TIRUCHY l sunday l may 25, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l LATE city EDITION like a bad dream, covid cases creep up, experts say no worry One case of the newly emerging COVID-19 variant NB.1.8.1 and four instances of LF.7 type were detected in India, according to INSACOG data WHO says it’s not a variant of concern Man, 84, with comorbidities dies in B’luru As of May 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies LF.7 and NB.1.8 subvariants as ‘Variants being Monitored’, not as ‘Variants of Concern’ or ‘Variants of Interest’. But these are the variants that are reportedly driving the rise in Covid cases in China and parts of Asia. In India, the most common variant remains JN.1, comprising 53% of samples ■ ■ Delhi recorded 23 new cases, Thane 10, Andhra Pradesh recorded four in the last 24 hours, Telangana confirmed one. In Bengaluru, a 84-year-old man with comorbidities, who also had Covid, died Doctors in Delhi advised people not to panic and said the new strains are not severe; and that most patients only reported mild symptoms 273 new cases THAT were reported in KERALA this MONTH ALONE 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 miss world Performing like monkey, says Miss UK, leaves Group photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union ministers, chief ministers and administrators of various states and Union Territories at the NITI Aayog Governing Council meet in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI Modi chants Centre-state unity mantra to achieve Viksit goal MUKES H RAN J AN @ New Delhi Curbs on media at the Pentagon US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a series of restrictions on the media that include banning them from wide swaths of the Pentagon without govt escort | P9 WITH THIS ISSUE Stadium to Screen PLUS 12 PAGES Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged all states to develop at least one tourist destination at par with global standards by providing the full range of facilities, including infrastructure, while addressing the Gover ning Council of NITI Aayog. Giving special emphasis to tourism, he said, ‘One State, One Global Destination’, would lead to the development of neighbouring towns as well as tourist places. Chairing the 10th edition of the NITI Aayog’s Governing Council meeting, Modi said if the Union government and states work together like Team India, no goal is impossible to achieve. He urged all chief ministers to make the spirit of solidarity trickle down to the district and village levels. Noting that India collectively should work in a manner so as to bring change in the lives of common people, Modi said, “Only when people feel the change, it will transform into a national movement.” healthcare delivery focus The prime minister emphasized the need to focus on health services delivery. He urged the CMs to check if oxygen plants are functional in the context of possible Covid-related challenges. He also asked states to expand telemedicine coverage Modi also sought to expedite the pace of development. “We have to increase the speed of development,” he added. “This is the century of technology and it should be integrated in every field from governance to agriculture,” he said, adding: “Atmanirbhar Bharat and Vocal for Local are the strategies through which the vision of Viksit Bharat can be achieved. We should encourage it wholeheartedly .” The theme of this edition of the meeting was ‘Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat@2047’. “Viksit Bharat is the goal of every Indian. When every state is Viksit, then Bharat will be Viksit. This is the aspiration of its 140 crore citizens,” Modi said, adding that India is getting rapidly urbanised. The prime minister issued a call to work towards future ready cities. Growth, innovation and sustainability should be the engine for the development of our cities, he added. Modi recommended reforms in public and private sectors for working women with focus on their ease of working. “We must work towards inclusion of women in our work force. We must make laws, policies so that they can be respectfully integrated in the workforce.” The Governing Council includes all state chief ministers, lieutenant governors of Union Territories, and several Union ministers. The PM is the chairman of Niti Aayog. This was the first national meeting of chief ministers after Operation Sindoor. According to officials, there was complete unanimity in praising the armed forces for their precision strikes against terror targets in Pakistan. STalin seeks 50% share in central taxes EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai 31 states/UTs participated in the meet Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday urged the BJP-led union government to extend its support to all the states, including Tamil Nadu, without any discrimination to achieve their developmental goals. He also reiterated the state’s demand, made earlier to the 16th Finance Commission (FC), to increase the states’ share in the centre’s tax revenue to 50%. Though the 15th FC had increased it to 41%, only 33.16% of the Cooperative centre’s gross tax revenue federalism is has been shared with the the principle to make India states, he noted. Addressing the NITI Aay- a developed og’s Gover ning Council nation by ’47 (GC) meeting in New Delhi, MK Stalin, TN chaired by Prime Minister Chief Minister Narendra Modi with the participation of CMs from across the country, Stalin stressed that “cooperative federalism” is the foundational principle to realise the PM’s vision to make India a developed nation and a $30 trillion economy by 2047. He contended that contrary to the recommendation of the 15th FC that the share of states in the divisible pool of central taxes be increased to 41%, only 33.16% of the “gross tax revenue” of the union government has been devolved to the states in the past four years.  P5 The meeting was attended by CMs and Lt Governors representing 24 states and 7 UTs, out of a total of 36. There was no-show from Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Pondy, Niti Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam said Op Sindoor not one-off initiative Modi said Operation Sindoor against Pakistan should not be treated as a oneoff initiative, adding “we must adopt a long-term approach.” He urged all states to modernise their approach to civil preparedness Monsoon arrives in Kerala ‘Kovai disabled youth beaten to death’ Four fatally run 8 days ahead of schedule over by car in TN Express News Service @ Coimbatore Express News Service @ T’puram TWO people died in Kannur while widespread damage was reported from across the state, especially in the northern districts, as the Southwest monsoon made an early onset over Kerala on Saturday Bayas Oroyana, . a Jharkhand native, died in a landslide while working on the NH 66. Earlier in the day, another landslide claimed the life of Ratheesh, 52, at Azhiyur in Kannur. The India Meteorological De par tment (IMD) has s o u n d e d re d a l e r t fo r Malapppuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod on Sunday . On Monday all , districts, barring Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Alappuzha, will be placed under red alert. In view of the landslide threat, the Idukki and Wayanad administrations have imposed restrictions on entry into tourist spots. In Wayanad, where a minor landslip was reported, the collector has ordered a halt to operation of quarries. This marks the earliest onset of the Southwest monsoon in Kerala in the last 16 years. The IMD said this year’s onset was eight days ahead of the normal schedule of June 1, and was the earliest after 2009, when it set in on May 23. The monsoon this year will be above normal, IMD officials said. In Kozhikode, restoration work underway after a high tension tower collapsed following heavy rain on Saturday. IMD has sounded red alert in the district | PTI Heavy rain likely to lash TN districts from May 25-28 Express News Service @ Chennai With the southwest monsoon officially setting in over Kerala early this year, and advancing into large parts of Tamil Nadu, the Regional Meteorological Centre on Saturday issued a seven-day rainfall forecast for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal. , Heavy to very heavy rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph, is likely in several districts, in- cluding the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Theni, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Tenkasi, Kanniyakumari, and Tiruppur from May 25-28. A low-pressure area is likely to form over west-central and north Bay of Bengal around May 27, said B Amudha, head of RMC. Significant rainfall has already been reported in the Nilgiris and Coimbatore, with Avalanche and Pandalur receiving 11 cm each, and Chinnakalar in Coimbatore recording 9 cm in 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Saturday  . P5 red alert for nilgiris, coimbatore ghats Chennai: The Nilgiris and ghat areas of Coimbatore may experience isolated extreme rainfall spells from May 25-26, as per a forecast by the met office, which has issued a Red alert for the districts. The 24-year-old disabled youth, who had been reported missing from a care home in Pollachi, was beaten to death by the trustees and staff at the facility on May 12, Coimbatore district rural police revealed on Saturday . Police have arrested four people in connection with the murder. Police exhumed the body of the young man, SR Varunkanth, from farmland owned by trust at S Nagoor near Nadupuni in Pollachi in the presence of the Pollachi sub-collector in-charge and tahsildar and handed it over to his parents after postmortem on Saturday evening. Varunkanth hailed from Karavali Mathappur in Sulur Block. According to the FIR registered based on his parents’ complaint, he had Atten- SR Varunkanth tion Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. T Ravikumar and Banumathi had admitted their son at the Yuthira Charitable Trust (Special Children Care and Training Centre) at Rathinasabapathy Puram in Pollachi in February. They had approached the police after the home claimed that Varunkanth had gone missing during the home’s outing to Aliyar Dam on May 15. P5 Madurai: A three-year-old boy and three other members of a family were killed after a car allegedly ran over them, as they were crossing a road, in Usilampatti on Saturday night. Three other members of the family including a one-year-old , girl, sustained injuries. The deceased are J Pragalathan (3), his mother J Jothika (25), her relatives K Lakshmi (50) — all from Kunjampatti — and J Pandiselvi (42) from Petchiyammankovilpatti. The driver of the car, Anand Kumar, a native of Pochipatti, is absconding. A case has been registered and investigation is under way  . ENS Sh r e ya V e r o n i c a @ Hyrderabad TILL Saturday the 72nd edi, tion of Miss World was progressing as planned: A polite parade of poise, sequins and diplomatic smiles. Then came an unscheduled firework display by none other than Miss England 2024, Milla Maggie. Having left the competition on May 16, allegedly due to “personal reasons”, Maggie re-emerged in tabloid The Sun with claims that make Bridgerton look like a documentary . “I went there to make a difference, but we had to sit like performing monkeys,” The Sun quoted her as saying, suggesting the Miss World experience was less about world peace and more about looking glamorous. Maggie, 24, didn’t stop there. In tones more suited to exposés than tiaras, she claimed the whole affair resembled a sort of high-end cattle fair, where women were “paraded to impress wealthy individuals” and she was made to feel “like a prostitute being farmed out for entertainment.” Understandably, this did not go down too well in Hyderabad which is hosting the pageant. The state government was swift in its response. Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary for Youth Advancement, Tourism and Culture, said, “This is just an exaggerated situation.” The Miss World Organisation (MWO) said Maggie cited health reasons for her departure. Meanwhile, the show goes on. England has now dispatched a replacement contestant, Charlotte Cox, to Hyderabad. Julia Morley, chairperson and CEO of MWO, attempted to close the chapter with a terse message: “We responded to Maggie’s departure with compassion.” Miss England 2024 Milla Maggie said they had to sit like monkeys | Vinay Madapu england series Touch of hinterland as Gill set to lead Test team F i r o z M i r z a @ Chennai Shubman Gill, the first India Test captain from Punjab since Bishan Singh Bedi (1976-78), will usher Indian cricket into a new era. Unlike Bedi, who though was born in Amritsar but played domestic cricket for Delhi, Gill, in fact, will be the first to have represented Punjab in age group cricket before being made the Test captain. With the England tour, Gill, who doesn’t hail from a cricketing power centre, is set to lead a squad of 18 mostly comprising players like him. Among the players for the five-Test series starting June 20, only five were born in metro cities like Chennai, Beng alur u and Hyderabad, considered hubs of Indian cricket. It can be argued that Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal represent Delhi and Mumbai, the two cities known for their cricketing culture, in the domestic circuit but even they shifted their base to pursue the game. Pant was born in Haridwar, Uttarakhand while Jaiswal’s birth place is Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh. Similarl y, S h a r d u l Thakur, who is making a comeback, plies his trade for Mumbai but he was born in Palghar, a town in the Konkan division of Maharashtra. In the last 25 years, it was MS Dhoni from Ranchi, Jharkhand, who set the trend when he took over the Test captaincy from Bengaluru-born Anil Kumble. Before Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly led the side. In fact, Dravid was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh but shifted his base to Bengaluru. The 25-year-old Gill will succeed Mumbai’s Rohit Sharma, who in turn took the mantle from Delhi’s Virat Kohli. As many as three players selected were born in Uttar Pradesh — Yashasvi, Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav. A couple of them were born in Gujarat — Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. Besides, six were born in states like Punjab (Gill), Rajasthan (Karun Nair). Maharashtra (Thakur), Bihar (Akash Deep), MP (Arshdeep Singh) and Andhra Pradesh (Nitish Kumar Reddy). Though most of the cricketers headed to big centres but there seems to be a pradigm shift, a trend where players from non-metros have started shining.  P7 and 11 Last year or so we have looked at Shubman. We are hopeful he is the guy who is going (to take team forward) — Ajit Agarkar, chief selector