TAMILNADU

The Madurai regional office of the has managed to collect 2,100 crore so far out of the target collection of 4,000 crore for the Madurai region, principal chief commissioner of income tax for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, R Ravichandran said. Ravichandran reviewed the income tax collection for the Madurai office.

though the collection for Madurai region appears mediocre, they are hopeful that the collection will improve in the next quarter. The income tax collection target for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry region is 1,08,000 crore in which they have collected 70 %. Another installment for advance tax collection is also due, he said.

The Growth of the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry collection is at 28 %. The region has been given the target of 17% but the income tax collection growth is another 11% because the states economy is doing well and tax collection is really good. Though we have been given the target of 1,08,000 crore, we are planning to touch 1,25,000 crore and it will be the highest target the region has ever achieved. We managed to touch 1 lakh crore collection last year, he said.

TheTamil Nadu Pollution Control Boardhad announced ‘Green Certification’ for schools in the city, where the school children ride to school by bicycles or by walk.

Ninety per cent of the students from the participating schools should commute by their bicycles to their schools. Secondly, no person motor vehicle to drop these high school students within 100 metres from the school Gate. These are the two main criteria for participating in the programme.

The board will examine the details submitted by the school and will conduct verification and surprise checks in the schools to find out whether the schools met the required criteria.

TheTamil Nadugovernment issued an order giving effect to waiver of loans taken from on gold up to five sovereigns or less.
The move will cost the exchequer about 6,000 crore. The department of co-operation, food and Consumer protection issued the GO stating that CMM K Stalinhad, on September 13, announced that the gold loans taken from cooperative banks till March 31, 2021, will be waived off based on certain criteria to benefit the needy.

The department stated that the waiver of the loan will provide the exchequer 6,000 crore approximately except the part repayment of the loan by some of the beneficiaries.

Naducooperative minister IPeriyasamy said the government had set a target to disburse Rs 11,500 crore loans to farmers through Cooperative banks during this fiscal.
The government had also plans to increase the share of cooperative banks loan disbursement to farmers from the present 9.5% to 22-25% in the next five years.

Periyasamy said Cooperative Societies had enrolled 2.3 lakh new members after the DMK government assumed office. It also disbursed Rs 120 crore loans to the new members. He added that Rs 80 crore had been extended as loans to farmers to take up kuruvai cultivation in the delta districts. It was more than double the amount (Rs 37 crore) disbursed during last year kuruvai cultivation, he said. The CM has made it clear that new members should be given loans, he said. He recalled how the DMK government underM Karunanidhirevived the cooperative banks by waiving farmers loans to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras has developed a robot called to clean septic tanks and eliminate manual scavenging in India. It is all set to be deployed in field.

A total of ten robots are planned to be deployed across Nadu.

Researchers are in touch with sanitation workers for identifying locations.

Some locations in Maharashtra and Gujarat are also being considered.

HomoSEP robot has been developed by a team led by Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal from IIT Madras, in association with IIT Madras-incubated start-up Solinas Integrity Private Limited. It is also supported by Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA) NGO, which is dedicated towards eliminating manual scavenging in India.

HomoSEP Robot homogenizes the hard sludge in septic tanks by using custom-developed rotary blade mechanism and then pumps the tank slurry by an integrated suction mechanism. Sanitation workers can operate the robot on their own with relevant training and appropriate guidance.

Researchers from themolecular laboratoryin the department of Zoology and Wildlife Biology in the Government Arts College in Ooty have discovered a newwingless insectin the Nilgiris.

A research paper on the new species has been published in international journal Biologia published by Springer Nature. The 1mm-long flightless insect has been named Bionychiurus tamilensis as it was recorded in Tamil Nadu, said associate professor and laboratory head R Sanil. There are only six species under this genus reported so far across the world and reported only from cold high-altitude regions of Switzerland, China and Korea.

The insect was first observed in 2018 in the Soil samples collected fromOoty Government Arts Collegecampus. Further surveys showed its presence in grasslands and unpolluted humus soil samples.

DNA profiling was conducted and details are deposited in the NCBI Database. None of the similar specimens obtained from other parts of the world are barcoded till date.

GuidanceTamil Nadu signed six MoUs with Japanese companies and their Indian joint venture partners to cumulatively attract investments of close to Rs 820 crore.

These MoUs were signed in the presence of chief minister M K Stalin, at the end of an investors conclave, organised by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Tokyo.

Three of the six MoUs were signed by Guidance Nadu along with Chennai-based 2,800 crore Polyhose group with its three Japanese joint venture companies Kohyei, Sato-Shoji Metal Works and Tofle for expanding their existing operations near Chennai and manufacturing additional products.

These three MoUs would together facilitate Investment of 550 crore and pave way for manufacturing polycarbonate sheets, roofs and extrusion lines for electronic components for use in the construction Industry, high-end steel parts to be used in aerospace and defense industries and stainless steel specialised flexible hoses.

The veteran leader, now with DMK,M Appavuwho won the same seat for the fourth time, in the just concluded assembly election, was led to the speaker’s chair in theTamil Naduassembly. The ornate chair was presented by Lord Willingdon, the governor of Madras Presidency to the President of Madras Legislative Council as a personal gift in March 1922.

It has a strong resemblance to the chair in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom.

The 18th speaker in the assembly, Appavu was elected thrice from Radhapuram as a candidate of G K Moopanar’s TMC, an Independent and as a DMK candidate.

Nadugovernor R NRavi said politics has become so overwhelming that it has divided people on linguistic lines.
Even while endorsing the state re-organisation based on linguistic lines, he said it should not divide people. He was interacting with a delegation of students fromBiharunder ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ programme. Stressing the need for unity, he urged students to ignore differences based on language, religion, caste and ethnicity.

He said states were created for administrative convenience after the Britishers left India. States were reorganised along linguistic lines in 1956 to ensure that the governments understood the language of the people. But unfortunately, politics has become overwhelming that we have started identifying ourselves as Tamilians, Biharis, Kannadigas, Malayalis, etc.,” he said.

Lessons learnt during last years lockdown are seemingly helping large industries in Nadu handle production during the second wave of the infection.

However, smaller businesses, especially MSMEs who are yet to come out of debts of the first wave, feel any further downturn will create a huge dent in their balance sheets.

From vaccinating senior workers, arranging transportation, sourcing raw materials, providing accommodation near factory premises and re-aligning operations, big companies are confident of overcoming the current tide.