Coimbatore l Monday l December 30, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late 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 Two crew members of Bangkok-Muan flight survive; landing gear glitch, bird hit suspected Narrow escape for passengers as Air Canada jet catches fire Agencies Rescue team members carry the body of a passenger at the crash site at Muan International Airport, South Korea on Sunday | AP/Pti AGENCIES 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- How it happened The Boeing 737-800 with 181 people on board approached to land at South Korea’s Muan International Airport around 9 am local time Pilots aborted the first landing attempt due to bird strike, which reportedly damaged the jet’s landing gear Soon, the pilots issued a “mayday” call and tried to land the plane again, this time without the landing gear deployed A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft in flight 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 express read ISRO to demonstrate docking of sats in space New Delhi: ISRO is set to launch two satellites on Monday night from the Sriharikota spaceport to demonstrate docking and undocking of spacecraft in orbit, which will make India the fourth country in the world to achieve the feat. 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, soldiers, 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. Thailand’s foreign ministry said two Thai passengers were among the fatalities. Open contest set for India not very lucky on security front: Rajnath Mhow (MP): Addressing Army personnel at Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow cantonment, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said that India is a ‘not very lucky’ nation on the security front and urged soldiers to keep a sharp eye on internal and external foes Upon touchdown, the plane skidded down the runway and hit a concrete barrier before bursting into flames 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. He added that there was a suspected landing gear issue as the plane arrived to land. A spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which responded to the incident alongside paramedics, said some passengers suffered minor injuries. The people on board were evacuated, and then taken to a hangar to be checked out by paramedics, AP reported. A passenger told a local television channel she heard a loud noise when the plane landed. “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,” she said. She said the plane then skidded down the runway for a “decent” distance as the pilots worked to stop the plane. “The plane shook quite a bit and we started seeing fire on the left side of the plane and smoke started coming in the windows,” she said. The Air Canada Express flight operated by Pal Airlines was arriving from St John’s, Newfoundland. Flight operations at the Halifax airport were temporarily suspended. thrilling climax Lyon, Boland stand firm After reducing Australia to 91/6 in the second innings, India had a real chance to bowl the hosts for cheap. However, Marnus Labuschagne and Pat Cummins survived some scares to add to their first innings lead of 105. To add to India’s woes, Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland added 55 runs for the last wicket, taking Australia to 228/9 and more importantly, putting them ahead by 333 Day Four of the ongoing Boxing Day Test in Melbourne was a gripping contest. Indian bowlers ripped through the Australia top-order before being frustrated by the tailenders. All three results are possible on Day 5. A look... Record attendance It began with a little over 87,000 fans on Day 1, but as the Test enters Day 5, it has already become the most-attended Boxing Day Test at the historic venue (2,99,329), surpassing 2017-18 Ashes (2,71,855) Milestone man Bumrah It’s been a happy series for Jasprit Bumrah, 29 wickets in eight innings at 13.24—12 more than Cummins. On Sunday, Bumrah became the first-ever bowler to take 200 wickets at a Test average of less than 20 New intel Tax dept to tap Digi yatra data to go after evaders D I PA K MO N DAL @ New Delhi If you are a frequent user of Digi Yatra app but don’t file income tax returns, don’t be surprised if you get a notice from the tax department. According to sources, the tax department has accessed the entire passenger data captured on the Digi Yatra app, and the same is being reconciled with tax filings to check for discrepancies in the declared income. The tax department would start issuing notices in 2025 based on the Digi Yatra data, said sources. Digi Yatra app is a civil aviation ministry-led initiative to make air traveller’s journey seamless and paperless. It uses facial recognition technology, and collects passengers ID, biometrics, and details of air tickets to give easy access at airports. It is, however, not mandatory for fliers to download or use the app. According to sources, the tax department will first go after those who don’t file tax returns, and then target those who under-report their income to avoid paying taxes. The department is perusing the data of both international and domestic air travellers. Frequent or high-value travel, particularly international trips, could flag individuals whose reported earnings do not justify such expenditures, prompting further scrutiny . “Data provided by Digi Yatra is inherently clean, relia- Globe trotters under the lens According to sources, the financial records of frequent international fliers could be subjected to scrutiny to check for any income suppression in their I-T returns ble, and verifiable, making it a robust source for government use in tax administration. Once integrated and reconciled with income tax filings, it can effectively identify non-filers, placing them at the forefront of scrutiny Sub. sequently taxpayers engaging , in income suppression or under-reporting could also be systematically targeted,” said a source. According to tax experts, Digi Yatra data holds immense potential as an alternative to the government’s earlier attempts to gather travel data through loyalty programmes of air travel companies—a move constrained by privacy concerns. “By leveraging such data, authorities can achieve greater transparency and precision in tracking high-risk taxpayers, provided that appropriate safeguards for data privacy and proportionality are in place,” says Rajat Mohan, seni o r p a r t n e r, A M R G & Associates. Questions sent to the tax department and Digi Yatra on the issue remained unanswered till the time of filing of this report. It must be recalled that air travellers have raised privacy concerns over the collection data on the app. However, the authorities have maintained that data is not stored in any central repository, and that it is stored locally in the phone of the passenger. Anna univ to form ‘women warrior’ groups inside campus B I N I TA JA I S WAL @ 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 communist and Tamil nationalist movements. On the camaraderie between The ideological ties between the two political camps, the CM the Dravidian movement and recalled that it was Periyar who communists go beyond elec- translated the Communist tions and both have stood by Manifesto into Tamil for the each other for decades, said first time. When Periyar Chief Minister M K launched the self-reStalin on Sunday, durspect movement, coming an event held in munist leader M Sinthe city to felicitate garavelar provided Former CM M prominent CPI leader essential support and and centenarian R Karunanidhi once the late P Jeevanandsaid he would Nallakannu. ham, whose beginhave been with “Our political ties nings were with the the Communist may have been susself-respect wave, went party had the pended at times, but on to become a promiDravidian our ideological bond nent CPI leader, Stalin movement not will continue under noted. taken shape any and all circum“ Fo r m e r C M M CM Stalin stances. The friendKarunanidhi once said ship between the Drahe would have been v i d i a n a n d c o m m u n i s t with the Communist party had movements is beyond electoral the Dravidian movement not politics and based on ideology ,” taken shape,” he added. Stalin said, adding that the Democratic forces working event, organised by Tamil na- together against autocracy and tionalist leader Pazha Neduma- majoritarianism could be the ran and others, was a conflu- only befitting birthday gift to e n c e o f t h e D r av i d i a n , Nallakannu, Stalin said.  P5 e x p r ess ne w s se r v ice @ Chennai 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 senior faculty member. “Sometimes girls ignore misconduct against them and don’t talk about it due to fear of being judged or due to social stigma,” the faculty member added.  P5 grand finish Chess high on year-end as Humpy captures second world rapid title in USA a j ay t o m a r @ Hyderabad There is a different joy of being a mother. India’s Koneru Humpy had won the World Rapid Chess Championship on Saturday but when she spoke about the win a day later, she could not help but speak about her seven-year-old daughter. She was thousand miles away in Vijayawada. “My daughter won a gold medal in abacus yesterday , so she was having her own mo- ment,” Humpy told this daily from New York on Sunday . For her daughter’ s win, joy seems to be as big as her second World Rapid medal, a record she shares with China’s Ju Wenjun. “I spoke to my daughter just after the win.” The 37-year-old from Vijayawada last won the title in 2019. Sleep-deprived, missing her daughter while playing against some of the stalwarts of the game, yet she remained unflus- tered and finished the event with 8.5 out of 11 points. The year 2024 was not as she would have liked it to be. There was a time when she was mulling quitting the sport. The win was cathartic. “It was a rough year for me. I started with Candidates (tied for second) but then in Norway Chess and the Tata Steel Chess, my performance was very bad. I was feeling very low at that time. I even thought of quitting Koneru Humpy professional chess. That was my state of mind then. But I was not ready to accept the defeat and finish my career on a bad note,” she said, adding that she spent the whole of November training for World’s Rapid and Blitz. Chess could not have asked for better end to the year. Men’s world champion in D Gukesh, Candidates, World Cup finalist, Chess Olympiad gold for men and women and now world rapid woman champ. “There were a lot of spectators cheering considering it was being organised in the Financial District of New York (at Wall Street). I was ranked 10th at the start and lost the first round. I finished the day with only 2.5 points in four games. I did not imagine then that I could win. I was only looking to fight back after the first game’s loss. On Day 2, I won all the four games that helped me to climb to the joint lead. But after Day 3 ended in draws, I was expecting tiebreaks. I did not know that I had won and was preparing for tiebreaks. It was only when the arbiter told me I realised. I was surprised.” On her winning the tourney for second time, Humpy said, “With time, the younger generation is competing fiercely and it is not easy to repeat the feat. You are more poised and energetic to win something the first time. Winning the second time is even tougher as many players are half my age.” Humpy will now start with the World Blitz event from December 30.