Keertana, a transgender from Madurai, is training eight bulls for the upcoming Jallikattu festival. For the last four years, Keertana has dedicated herself to this cause. Two other members from the transgender community are helping Keertana in the maintenance of the bulls.

New Delhi [India], August 24 (ANI): Work on Kamal Haasan's 'Indian 2' has resumed today.

Puducherry Feb 18 PTI Chief Minister of Puducherry N Rangasamy on Friday expressed happiness over having a Lieutenant Governor who he said was functioning in tandem with the elected government in the Union Territory Felicitating Tamilisai Soundararajan at a function in Raj Nivas her residence-cum-office on her completion of one year in office as Lt Governor he said There has been no proposal forwarded to her for approval getting rejected on the contrary files received her nod without delay and as expeditiously as possible Rangasamy who is heading the AINRC-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition rule here said schemes like gift hampers for Pongal or Deepavali and several other proposals had instant approval at the hands of Tamilisai The Chief Minister said she was holding the post of Lt Governor of Puducherry under additional charge as she is also Governor of Telangana In the morning she is in Puducherry and in the evening in Telangana and the next day she flies to Delhi he said Reacting to the felicitations Tamilisai said I am committed to provide a transparent administration in Puducherry that will meet the requirements of every section of people She said her plan was that Puducherry should make greater progress in health and welfare sectors She said the weekly meetings to review the implementation of schemes to keep Puducherry safe from Covid-19 were helpful The Puducherry administration did not go in for total lockdown but adopted restrictions without hitting the livelihood sources of the people she said Later she released a book A Year of Positivity highlighting her performance during the last one year and the first copy was received by Chief Minister Speaker of the Territorial Assembly R Selvam Ministers legislators and officials from Central and State government departments were among those present Tamilisai Soundararajan succeeded Kiran Bedi in the post of Lt Governor PTI COR NVG NVG

New Delhi [India], February 14 (ANI): The makers of Ajith Kumar-starrer 'Valimai' have piqued the interest of the audiences with a new teaser unveiled on Monday.

Chennai Jan 27 PTI With coronavirus cases on the decline the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday withdrew restrictions such as night curfew and Sunday lockdown while permitting schools to reopen on February 1 for classes 1 to 12Announcing the removal of restriction on week-end worship in religious places Chief Minister M K Stalin said people will be allowed to enter the places of worship from tomorrow onwardsThere will be no restriction Devotees will be allowed to offer worship inside the religious places following the implementation of SoP he saidSchools except nursery and kindergarten and colleges will reopen on February 1 and resume the direct classesFollowing a spate of infections the government had ordered schools to close while permitting classes for higher secondary students till Pongal mid-January Later all the higher secondary schools were asked to remain shut till this month-endReviewing the pandemic situation with health officials and senior bureaucrats on Thursday Chief Minister M K Stalin announced that there will be no night curfew from January 28 Further there would not be a complete lockdown this Sunday January 30 as it is being withdrawnRestaurants cinema theatres clubs amusement parks bakeries lodges gyms garment and jewellery shops spas and salons are allowed to function with 50 per cent occupancyThe restriction on the number of persons up to 100 for marriage and 50 for funerals will however continueAll colleges and universities other than those that are temporarily functioning as COVID Care Centres would resume classes on February 1 strictly complying with the government guidelines on COVID safetyAbout 28515 Coronavirus positive cases were added to the registry today taking the tally to 3252751 till date while recoveries stood at 28620The restriction on social cultural and political gathering will continue The polls to the urban civic bodies will be held on February 19 with stringent enforcement of the SoPs issued by the State Election Commission a release from the government said PTI JSP ROH ROH

Chennai Jan 27 PTI With Coronavirus cases on the decline the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday withdrew restrictions such as night curfew and Sunday lockdown while permitting schools to reopen on February 1 for classes 1 to 12 Schools except nursery and kindergarten and colleges will reopen on February 1 and resume the direct classes Following a spate of infections the government had ordered schools to close while permitting classes for higher secondary students till Pongal mid-January Later all the higher secondary schools were asked to remain shut till this month-end Reviewing the pandemic situation with health officials and senior bureaucrats on Thursday Chief Minister M K Stalin announced that there will be no night curfew from January 28 Further there would not be a complete lockdown this Sunday January 30 as it is being withdrawn Restaurants cinema theatres clubs amusement parks bakeries lodges gyms garment and jewellery shops spas and salons are allowed to function with 50 per cent occupancy The restriction on the number of persons up to 100 for marriage and 50 for funerals will however continue All colleges and universities other than those that are temporarily functioning as COVID Care Centres would resume classes on February 1 strictly complying with the government guidelines on COVID safety About 28515 Coronavirus positive cases were added to the registry today taking the tally to 3252751 till date while recoveries stood at 28620 The restriction on social cultural and political gathering will continue The polls to the urban civic bodies will be held on February 19 with stringent enforcement of the SoPs issued by the State Election Commission a release from the government said PTI JSP BN BN BN

Chennai Jan 25 PTI Owing to large number of people visiting their hometowns in view of Pongal festival there had been a surge in new virus cases last week in Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Tuesday During the course of this week the actual prevalence of virus will emerge in the state the minister told reporters adding that various preventive measures have been taken by the government including vaccination drives to contain the spread of the virus In view of Pongal festival people travelled to their villages following which the virus spread in such areas Over the next three days the actual prevalence of the virus in the state will emerge he said Though the virus spread is more in neighbouring states the intensity of the virus is low in Tamil Nadu on account of the measures taken by Chief Minister M K Stalin he said Subramanian denied that the mortality rate in Tamil Nadu was increasing and added that the aged and those ailing with comorbidity and have tested COVID-19 positive were admitted to hospital Deaths due to COVID-19 and Omicron variant has been low he said Appealing those who undergo COVID-19 tests to share the right information to the government he said People should not misunderstand the focussed monitoring by health officials Those affected by the virus are monitored only for their benefit People who tested positive and are asymptomatic have been advised home isolation while health workers monitor them through telephone and also by visiting them regularly As of January 24 the COVID-19 caseload in Tamil Nadu went up to 3164205 with 30208 people testing positive while 46 fatalities mounted the death toll to 37264 a medical bulletin issued by the health department had said PTI VIJ HDA HDA

Madurai (Tamil Nadu) [India], January 20 (ANI): Police have arrested a man for attacking bulls with a stick in Palamedu Jallikattu in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, said V Baskaran, Madurai Superintendent of Police (SP) on Thursday.

Chennai Jan 19 PTI After hovering over 23000 daily new Covid-19 cases over the last few days Tamil Nadu on Wednesday recorded a sharp increase again as the number of new infections was 26981 This pushed the caseload to 3014235 said the Health Department said As many as 35 people died of the virus and took the toll to 37073 a bulletin said here The number of recoveries was 17456 in the last 24 hours aggregating to 2806501 leaving 170661 active infections The State reported 23888 new cases on Tuesday January 18 while on Monday January 17 it was 23443 It reported 23975 on Sunday January 16 and 23989 on Saturday January 15 23459 on January 14 Friday Chennai accounted for the most of the new infections with 8007 followed by Coimbatore 3082 Chengalpet 2194 Kanyakumari 1008 while the remaining was spread across other districts The State capital that Chennai is witnessed a decline in new cases as compared to other districts after reporting 8305 new infections on Tuesday January18 Those who tested positive today included 32 returnees from domestic and overseas locations A total of 150635 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and they took the cumulative number of specimens examined to 59980920 Meanwhile Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian appealed to the people not to panic over the increase in new cases as the surge may be due to people visiting their hometowns to celebrate Pongal festival last week Of the 121 lakh villages in Tamil Nadu the virus was prevalent in more than 28000 villages In urban areas of the total 127 lakh streets contagion is spread to 28000 streets he told reporters To a query he said of the total 192 lakh beds available to treat Covid-19 patients over 9000 beds were occupied by patients Nearly 94 per cent of the Covid-19 affected patients are under home isolation he said PTI VIJ NVG NVG

Chennai Jan 18 PTI With the Pongal harvest festival coming to an end people from various districts have started returning to Chennai and on Tuesday morning a flurry of activity at the bustling Koyambedu bus stand here led to a traffic snarl in the area Special buses are being operated by the State government from January 17 to 19 to enable those who had gone on a holiday to their hometowns for Pongal to return to the State capital The specials started arriving here from Monday night and it caused traffic congestion in the area for sometime today About 4130 special buses were operated from various places including Coimbatore Salem Madurai and the southern districts The trains arriving here were also fully crowded as the people had to return to their place of work Though Pongal is celebrated from January 14 to 16 Thaipusam festival observed in honour of Lord Murugan falls on January 18 Since January 17 falls in between the holidays a local holiday was declared in many districts PTI JSP BN BN