Fourth place finish for shooter Manu While she has already made history with two medals in Paris Olympics, another one at 25 m pistol event, would have sealed Manu Bhaker’s legacy among legendary Indian athletes. However, Bhaker finished fourth as she shot 28 in the eightwomen final, losing to Hungarian bronze medallist Veronika Major in the shoot-off | pti DHARMAPURI l SUNday l AUGUST 04, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l CITY EDITION 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 e x p r e s s r e ad Chirag ro appeal against SC sub-quota Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan said his party will appeal against the recent SC judgemnt allowing sub-groups within the 15% reservation for Scheduled Castes. He said reservation was given not on the economic criteria but on their social exclusion as they were considered untouchables. “The discrimination is not based on the economic criteria or on how much a person has progressed in his/her respective field, but because of untouchability,” he said. Nine killed in two road accidents in TN Dindigul/Virudhunagar: Nine persons were killed in two separate road accidents in Dindigul and Virudhunagar districts of Tamil Nadu on Saturday. A family of five, including two children aged three and nine, were killed when a car hit their two-wheeler on Natham Road in Dindigul. In another incident, four friends, including a government school teacher, died on the spot after their car crashed into a tree near Thiruchuli in Virudhunagar on Saturday evening | P4 2,253 Area (sqkm) 1,197 259 Agasthyamalai ,1249 227 Srivilliputhur Anamalai 310 566 323 1,457 No of jumbos Coimbatore @ New Delhi SV K R ISHNA C HAITANYA @ Chennai estimated population in each elephant reserve of state Nilgiris Eastern Ghats bal food security and global nutritional security .” He said the challenges before India is now a food surplus sustainable agriculture and country and is working to pro- food systems can only be tackvide solutions for global food led through the holistic apsecurity and nutritional secu- proach of ‘One Earth, One rity Prime Minister Narendra Family and One Future’. , Modi said on Saturday at a gloModi described small farmbal conference of agriculture ers as the country’s biggest economists. strength for food secuThe 32nd Internarity. As many as 90% tional Conference of of Indian farmers are Agricultural Econosmallholders. mists organised here Highlighting India’s after 65 years drew strides sustainable over 1,000 delegates farming, Modi said the from 70 countries. country has developed Modi said agricul1,900 new climate-reture is at the centre of silient varieties of India’s economic policrops in the last 10 cy, adding the recent years. He added that Union Budget gave a India is promoting big push to sustaina- India has a robust chemical-free natural system of ble and climate-resiland organic farming agriculture ient farming and deand moving towards education and veloping a complete research based on achieving 20% ethanol ecosystem to support blending in petrol. its heritage... In the Indian Indian farmers. “In the Indian agriagricultural “After years of susculture tradition, pritained efforts, now In- tradition, priority ority has been given to dia is a food surplus has been given to science and logic. Inscience and logic country. India is also dia has a robust systhe number one protem of agricultural Narendra Modi, PM ducer of milk, pulses education and reand spices in the search based on its world. Also, the country has be- heritage,” he said. come the second-largest proModi said black rice from ducer of food grains, fruits, Manipur, Assam and Meghavegetables, cotton, sugar and laya is becoming the preferred tea,” Modi said. choice due to its medicinal valThe PM recalled that there ue. He also spoke about India’s was a time when India’s food willingness to share its millet security was a concern for the basket with the world and how world. “But now, India is work- the country is leveraging diging to provide solutions for glo- ital tech in the farm sector. R AJ E SH K U M A R THA K U R 4,662 PM: India part of TN now home to 3,063 wild global solution jumbos, 100 more than last yr on food security The wild elephant population in Tamil Nadu has risen to about 3,063, as per the latest synchronised elephant population estimation report released by Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday This is an increase . of over 100 elephants compared to last year’s estimation. The TN forest department, in coordination with the neighbouring Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, conducted the estimation from May 23 to 25. Officials told TNIE that Karnataka was compiling the data for the entire landscape and the results will be made public on August 12, which is World Elephant Day. The contiguous landscape in these states is home to around 15,000 jumbos. Chief Wildlife Warden Srinivas R Reddy told TNIE that TN forests can hold a population of Search op in last leg; plan to build new township M a n o j V i s w a n at h a n @ Mundakkai Five days after the catastrophic landslides in Wayanad, search and rescue operations for people stranded amid huge piles of debris entered the last phase on Saturday While 206 people are . still missing, chances of finding more survivors appear remote. Search teams recovered four bodies from Chooralmala and Mundakkai villages, while three bodies and 13 body parts were found in Chaliyar river at Munderi in Malappuram. Though the official records show the number of deceased as 218, the toll is estimated to have crossed 300. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the rescue mission is in its final stages. “Till Saturday noon, 215 bodies were recovered, of which 87 are women, 98 are men and 30 children. There are 206 missing. As many as 148 bodies have been handed over to relatives. 206 people are still missing,” Pinarayi said. The IAF deployed helicopters for aerial sorties in search of survivors and people stranded in the affected areas. They airlifted two rescue workers stranded at Soochippara waterfalls. Pinarayi said the government would build a safe township as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan. He said a safe area would be identified for the township. “Proper planning and labour are needed for completing that task quickly Discussions have been started at the . administrative level to build the new township,” he said. 20 December 1940 – 3 August 2024 Iconic maestro of Indian classical dance Geetha Chandran Indian classical dancer, trained Carnatic vocalist Y amini Krishnamurthy, an influential force in India’s dance world and an Asthana Vidhwan (Resident Artist) at the 2,000-year-old Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams passed away in Delhi on Saturday. She was 84. In the post-Independence era, she stood out as a true icon of Indian classical dance. She introduced Bhar- atanatyam to northern India, taking Delhi by storm with her performances. She was not just a master of Bharatanatyam; she also excelled in Kuchipudi and Odissi, bringing a unique versatility to her stage presence. I had the privilege of watching her performances. Once, I asked her why she adjusted the pace of her pieces when performing in Delhi. She said she often followed legends like Pandit Lachhu Maharaj and Sitara Devi and had to adapt her performance to reach out to her audience and make an impact. Yamini’s ability to innovate while preserving tra- dition significantly advanced and structured the dance form. Her father, Prof Krishnamurthy, would impeccably introduce her programmes. After completing her training at Kalakshetra in Chennai, her father advised her to start anew with a guru if she truly wished to pursue dance. This guidance was pivotal, as Yamini went on to pioneer the modern template of Bharatanatyam. She was one of the youngest to be awarded Padma Shri in 1968. Her legacy shall remain a beacon for classical dance in India. (As told to Prachi Satrawal) around 3,500 elephants. “Elephants are typically long-ranging animals and are distributed across landscapes covering different states. No drastic change in numbers is expected in the future as well, he said.” D Venkatesh, field director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, said the estimate of 3,063 came with 95% confidence. The lower and upper limit of the population is 3,054 and 3,071, respectively . The present age-specific estimates indicated that around 40% of the population are adult jumbos. Adult-dominated age structures are common in the Asian elephant population, given their long life span and slow reproductive rate. Elephants are polygynous species with an expected equal sex ratio at birth. A normal male-female ratio for elephants would be 1:1.87; a similar ratio was noticed in the latest estimation in TN.  P5 Bangladesh back on boil Y e s h i Se l i @ New Delhi With Bangladesh back on the boil as student leaders and protesters on Saturday rejected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s offer of talks, the country’s Chief of Army Staff (CAS) General Waker-uz-Zaman drew the red line on the Army not firing at civilians. “While addressing Army officers, the CAS said there would be no further firing by the Army . He said if the transition of power happened in a non-democratic way then Bangladesh would become like Kenya. He also pointed out that the recent student protests were the worst since 1971,” said a source. Army personnel are visiting different places across the country to assess the situation. “We are confident the Army means well as they are under oath and not like their Pak counterpart who would threaten with a coup. The protesters are demanding the PM’s resignation ,” Prof Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, a political commentator said. WITH THIS ISSUE Finding the Way Home PLUS 12 PAGES