MADURAI: A 25-year-old girl, a second-year student of Master of Education at Madurai Kamaraj University allegedly jumped from the second floor of her hostel building. The girl was speaking on her mobile phone at 11.15 pm on Thursday night when the incident happened. 

She was identified as M Maheswari(25), a native of Kuppanayakanpatti in Myladumparai taluk from the Theni district. She sustained severe injuries from the fall. Hearing the girl's screaming, other hostel girls rushed to help her. She was taken to the Government Rajaji Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries on Friday morning at 7.50 am. 

Nagamalai Pudukottai police have registered a case under section 174. An investigation is on.

(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on TN’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)

MANGALURU: Four members of a family died by suicide at a Mangaluru lodge on Friday morning.

The deceased have been identified as Devendra, aged 46, from Vijayanagar in Mysuru, his wife and two daughters, aged 14 and 10 respectively. 

Devendra allegedly hanged himself inside the lodge room at Karuna Residency on K S Rao Road in Mangaluru. The family had booked the hotel three days ago and initially, they had planned to stay for a day but later extended the stay for two more days.

According to sources, Devendra might have first poisoned his children and wife and later killed himself. Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Kuldeep Kumar R Jain said that Devendra died by suicide, but it is yet to be known how his wife and children died. "We are awaiting the post-mortem report," he said.

In a suicide note, Devendra said he had financial problems and borrowed loans. City police are further investigating the case. 

(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available on TN’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)

PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Legislative Assembly, in its session today, adopted a unanimous resolution urging the centre to confer statehood to Puducherry UT comprising all four regions.

The private member resolution moved by Leader of Opposition R Siva, other DMK members AMH Nazeem, R Senthilkumar, Anibal Kennedy and Independent G Nehru alias Kuppusamy was adopted as a government resolution by Chief minister N Rangasamy.

Moving the resolution, Chief Minister said that everyone cutting across party lines and regions has expressed the need for statehood. It is required not only for administration but also to secure the rights of the elected government. While fulfilling the assurances, he understood the hurdles posed by the administration.

"To overcome this, statehood is necessary. The time is right to take it to the centre, as the centre is supporting Puducherry wholeheartedly," he said. He would lead a delegation of MLAs to Delhi and represent the matter to the Prime Minister and Home Minister.

"The delegation will also meet MPs supporting statehood and seek their support. We hope to secure statehood by the end of the year", said the Chief Minister.

Following this, all the members of the ruling AINRC, BJP and opposition DMK, Congress and independents supported the resolution in one voice, following which Speaker R Selvam declared it adopted unanimously. 

Earlier, Home minister A Namassivayam and leader of the BJP legislative party said BJP also wanted statehood.

The MLAs of Mahe and Yanam, Ramesh Parambath and Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok wanted the statehood to be secured by including all the outlying regions as they wanted to remain with Puducherry.

COIMBATORE:  With over 50,000 Class 12 students skipping the Tamil paper of the board exams, the school education is taking steps to avert a similar situation during Class X exams, which begin on April 6.
Based on directions from the department, teachers across the state are tracing Class 10 students who have been irregular in attending classes.

According to official sources, student details are maintained at the EMIS portal. So, headmasters cannot remove the long absentee students' names without issuing Transfer Certificates. Even if students are long absentees, hall ticket for board exam is generated automatically for them. This is how officials came to know that a large number of Class 12 students who were long absent and got hall tickets did not write the exam.

"After learning a lesson from this, officers have started to trace students through graduate teachers to avert a repeat of the embarrassment,' sources added. S Sivasubbiah, headmaster of the government high school at Kannarpalayam in Karamadai, told TNIE, "Educational officers directed all headmasters to ensure that all students attend the Class 10 board exams.

Out of 45 Class 10 students in our school, only two boys didn't come to school from the middle of the academic year. I approached them and advised them to come to school, but they didn't do so. After the officers' order, I met the two students at their home again last week and found out they were working as coolies along with their parents.

The parents refused to send them to school as they wanted the boys to work for earning more for the family. When I warned them that I would contact the childline and legal action would be taken against them, the boys started coming to school regularly. " He said both the students wrote a practical exam on Monday.

T Arulanandham, science teacher in a government-aided school at Saibaba colony told TNIE, "Seven students did not come to school right from the beginning of academic year. I was able to trace one of the seven, and he is coming to school now. We couldn't trace the others due to various reasons, including migrating to other places."

Education development committee coordinator K Leninbarathi told TNIE, "Since the pandemic situation, many students quit studies due to various reasons, including poverty. The department should identify the problems and provide psychological counselling to the students."

When asked about it, a top officer from district school education department told TNIE that the teachers have managed to trace 150 long absentees of Class 10 from Coimbatore and they have been preparing for the exams.

The Directorate of Government Examination on Tuesday night has extended date for Science practical examinations till March 31 considering the long absentees students. The practical examination date was scheduled from March 20 to 28.

When asked about this, Karur Chief Educational Officer N Geetha told TNIE," As per the top officers direction, works for tracing Class 10 students who are long absentees is underway across the state. Due to the efforts of the teachers, some of the students attended the Class 10 practical exams."

MADURAI:  After two people were killed in a stampede during the last season of the Chithirai festival, in which Lord Kallazhagar enters the Vaigai river, the police, this year, has planned to install more CCTVs and drones to monitor the crowd movement and ensure smooth passing of the festival without any untoward incident.

This year, the Chithirai festival will commence on April 23, which is the most important day of commemorating the marriage between Lord Sundareswaran and Goddess Meenakshi, falls on May 2, followed by the event of Lord Kallazhagar's venture into the Vaigai river on May 5. During the festival, thousands of people from the neighbouring districts would visit the city to worship the deities, especially on March 5.

After the temple administration released the schedule for the festival, the police department said they have begun devising elaborate plans to ensure the smooth passing of the festival without a stampede or other law and order problems. " Two devotees, including a woman, were killed in the Kallazhagar festival stampede in Goripalayam in the early morning hours on April 16 last year," added the police.

This year City Commissioner KN Narendra Nayar has been keen to ensure no snatching of jewels, stealing of properties, law and order issues or stampede would happen during the festival.

"The city police have initiated to verify the working condition of the CCTVs in possible locations that may see larger crowds and also planned to increase the number of CCTVs if needed. Despite the city police's disposition of a few drones, this year, they will be considering using long-duration flying drones that can last up to 45 minutes in flight for a distance range of up to 10 km," he added.

We are in the process of devising certain plans for extensive drone use during the festival season, a senior police official added.

RAMANATHAPURAM: SSAM Government Higher Secondary School students found 200-year-old coins near Sethukarai sea on Thursday. The school has an antiquities conservation forum to train students in archaeology.

The two students--T Praveenraj from Class 9, and M Ayyappan from Class 6-- unearthed three copper coins and one bronze coin belonging to the British era at Keelavalasai village. Archaeologist V Rajaguru said one of the coins dates back to 1833 and has the East India Company's logo.

The second coin was released in 1887, he added. Higher secondary students had discovered coins from the Pandyas and Chola period earlier. 

CHENNAI/BENGALURU:  With a language and political storm building up in the run-up to the Karnataka elections following a fiat to label curd packets by their Hindi term dahi, the national food safety regulator on Thursday did a sharp U-turn and withdrew its order.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) blinked after Chief Minister M K Stalin and other political leaders condemned the order, terming it an attempt to impose Hindi. It said the order has been revised following representations from various quarters.

The dahi directive was issued by the FSSAI on March 10 to the Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (KMF), Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagara District Cooperative Milk Producers Societies Union Ltd, Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation (Aavin) and Hatsun Agro Products Ltd. In its order to Aavin, the FSSAI had asked it to label its curd sachets as dahi (thayir) instead of curd (thayir).

Aavin refused to do so

The March 10 directive had drawn flak from JD(S) leader  H D Kumaraswamy and even TN BJP president Annamalai, who is also his party’s Karnataka election in-charge. The food safety and standards (food products standards and food additives) regulations of 2011 mandate the use of dahi to distinguish between dairy and non-dairy products. “It was mandated to avoid non-dairy products being labelled as curd.

Therefore, milk cooperative federations such as Aavin were asked to include dahi on their curd packets. That order has now been revoked,” explained an official. However, an Aavin official has stated that there was no rationale for using the Hindi term.

Now, ‘Curd ()’ in Hindi or ‘Curd (mosaru) in Kannada, ‘Curd (thayir)’ in Tamil, ‘Curd (perugu)’ in Telugu can be used, the FSSAI said in a statement. 
 

COIMBATORE:  The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has planned to renovate the VOC public park at an estimated cost of Rs 50 lakh. However, the fate of the famous toy train inside the deer park hangs in the balance.

The park is one of the landmarks of the city and comprises a children’s playground, a public park and a zoological park. Though it is one of the hotspots for entertainment and recreational activities, the park was never maintained properly over the past decade by civic body officials.

As a result, the condition of the parks deteriorated. Although a few of the play equipment was replaced and repaired by officials, the zoo and public park were ignored. After a long time, the civic body has begun work to renovate the VOC park.

CCMC commissioner M Prathap said the renovation work will include installing early men and tribal people sculptures and reviving water fountains. “We beautified a part of the park recently by rearranging the sculptures of dancers and giant dinosaurs. It became an instant hit and attracted a large number of people. The sculptures have become a selfie spot.”

On the demands to revive the toy train, Prathap said that the civic body will check the feasibility to revive and run the toy train service once again.

“As the tracks of the toy train run through the deer park in the VOC Zoo which has been shut down, we need to redesign the tracks to operate it once again. Moreover, we may need to replace its engine since the toy train was launched decades ago,” Prathap said.

COIMBATORE:  The trial run of Vande Bharat Express from Chennai to Coimbatore, was conducted on Thursday.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the train, the first in Southern Railway on April 8. The train will have eight coaches including one executive coach and can accommodate 530 people.

On Thursday, the train left Chennai at 5.40 am, and reached Coimbatore Junction at 11.18 am, 22 minutes ahead of the scheduled time of 11.40 am, covering the distance in five hours and 38 minutes.  According to sources, the train will leave Chennai at 5.40 am and reach Coimbatore Junction at 11.40 am. It will stop at Jolarpettai (8 am), Salem (9.15 am), Erode (10.05 am) and Tirupur (10.45 am).   The train from Coimbatore will depart at 12.40 pm.

 Meanwhile, the Federation of Coimbatore Industries Associations, an umbrella body of 20 industrial associations, has urged Southern Railway to reschedule the train. The outfit suggested that the train be operated from Chennai at 5 pm instead of 2.20 pm.

“Operating the train in the evening from Chennai will help businessmen to catch the train after completing official work in the capital,” the trade body said in a statement.

KRISHNAGIRI:  Six months have passed since a girl baby died within 12 hours of its birth at the Upgraded Primary Health Centre (UPHC) in Shoolagiri, but the health department is yet to identify the cause.

Following the death of the baby on October 4, 2022, a duty doctor complained to the police. A postmortem was performed at Hosur government hospital the next day and the viscera of the baby was sent to Government Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital in the first week of November.

The analysis was conducted by the pathology department at Government Krishnagiri Medical College Hospital. However, the health department officials in Krishnagiri did not get the report till last week.  
TNIE on Friday published a report about the death of a girl baby in Bargur GH, the third in the district. Following this, a viscera and biopsy report was prepared on Saturday.

According to the report, there was no poison detected and there was no record of histopathological findings, sources said. Negative chemical analysis reports could not give a definite opinion regarding the cause of death.

A doctor in Hosur GH said collector Deepak Jacob has called for a second analysis of the sample. Joint Director of Health Services P Paramasivan said, “In many cases, forensic reports would establish the cause of death. But in this case, the report did not reveal anything.”

Deputy Director of Health Services G Ramesh Kumar said he is aware of the report but did not get the final viscera reports till Thursday evening.

CHENNAI:  A day after union home minister and BJP’s election strategist Amit Shah said his party’s alliance with the AIADMK continues, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday said the ties between the two parties are intact and the alliance would continue for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 

On Wednesday, participating in a television programme, Amit Shah said the BJP’s alliance with the AIADMK continues.  The statement assumes significance as it came against the backdrop of BJP state president K Annamalai’s remarks on the need for the party to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on its own in the state.  Annamalai’s assertions came days after several BJP IT wing functionaries joined the AIADMK and started criticising Annamalai, leading to a war of words between the parties.

Last week, according to sources, Annamalai was summoned to New Delhi and BJP leaders there told him to continue his work for the growth of the party in Tamil Nadu and the parliamentary board at the national level would take a call on the alliance at an appropriate time. Speaking to reporters at the secretariat on Thursday about Amit Shah’s statement on the alliance, Palaniswami said, “We never said the alliance with BJP was not there.  The alliance continued for the byelection to the Erode East Assembly constituency and will continue for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.”  

NEW DELHI: A slew of space missions have been lined up for this year, which are expected to enhance the country share in the global space economy as well. For context, ever since the Modi government came to power in 2014, the Indian space sector has launched 388 foreign satellites so far, earning €188 million and $157 million in the process.

“On top of the priority list is on the launch of Aditya-1, India’s first space mission to study the Sun, aboard the PSLV-C56 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). Besides, the configuration and design of various systems related to Gaganyaan, the first human spaceflight programme of the country, is over and it has entered the realisation and testing phase. TV-D1, which is Gaganyaan’s first test vehicle demonstration, is planned for mid-2023,” said a senior official of the department of space.

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is also working on XPoSAT, an X-ray polarimeter satellite. It is India’s first dedicated polarimetry mission to study the dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray in extreme conditions, which will be launched aboard SSLV-D3 (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle).

Sources in the space department said the launch of the radar imaging satellite, RI-SAT1B, aboard the PSLV C60 is planned for the second half of 2023 in addition to a host of private sector activities, including launch vehicles and satellite launches. Besides, India’s moon mission, Chandrayaan-3 is also on the cards.

CHENNAI:  After a protest by students at Kalakshetra Foundation on Thursday over the institute’s failure to initiate action against teachers on sexual harassment allegations, the administration has decided to shut the college till April 6.

Over 200 students, however, continued their protest late into the night demanding immediate action against the accused. Talks between the agitating students and institute director Revathi Ramachandran and other officials in the presence of police failed to break the impasse.

As students demanded that the director give them in writing that she would initiate action against the four accused dance teachers, Ramachandran complained of uneasiness and left the protest site. The protestors said they would continue their agitation till they get justice. 

Earlier in the day, students of Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts, Kalakshetra Foundation, were informed through a circular issued by principal Pakala Ramadas that the college will remain shut from March 30 to April 6 and all inmates must vacate their hostel rooms within two days. The college also postponed exams and the circular said new exam dates will be announced later. Many students that TNIE spoke to said they won’t leave the campus despite the closure notice.  

‘Harassment charges first came in Dec 2022’

“Closing down the college is an attempt to weaken our protest. But we will not leave the campus until we get justice,” said a student. Some students were upset as it will be difficult for them to leave the campus on such short notice. “I had booked ticket for my hometown on April 12 after completion of my exams but now the college administration is asking us to leave the campus within two days. How is that possible? I cannot book a new train ticket to Kerala within two days,” said another student.

Students have been holding protests on the campus since morning and even boycotted their exams on Thursday. When the students saw the accused teacher present in the morning assembly, they walked out following which he left the place. The students then again gathered under a banyan tree, the usual morning prayer spot on the campus, and staged a silent protest demanding immediate suspension of the accused.

Later, the students held a protest march to the main gate of the institute shouting the slogans “we want justice” and later interacted with reporters. The students demanded action against four dance teachers --- an assistant professor and three other senior repertory dancers.

“These sexual harassment allegations started coming out in December last year but till now the college administration has not taken any action and is busy denying the allegations. We will not tolerate this anymore,” said another student. Many former students and teachers of the institute also supported the protest.

The students’ protest came a day after the chairperson of the National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma visited the campus on Wednesday to inquire about the sexual harassment allegations. Students alleged that they were not given a chance to air their grievances to the NCW chief. Despite repeated attempts, the institute’s director, Revathi Ramachandran, could not be reached for comments on the issue.

CHENNAI:  Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday announced a year-long celebration to commemorate Vaikom Satyagraha, the historical struggle against untouchability in which Periyar EV Ramasamy played a vital role and got imprisoned for spearheading the protests.  

Announcing the assembly under rule 110, the CM said he would join the Vaikom Satyagraha centenary celebrations on April 1, at Vaikom in Kerala.

 On that day, the Malayalam translation of the Tamil research work Vaikom Porattam authored by Pazha Adhiyaman would be released. The Telugu, Kannada, and English translations of the work will also be released soon. 

On November 29, the Tamil Nadu government will organise a grand function to commemorate the satyagraha in which personalities from various places and CMs of Tamil Nadu and Kerala would take part.  

Stalin also said Vaikom Award would be presented on September 17 every year to personalities or organisations working for the welfare of oppressed sections of society in other states. 

The CM also announced that the Periyar memorial in Vaikom in Kerala would be renovated for Rs 8.14 crore. Efforts would be taken to establish a new memorial for Periyar at Aruvikutty village in Kerala where he was imprisoned for taking part in the satyagraha.  Steps would also be taken to release a commemorative postal stamp on Vaikom Satyagraha, the CM said.

 “Seminars will be conducted in universities and colleges about Vaikom Satyagraha and oratorical competitions, essay contests, and quiz programmes will be organised for school students. A 64-page book will be released to create awareness about the struggle.  The book will also be released as an ‘audio book’ in Tamil and English,” Stalin said. 

Vaikom satyagraha was precursor to all temple entry struggle, says Stalin

“A souvenir containing special articles on Vaikom struggle will also be released,” the CM said. “Periyar does not just belong to Tamil Nadu. He transcends the barriers of language and countries and he had proved that by his actions. Self-respect, rationalism, equality, and social justice are global ideologies. So, Periyar’s ideologies remain the basis for past struggles, present efforts, and future development. This Dravidian model government will continue to march on the path of self-respect,” the CM said.

Giving a detailed account of the Vaikom Satyagraha, Stalin said it began on March 30, 1924, and it was the precursor for all the struggles organised to ensure temple entry of people from oppressed classes. The struggle was launched by TK Mahadevan against a ban that prohibited people from oppressed classes from walking on streets around the Mahadeva temple in Vaikom.

Within a few days, all Congress leaders in the locality were arrested and Periyar, the then president of the TNCC, reached there and led that struggle for 67 days.

Periyar spoke about the issue among people and he was arrested twice during the struggle. He underwent one-month imprisonment in Aruvikutty village at the police station. Later, he underwent four months of rigorous imprisonment in Thiruvananthapuram prison. While others were treated as political prisoners, Periyar was treated like an ordinary prisoner.

Stalin also said Mahatma Gandhi who held talks with the then rulers took Periyar along with him. BR Ambedkar, who launched the Mahar struggle in 1929, said the Vaikom Satyagraha had inspired him, Stalin said, and added that the struggle lasted for one and half years and ended on November 23, 1925.

Later, a victory ceremony was held on November 29, 1925, chaired by Periyar. Tamil scholar Thiru. Vi Kalyanasundaranar described Periyar as Vaikom Veerar and late leader Rajaji hailed Periyar for his role in the struggle.

MADURAI:  Clearing a misconception that persons with disabilities (PwD) would be exempted from paying tax for their motor vehicles only if they drive the vehicle, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently came to the rescue of a man with 80% locomotor disability who, when he applied for tax exemption for registration of his car, was asked to produce a certificate that he could drive the car.

Allowing a petition filed by the man, Angappan, against the demand made by the authorities, Justice PT Asha directed the authorities to grant exemption to him. The Tamil Nadu government had passed a GO in December 1976 exempting persons with physical disabilities from paying tax for motor vehicles that are specifically designed or adapted for their use, provided that the said vehicles are used only by persons with disabilities.

However, the purpose of the GO has been totally misconstrued by the authorities, the judge observed.

“They have understood the notification to be available only to motor vehicles, which are driven by the physically challenged persons themselves. This is an absolute misconception. The said notification is issued in tune with the definition of an ‘adapted vehicle’ as provided in Section 2 (1) of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Act. The only condition prescribed is that the vehicle should be ‘used’ by the person, for whose use the vehicle has been adapted. Nowhere does it state that it should be driven by the said person,” she clarified.

“Where a rule or regulation purports to grant a right to a particular section of society, courts must use the rule of purposive interpretation to ensure that the object of beneficial legislation reaches the intended section of the society,” Justice Asha further opined. 

The government order, read along with Section 2 (1) and Section 52 of the Act, clearly spells out that a physically challenged person, who owns a vehicle and has adapted the vehicle for his or her use, is entitled to the tax exemption, the judge added and allowed the petition.

CHENNAI:  The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered for recovery of government land, allotted for the construction of a link road connecting Greenways Road and Durgabhai Deshmuk Road, which had Sathya Studios in Raja Annamalai Puram in Chennai. 

Rejecting a plea moved by the studio challenging the land recovery proceedings initiated by the revenue department, Justice SM Subramaniam said, “The authorities are directed to fence the government land and take all necessary steps to protect the land from unauthorised use by any person, including the studio.” 

The court has also directed the authorities to recover the arrears of lease rent (over Rs 31.9 crore) from the petitioner within three months. According to the details, the land was leased to the studio in 1968 for 30 years at the rate of seven per cent of the market value. 

According to the authorities, the lease was extended for another 10 years after it expired in 1998. 
However, as the studio failed to pay the rental arrear till 2004 even after receiving several demand notices, the department passed an order transferring the land to the animal husbandry department. 

Challenging the proceedings, the management of Sathya Studios moved the court. 

TIRUNELVELI:  In the first official statement from the government since the allegations of custodial torture by police personnel came to light on March 25, Cheranmahadevi sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) cum sub-collector MD Shabbir Alam has said that the victims can appear before him and give their statement by April 10. 

The victims had alleged that the former Assistant Superintendent of Police of Ambasamudram, Balveer Singh, removed their teeth in Kallidaikurichi, Ambasamudram and Vikramasingapuram police stations. “The allegations on social media made by the suspects named in the FIR (69/2023) registered at Kallidakurichi police station, stating that they were tortured by police personnel, was doing rounds on social media,” he said.  

“Based on this, the Superintendent of Police, Tirunelveli P Saravanan recommended an inquiry as per the Police Standing Order 151 (3) (a). District Collector K P Karthikeyan ordered the SDM to conduct an inquiry based on the allegations by the suspects. The inquiry is going on. The people who are affected by the above-said incident or who want to give their statement in this connection can appear before the SDM at his office in Cheranmahadevi on all working days from 11am to 5pm by April 10,” Alam said in his press note.

Meanwhile, Venkatesh, one of the alleged custodial torture victims appeared before the SDM for the inquiry on Thursday, said sources. “Over the past four days, the SDM received statements from four persons - Lakshmi Sankar, Surya, Subash and Venkatesh. On Wednesday, some victims, including Chellappa, Esakkimuthu, Anthony, Marimuthu, another person named Marimuthu, and Vetha Narayanan visited the office of SDM. However, they had to return home without submitting their statements following a communication gap between them and the officials at the SDM office,” sources added.  

Speaking to the media persons, Alam said that there will be a fair and free inquiry with the persons appearing in connection with the alleged custodial torture. More than 50 police personnel from Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari districts have been deployed at the SDM office to avoid any untoward incidents, he added.

MADURAI:  The Judicial Magistrate I of Madurai V Deela Banu on Thursday remanded YouTuber Manish Kashyap, who was arrested on charges of spreading fake videos about attacks on Bihari migrants in Tamil Nadu, to three days of police custody. 

Kashyap, who is said to be a resident of West Champaran district in Bihar, was booked by Bihar police for the above offence. After his surrender on March 18, he was interrogated by the economic offences unit of Bihar police and was remanded to judicial custody in Beur central jail near Patna this week. 

Meanwhile, on March 10, Madurai District Cyber Crime Police registered an FIR against him, for the same offence. They obtained Kashyap’s custody from the Patna court on Tuesday and brought him to Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, following which he was produced before the Judicial Magistrate I of Madurai on Thursday afternoon. 

Advocate Niranjan S Kumar, who represented Kashyap before the magistrate court, alleged certain procedural lapses. He claimed that no formal arrest has been made by the Madurai police. He also opposed the application filed by the police seeking seven days of custody of Kashyap for interrogation. 

However, the APP M Chockalingam who appeared on behalf of the police, argued that the accused had created panic among the migrant workers and the native people and that a custodial interrogation is imminent in the case. After an elaborate hearing, Judicial Magistrate I of Madurai Deela Banu remanded Kashyap to police custody for three days from March 31, adding that he should be produced before the court on the morning of April 3. 

SC Collegium rejects justice Velumani’s transfer request
Chennai: The Supreme Court Collegium rejected Justice VM Velumani’s request to be transferred from the Madras High Court to a High Court in the Northeast instead of the Calcutta High Court. “The collegium by its resolution dated September 29, 2022, proposed to transfer Justice V M Velumani to the Calcutta HC for the better administration of justice. She sought reconsideration of the recommendation. Her request was not acceded to by the collegium,” a statement from the Collegium said.

The resolution put forth by the Collegium stated that there was no valid reason to reconsider the justice’s transfer to Calcutta HC and reiterated its previous recommendation. Justice Velumani had asked for a transfer to either the Manipur or Tripura High Court or any other high court in the Northeast so she could retain her official residence in Chennai.

CHENNAI:  Doctors from government medical college hospitals across the state are all set to release a book on Covid-19. Health Minister Ma Subramanian released the flyer of the book at a function held in Omandurar Medical College Hospital on Wednesday.

“The book will have 25 chapters covering all aspects of Covid-19, including the origin of the virus and how to treat it. It can be used as a reference book for undergraduate and postgraduate medical students, and also for researchers,” said Dr R Jayanthi, Dean, of Omandurar Medical College who authored three chapters and edited the book.

“The book will be released in a couple of weeks and has been written by government doctors,” Dr Jayanthi said. Lauding the efforts taken by Dr Jayanthi in releasing the book, the minister said, “Those days, there was not much documentation done on plague and other pandemics in the world. But today, the doctors have taken an effort to document Covid-19 so that present and future generations will be aware of its impact.”

He also inaugurated continuous medical education (CME) on artificial intelligence and machine learning in health. Director of Medical Education R Shanthimalar and other officials were present on the occasion.

CHENNAI:  In a significant move towards inclusive governance, youth welfare and sports development minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has invited AIADMK MLAs to take part in ministerial review meetings and offer their suggestions for the welfare of the state. He also said that an e-commerce portal for self-help groups is under development and will be launched soon.

The reply was during a debate on demands for grants regarding his portfolio on poverty alleviation programmes and rural indebtedness. During his 30-minute reply, he mostly lashed out at the previous AIADMK government for improper administration of the state rural livelihood mission and urban livelihood mission and other schemes meant for women’s welfare. This is the first time Udhayanidhi is giving a reply during a debate in the Assembly as a minister.

Speaking about supporting self-help groups, the minister said that he has instructed his party members to offer only products of SHGs to greet him whenever they meet him instead of presenting shawls and bouquets. He urged the members of the house to follow suit to give a helping hand to SHGs to sell their products.

He also urged AIADMK members to take part in ministerial review meetings, including the CM’s review meeting, and offer their suggestions for the welfare of the state.

Highlights

• Skill development training for 45,000 rural youths
• Community Investment Fund of Rs 1.5 lakh each for 5,000 SHGs
• 7,500 small and micro enterprises to get Rs 50 crore
• 50 common facility centres to produce value-added products under One block-one product scheme
• Rs 10 crore to build 1,000 community skill development schools
• Rs 2 crore for district-level buyer-seller exhibitions
• Rs 50 crore for nano enterprise financing fund to strengthen 1,000 enterprises of WSHGs
• 10,000 new WSHGs will be established and each group will get Rs 15,000 as revolving fund