minorities.” Heartbreak at sudden death India’s World Cup ended amid drama in sudden death against New Zealand on Sunday. A look... Poor from top of the D This was an Achilles Heel at WC. India earned a lot of penalty corners but failed to convert many. Out of the ones they scored, most were rebounds Pressure factor This is an old chestnut and coach Graham Reid admitted it could be this. Going forward, he hoped they will have a mental coach with the team Today’s matches New Zealand players celebrate with goalkeeper Lyon Hayward after India’s Samsher missed during sudden death on Sunday | debadatta malik Germany vs France 4.30 PM Argentina vs Korea 7.00 PM wrestling fiasco WFI meet off, uncertain times for grapplers f i r oz m i r z a @ Chennai There is no end to wrestling drama. In less than 24 hours, the Wrestling Federation of India was forced to call off its senior ranking tournament in Gonda and it cancelled emergency meeting too. In reposnse to sports ministry’s directive to cancel all activities with immediate effect, the WFI had said it would take a decision on Sunday and it is understood that after deliberation, they decided to cancel its emergency executive committee and general body meeting. “The proposed meeting has been called off,” tweeted the WFI. As reported by this newspaper, there is uncertainty over India’s participation in Zagreb Open Ranking Series from February 1 to 5. The WFI said that all participation inlcuding national and international might get affected. A provisional entry list had already been sent by the WFI before its chief Brij Bhush- an Sharan Singh got embroiled in the controversy The list in. cluded Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, Vinesh Phogat, Anshu Malik and Sarita Mor — the wrestlers who led the protest against Singh at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Visa process too had started before the protest. It is understood that Bajrang and his wife withdrew their names. The WFI’s meeting was to discuss various allegations levelled against Singh. All members from various affiliated state units present in Gonda backed the WFI chief, who has been asked to step aside from day-to-day activities of WFI till a proposed oversight committee, which is yet to be named, submits its probe report in four weeks. For wrestlers, the ranking series is important to get points that help them in getting seedings for World Championships, which is also an Olympic qualifier. The Croatia event will be followed by a Ranking Series in Egypt from February 23.