Tamil Nadu minister for agriculture and farmers’ welfare M R K Panneerselvam has urged the Centre to ensure timely supply of fertilizers for the benefit of the farmers in the state. Citing backlog and delay in supplies, he asked the Centre to ensure that imported fertilizers, meant for Tamil Nadu, are routed through the ports in the state and neighbouring Puducherry.
Despite allocation of adequate funds, the public library at Pattabiram has been functioning from a ramshackle, rented premise for almost half a decade.
With just a month left for the onset of northeast monsoon, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) will soon begin maintenance work in underground tunnels to identify and fix leakages and prevent water stagnation during rains. The metro rail network in the city has twin tunnels covering nearly 27km linked by 21 metro stations in the 45km phase-1 and 9km phase-1 extension lines.
The Vinayaka Chaturthi festival is likely to be a low key event this year as well due to the pandemic.
Six people, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed when the SUV in which they were travelling collided head-on with a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus near Kallakurichi on Sunday night.
Covid-19 cases in the state have been steadily dropping below 1,600 in the past week, with 1,532 new cases reported on Monday. This took the state’s tally to 26.13 lakh which included17,085 people still undergoing treatment for the infection.
Police are inquiring into the complaint of a head constable that he was kidnapped in a car by an acquaintance, sedated and robbed of Rs 1 lakh through his Google Pay account.
The Madipakkam police on Sunday arrested a three-member gang that targeted women walking alone on the roads and snatched their phones, jewellery.
The Union territory of Puducherry reported 96 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday, when 100 patients recovered bringing down the active cases to 692. Of them, 535 patients are under home isolation and treatment.
Save Higher Education Movement, Tamil Nadu (SHE-TN) organized an online panel discussion protesting the collection of exorbitant fees by colleges and the increasing privatisation of the education sector.
Covid-19 positivity rate of Madurai district dropped to 0.1% on Saturday with only nine testing positive among the 7,175 samples picked up. In Virudhunagar, which also showed the same rate, only four of the 3,688 samples tested positive.
Thousands of people thronged city parks and beaches on the first Sunday since they were reopened to public. Rain did not deter visits to zoo, children’s park, snake park, and visitors covered every inch of Marina. The leisure spots were declared open from last Monday.
The Pollachi all-woman police on Saturday arrested a 19-year-old woman under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for marrying a 17-year-old boy and sexually assaulting him.
A history sheeter who took a child living on the pavement at Mannadi and tried to sexually abuse her in an isolates spot was nabbed by members of the public and handed over to police on Saturday.
Police stumbled upon the serial rape and sexual assault of five minor girls, aged between four and 13, while checking the phone of a 48-year-old man whose shop they raided for selling banned tobacco products. Police on Sunday arrested Perumal under the Pocso Act after finding 50 video clips of his rape of the children on his cellphone.
Teachers and professors who have got the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine can return to work when schools and colleges reopen on September 1, health minister Ma Subramanian said on Sunday.
After taking break for a couple of days, thundershowers will be back in the city from September 1, says IMD. A forecast by IMD said that heavy rain would occur over north coastal areas on Wednesday and Thursday.
The four campuses of Anna University will begin physical classes for final year UG and PG students on September 1 in a phased manner to maintain social distancing at hostels and labs. Classes for students from other years will be scheduled later depending on the Covid-19 situation.
Two years after the ban on single-use plastic kicked in across the state, Greater Chennai Corporation is ‘yet again’ intensifying raids by holding meetings with trade associations and threatening to seal shops and cancel trade licences. Last week, it sealed one shop and seized 160kg of plastic carrybags and other banned items.
After Cognizant and Sify, Chennai now has a third tech company making its debut in Nasdaq. SaaS firm Freshworks on Friday filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the US tech exchange Nasdaq.
Following orders from Chamarajanagar district administration along the Karnataka border, police officers at the check post near Germalam in Erode district barred buses from Tamil Nadu from entering Karnataka. Officers also forced the passengers to get off the buses and asked them to walk 4km through the forest road and board Karnataka state transport buses to continue their travel.
Giving the benefit of doubt to a man who was convicted and sentenced in a sexual assault case, the Madras high court acquitted him by observing that the non-raising of resistance during the first time of sexual assault amounts to pre-consent and accordingly, the consent given by the woman cannot be held as a misconception of fact.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Saturday passed a resolution urging the Union government to repeal the three contentious farm laws against which farmers have been holding protests for months in Delhi. While members of the AIADMK and the BJP walked out of the assembly before the resolution was put to vote, legislators of the PMK, an NDA ally, the Congress, the VCK, the MDMK, the MMK and the Left supported the motion.
A guest worker from Uttar Pradesh died when a concrete portion of the Madurai–Natham flyover between two pillars at Bank Colony near Naganakulam Tank in Madurai crashed and plunged eight metres into the ground on Saturday evening.
The Madras high court has set a three-month deadline for the state government to constitute a ‘Press Council of Tamil Nadu’, saying it is necessary to weed out fake journalists, mushrooming journalists’ associations/unions and to regulate distribution of identity cards, passes and other state doles.
Minister for fisheries, fishermen welfare and animal husbandry, Anitha R Radhakrishnan on Saturday said in the assembly that the government would construct 31 new fish landing centres across the coastal districts at a cost of Rs 359 crore. Of these,11 fish landing centres would come up in Tuticorin district at Rs 109 crore cost, he said. Radhakrishnan hails from Tuticorin district.
Tamil Nadu added 1,551 Covid-19 cases, an increase from 1,542 the state reported on Friday. Overall, 15 districts, including Chennai, Thanjavur and Trichy, reported an increase in new cases compared to their Friday tally. Districts such as Coimbatore, Tenkasi and Kanyakumari, sharing borders with Kerala, continued to report the same number of cases.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Friday announced welfare measures to the tune of ₹317.4 crore to improve the living conditions of Sri Lankan Tamils in refugee camps in the state.
In a massive restoration of the road network in the districts, the state government on Friday announced “Chief Minister Road Improvement Scheme” to widen the roads connecting taluk headquarters and the district headquarters in the next ten years. The government will spend ₹3,200 crore in this fiscal to widen the roads to two-lane and four-lanes to facilitate free movement of traffic. About 2,000km panchayat/panchayat union roads will be upgraded to ‘other district roads’.
Two former chief ministers -- Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam -- have moved Madras high court to quash a criminal defamation complaint filed by ex-spokesperson of former AIADMK Va Pugazhendi, who was expelled from the party.
Tamil Nadu water resources minister S Duraimurugan on Friday told the state assembly that the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) has no jurisdiction to discuss the Mekedatu dam issue. It is sub judice, the matter is pending before a court, he said.
Three stone idols were unearthed by workers in the compound of a farmer couple in Kodur village near Ponneri on Thursday.
Students who will return to colleges and schools on September 1 will have to be prepared for a different campus experience. Classes are going to be held on alternate days, there will be no lunching together, sharing of textbooks, meetings, study tours or sporting activities.
With an addition of 1,542 Covid-19 cases, Tamil Nadu continued to report a fall in new cases on Friday compared to 1,559 cases on Thursday. Nevertheless, 17 districts, including at least three districts bordering with Kerala, reported an increase in new cases.
Rejecting the plea of a prosecution witness, the Madras high court on Friday allowed further investigation into the case of murder and burglary at former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad estate in April 2017, saying that deaths of people connected with the incident are ‘serious and suspicious.’
The admissions to post graduate dental courses have been put on hold by the Medical Counselling Committee after the Madras high court said the additional reservation provided for economically weaker sections in the notification of July 29, 2021 cannot be permitted without approval of the Supreme Court.
Tamil Nadu government on Friday moved the Supreme Court to direct the Central Water Commission to reject and return the detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed Mekedatu balancing reservoir-cum-drinking water project filed by Karnataka in January 2019.
The Tamil Nadu legislative assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a bill to provide 7.5% horizontal quota to government school students for admissions to UG courses in engineering, agriculture, veterinary, fisheries, law and other professional courses in both government and private institutions.
Two months after medical device maker Philips announced recall of Philips bi-level positive airway pressure (Bi-Level PAP), continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), and mechanical ventilator devices, the state government has asked the company to replace or rectify defects in at least 600 invasive and non-invasive ventilators used in government hospitals.
In a ruling that may increase the overall cost of new vehicles, the Madras high court on Thursday said five-year bumper-to-bumper insurance will be mandatory for all vehicles sold after September 1.
Chief minister N Rangasamy, who holds the finance portfolio, on Thursday presented a Rs 9,924.4-crore tax-free budget for the financial year 2021-2022 for the Union territory of Puducherry. Highlights of the budget include a 3% cut in Vat on petrol, education and crop loan waivers.
The Palayamkottai police in Tirunelveli arrested six people on charges of murdering a 25-year-old man on Wednesday night as the man allegedly eve-teased the wife of one of the accused.
The deceased were identified as Baleswari of Villivakkam and her eight-year-old son Narayanan. Police said her husband Ravi, 48, succumbed to Covid-19 four months ago. He ran a cellphone shop in Villivakkam and the family were leading a financially stable life. After Ravi's death, Baleswari’s sister took her and the child to her home in Madambakkam, as she was feeling depressed.
The Madras high court on Tuesday disallowed 10% quota for economically weaker sections (EWS) among forward castes in MBBS admissions under All India Quota (AIQ), saying it would take the total reservation beyond the Supreme Court-mandated cap of 50%.