Chennai Apr 22 PTI The Tamil Nadu government will observe December 18 every year as Minorities Rights Day at the state level and about Rs 250 lakh will be earmarked for the purpose Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils Welfare Gingee K S Masthan told the Assembly on Friday The government being the saviour of minorities is striving tirelessly to promote the upliftment and economic advancement of the minorities through effective implementation of various development schemes and welfare measures he said Winding up the debate on the demand for grants for the department the minister said the government would celebrate Minorities Rights Day at state level every year on December 18 Just as the day is being observed at district level under the collectors concerned it will be celebrated at the state level A sum of Rs 250 lakh will be provided for the purpose he said Further in order to enable the minority girl students in rural areas to pursue their studies without any impediments the government would provide education aid of Rs 500 to the students of Classes 3 to 5 and Rs 1000 to the wards of Class 6 A sum of Rs 275 crore would be provided as aid to the students the minister said Guidelines will be framed for providing minority status to educational institutions Masthan added Meanwhile Minister for Backward Classes Welfare R S Rajakannappan informed that e-libraries would be established in 275 college hostels run by the department at a cost of Rs 220 crore for the benefit of a large number of students In an initiative aimed at improving the economic prospects of the Backward Classes Most Backward Classes and Denotified Tribes the government would form 25 groups with each comprising 10 members men women and encourage them to set up ready-made garment units They would be provided an assistance of Rs Rs 75 lakh Rajakannappan said The medical assistance of Rs 1000 being provided to the hostellers for three medical checkups in a year will be enhanced to Rs 3000 he added PTI JSP HDA HDA

New Delhi Mar 31 PTI Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK supremo MK Stalin on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought the Centres approval for the state government to provide humanitarian aid to Sri Lankan Tamils in the wake of an economic crisis in that countryStalin gave a detailed memorandum on various issues including those related to the economic crisis in the island nation during his meeting with ModiEarlier in the morning he also met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in ParliamentWelcoming Stalin to Delhi Gandhi went to meet him in the DMK office in Parliament and said she came to say Vanakkam to him and will meet him again during his party office inauguration in the national capital on April 2Stalin greeted her with a shawlStalin is on a three-day visit to the national capital and is scheduled to meet several top leadersDMK is inaugurating its party office in the national capital on April 2 and has invited leaders from various parties including the BJP and the Congress the party MP Kanimozhi said PTI JTR KR BJ PYK PYK

Chennai Feb 19 PTI Tamil Nadu on Saturday recorded 1051 coronavirus cases and seven deaths thereby taking the count to 3443980 and 37977 respectively Recoveries continued to rise and they included 3561 patients getting discharged today The cumulative recoveries increased to 3387839 The total active cases including isolation were 18164 according to a bulletin Chennai accounted for 238 fresh infections Coimbatore 157 Chengalpattu 96 and Erode 55 Nearly 21 districts saw cases below 50 while 13 other districts had new infections in single digit with Mayiladuthurai reporting one case The total recoveries in Chennai increased to 736207 and the fatalities to 9056 The metro accounted for 748592 positive cases while the active cases stood at 3329 the bulletin said PTI JSP NVG NVG

Chennai Dec 23 PTI The Tamil Nadu government has granted parole for Nalini Sriharan one of the seven life term convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination the Madras High Court was informed on Thursday State Public Prosecutor Hassan Mohammed told this to a division bench of Justices P N Prakash and R Hemalatha when a habeas corpus petition from S Padma mother of Nalini came up for further hearing today Recording this the bench closed the petition In her petition Padma had stated she was suffering from various illnesses and wanted her daughter to be by her bedside In this connection she had sent several representations to the State government to grant parole for one month but to no avail Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21 1991 at Sriperumbudur near here by a suicide-bomber of the LTTE Seven people -- Murugan Santhan Perarivalan Jayakumar Robert Payas Ravichandran and Nalini -- are serving life term in connection with the assassination PTI COR SA ROH ROH

Chennai Dec 23 PTI The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday launched the CM Dashboard monitoring system that will enable Chief Minister M K Stalin to get real-time information on important matters including rainfall patterns water storage levels in reservoirs and health-related among others Stalin launched the dashboard here an official release said Understanding the need for real-time information proper monitoring increased efficiency of government cutting down of delays and taking prompt decisions he had already directed a team to prepare dashboards that would achieve the requirements listed above it said The dashboards released on Thursday in the first batch cover water storage levels of all key reservoirs in the state and status of water availability as on date rainfall patterns current employment trends to indicate the status of the economy and daily police report of major crimes in the state with reference to the districts that require more attention This is only the first batch of dashboards and on a weekly basis more dashboards will be added and provided to enable the Chief Minister to have full knowledge and coordinative control of the functioning of all departments the release added Minister for Water Resources Durai Murugan and IT Minister Mano Thangaraj among others were present for the launch event PTI SA SS SA SS SS

Chennai Nov 20 PTI The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday launched a Forensic DNA Profile Search Tool and said it will be useful in various aspects including reuniting abducted and missing children with parents based on DNA Tamil Nadu was the first state to introduce the technology in the country and Chief Minister M K Stalin launched it here an official release said In foreign countries by combining DNA with IT its efficiency has grown manifold and such a technology was not available in the country so far it said The tool will be useful in reuniting abducted and missing children with parents based on their DNA comparison tracking inter-state criminals identifying persons resorting to repeated crime acts and identifying unidentified bodies and human skeletons it said PTI SA APR APR

Chennai Nov 19 PTI Tamil Nadu continued to record a decline in new COVID-19 infections as active cases fell below the 9000 mark on Friday pushing the tally to 2718750 The state recorded 772 cases and 13 deaths taking the toll to 36349 till date a health department bulletin said Recoveries outnumbered new infections with 884 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours aggregating to 2673448 leaving 8953 active infections the bulletin said A total of 102383 samples were tested in the last 24 hours pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 53156461 Chennai and Coimbatore accounted for the majority of new infections with 120 and 119 cases respectively while the remaining was scattered across other districts As many as 18 districts reported below 10 COVID-19 infections while Perambalur and Virudhunagar recorded zero new cases the bulletin said PTI VIJ APR APR

Chennai Oct 29 PTI Tamil Nadu on Friday added 1039 new Covid-19 infections pushing the tally past the 27 lakh mark to reach 2700593 while the toll mounted to 36083 with 11 more deaths the health department said Recoveries outnumbered new infections with 1229 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours aggregating to 2652660 leaving 11850 active infections a medical bulletin said A total of 123084 samples were tested in the last 24 hours pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 50911486 till date Chennai and Coimbatore accounted for the majority of new infections with 126 and 118 cases respectively while the remaining was scattered across other districts As many as eight districts reported new Covid-19 infections below 10 while Theni recorded the least with one the bulletin said PTI VIJ BN BN

Chennai Oct 26 PTI Tamil Nadu would conduct the seventh edition of the COVID mass vaccination programme through 50000 camps across the state on October 30 State minister Ma Subramanian said on Tuesday The health department has conducted six mass vaccination programmes inoculating 133 crore people the Minister for Medical and Family Welfare said Briefing reporters after inspecting the vaccines at the storage facility of the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services DMS in the city he said till date 568 crore people have been vaccinated in the state Coming Saturday October 30 the seventh edition of mega vaccination camp will be held through 50000 campsthose who are waiting to receive the second dose should make use of the exercise he said Noting that more than 60 lakh people in the state have not received their second dose he said of the 60 lakh two lakh people need to receive the second dose of Bharat Biotechs vaccine -- Covaxin Subramanian said along with health secretary J Radhakrishnan he would make a request to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to allot 10 lakh doses of Covaxin to the state during his visit to New Delhi tomorrow as a large number of people were waiting to receive the dose We will also urge the Minister to allot funds to set up safe vaccine storage facilities in every district of the state he said Subramanian said he would also make a request to the Union Minister on the necessity to set up government hospitals at 19 locations in the State We need about Rs 950 crore for this purpose We will also take up this matter with the Union Minister he said Stating that there was no ban to celebrate festivals Subramanian said people should strictly follow the Covid-19 protocols at least for a year and celebrate the festivals PTI VIJ BN BN

Chennai Sep 19 PTI The Tamil Nadu government will do away with the present system of distribution of food packets as part of the Annadanam scheme in temples to devotees and serve them in the shrines starting Monday the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment HRCE department saidThe day-long Annadanam scheme launched in Arulmigu Subramania Swamy temples in Tiruchendur and Tiruttani and the Samayapuram Arulmigu Mariyamman shrine last week has been well received HRCE Minister PK Sekar Babu saidDue to the Covid pandemic Annadanam in temples was implemented through food packets which will now be restricted only to Fridays Saturdays and Sundays the Ministers office said in a release on SundayFrom September 20 onwards Annadanam will be conducted in temples where it is being done already adhering to covid-19 protocols from Monday to Thursday and food will be served to the devotees the release said PTI SA ROH ROH