NAGAPATTINAM l Monday l December 30, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Constitution has stood every test of time, says prime minister MoDi The Constitution has stood every test of time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his monthly radio address Mann ki Baat on Sunday Calls the document ‘our guiding light’ Urges people to banish hate from society “It is a matter of immense pride for all of us. The Constitution which its makers gave to us has stood every test of time. It is our guiding light,” the prime minister said, adding that he reached “this position in life” because of the document. He asked the people to visit www.constitution75.com and learn about India’s constitutional heritage and legacy ■ ■ He described the upcoming ‘Maha Kumbh’ as the ‘mahakumbh of unity’ and asked the people to resolve to banish hate from the society Modi also spoke about the growing global resonance of Ayurveda. He said in Paraguay, a large number of local people are reaching out to the Indian embassy where Ayurveda consultation is offered | P7 80% fall in number of malaria cases in india between 2015 and 2023: Modi 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 179 killed as South Korean plane crash-lands, erupts into fireball Anna univ to form ‘women warrior’ groups inside campus Two crew members of Bangkok-Muan flight survive; landing gear glitch, bird hit suspected Narrow escape for passengers as Air Canada jet catches fire AGEN C IES IN one of the worst aviation disasters in recent times, all but two of 181 people on board a passenger flight were killed after it skidded off the runway while landing at South Korean’s Muan international airport on Sunday and burst into flames. Horrific visuals of the accident showed the plane skidding across the airstrip at high speed after its landing gear failed to deploy, overshooting the runway, ramming a concrete wall, and exploding. The Korean transport ministry said the Jeju Air plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that had arrived from Bangkok and landed at Muan, 290 km south of Seoul, around 9 am. South Korean officials said the airport control tower had issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it intended to land. The pilot reportedly sent out a distress signal shortly before the plane touched down without using its wheels or any other landing gear. The flight had 175 passengers and six crew members on board. According to officials, 85 wom- BINITA J AISWAL @ Chennai Chief Minister Stalin presenting CPI leader R Nallakannu with a memento during an event celebrating his centenary in Chennai on Sunday | ashwin prasath Ties with communists go beyond polls: Stalin Agencies Rescue team members carry the body of a passenger at the crash site at Muan International Airport, South Korea on Sunday | AP/Pti en, 84 men, and 10 others whose gender could not be immediately identified, died. Emergency workers managed rescue two crew members. Officials described their condition as ‘not life-threatening’. Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, said the plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognisable among the wreckage. The two persons who survived the crash were rescued from the tail section. Lee said investigators were looking at various possibilities for the crash, including whether the plane was struck by birds. South Korean authorities deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the blaze. Over 1,500 firefighters, police officers and other officials were also rushed to the site to manage the situation. Footage of the crash aired by local television channels showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the plane, which was still engulfed in flames. The passengers were predominantly South Korean. Two Thai passengers were also among the fatalities. express news service Another aviation tragedy was averted on Saturday night after an Air Canada flight suffered a suspected landing gear failure and a part of it caught fire as it skidded down the runway of Canada’s Halif ax airport. All 73 passengers and crew members are safe, Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said. “We heard a pretty loud— what almost sounded like a crash—sound as the wing of the plane started to skid along the (runway), along with what I presume was the engine,” a passenger said. She said the plane then skidded down the runway for a “decent” distance as the pilots worked to stop the plane. The ideological ties between the Dravidian movement and communists go beyond elections and both have stood by each other for decades, said Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday during an event held in , the city to felicitate prominent CPI leader and centenarian R Nallakannu. “Our political ties may have been suspended at times, but our ideological bond will continue under any and all circumstances. The friendship between the Dravidian and communist movements is beyond electoral politics and based on ideology Stalin said, ,” adding that the event, organised by Tamil nationalist leader @ Chennai Pazha Nedumaran and others, was a confluence of the Dravidian, communist and Tamil nationalist movements. On the camaraderie between the two political camps, the CM recalled that it was Periyar who translated the Communist Manifesto into Tamil for the first time. When Periyar launched the self-respect movement, communist leader M Singaravelar provided essential support and the late P Jeevanandham, whose beginnings were with the self-respect wave, went on to become a prominent CPI leader, Stalin noted. Democratic forces working together against autocracy and majoritarianism could be the only befitting birthday gift to Nallakannu, Stalin said.  P5 Following the sexual assault of a student on its Guindy campus last week, Anna University is set to form a groups of ‘women warriors’ to help build confidence among students to approach deans, heads of departments and other faculty members to resolve their issues, be they related to sexual harassment or academics. According to varsity officials, two faculty members and four students (two boys and two girls) from each year of the course in every department will be selected and enrolled as women warriors under the university’s Centre for Empowerment of Women. The centre will guide the team in planning and executing training programmes and awareness sessions among students to encourage them to raise their voice against any kind of harassment or misconduct. “We are proud of our student for her courage in filing a police complaint against the accused and we want to inculcate a similar fearless attitude among other students,” said a faculty member. P5