Tourism sector hit in the Nilgiris

Tourism to the Nilgiris has reduced by almost 70% since January this year, due to the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country.

According to data available on visitors to the popular tourist locations in the district, such as the farm in Kallar, the Kattery Park, Doddabetta Tea Park, Government Botanical garden, the Rose Garden, Sims Park and the Arboretum, the Average number of visitors during the weekends has dropped to just a little over 2,000 visitors. It stood at around 15,000 prior to the surge in cases.

CM MK Stalin to launch dashboard today to access real-time data on Tamil Nadu

Hours of discussion in the chief ministers chamber on the spike in cases of crimes against Women and children, skyrocketing price rise of vegetables and fruits and current EMPLOYMENT trends may be a thing of the past.

In a bid to bring about a paradigm change in Governance, chief minister M K Stalin is scheduled to launch on Thursday a real-time “CM Dashboard Nadu360″ to track, analyze and increase the efficiency in the decisionmaking process. Report of crimes with reference to the districts and poor performers in maintaining law and order will be looked at on a real-time basis.

They are key performance indicators of every department, said a senior government officer. The price mesh monitors the price stability over 25 foodgrains/vegetables/fruits available with the support of state and central government agencies and market prices and predictive analytics will help in timely intervention.

State releases new protocol for surgeries

A week after teenage footballer Priya R died of medical negligence, more than 600 surgeons from government hospitals across Naduhave gathered at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in the city to brainstorm mandatory medical checklists and protocols for all surgeries.

The State Government has announced it will form a surgical death audit committee to review random and special cases to prevent repetition of errors and initiate corrective measures. Four such committees in Chennai (north),Trichy(central), Coimbatore (west) andMadurai(south) would be formed with doctors from medical, surgical, anaesthetic and orthopaedic teams, Health ministerMa Subramaniansaid. Although all hospitals have a death audit committee, the surgical committee will periodically review selective deaths, he said.

Earlier, the minister released a 65-page handbook State Surgical Protocol and Checklist for doctors to adopt international protocols and guidelines to standardise safety norms before surgery, during the procedure, post-surgery and after discharge.

Tamil Nadu signs MoUs with 59 companies; 76,795 jobs to be created

TheTamil Nadugovernment signedMoUswith 59 companies attracting investments to the tune of Rs 35,208 crore across the state.

These include MoUs with seven companies for aerospace and DEFENCE systems manufacturing at an of Rs 485 crore. These MoUs were exchanged in the presence of chief ministerM K Stalinat an industrial conference in Coimbatore. Stalin said given the pace of investment and Growth for TN, the day was not far for the state to achieve the target of one trillion dollar economy.

The projects ranging from garment manufacturing, cement production to Dairy and defence systems manufacturing are expected to provide jobs to 76,795 people.

Stalin also laid the foundation stone for 13 projects worth Rs 13,413 crore and launched commercial production in ten projects that had come up at an investment of Rs 3,928 crore. Government authorities said that in all 92,420 people would get jobs through these 82 projects put together.

Tamil Nadu: Ordinance promulgated for creation of 4 corporations

With the to the Urban Local Bodies likely soon, Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi has promulgated ordinances for the creation of four corporations, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Sivakasi and Karur, upgrading the erstwhile municipalities. Ordinances will be issued for Tambaram and Kumbakonam corporations soon. This follows an announcement made by the State Government in the assembly in August.

Tambaram gets four municipalities, including Pallavaram, Pammal, Sembakkam and Anakaputhur, and five town panchayats, Chitlapakkam, Madambakkam, Perungulathur, Peerkankaranai and Tiruneermalai. Daraspuram town panchayat is merged with Kumbakonam corporation.

UnveilingTamil Nadus export promotion strategy on Wednesday, chief ministerM K Stalinreiterated his governments resolve to make the state a $1 trillion economy by 2030, from around $265 billion now. Stalin also set a target of $100 billion in exports by 2030 from the present $26 billion.

Besides the thrust on exports for which a state Export Promotion committee will soon be formed, TN is focusing on emerging sectors as well as core strengths. Services-sector”>services sector will be a major focus area. Everything connected withFinTech(financial technology), including a FinTech policy and a FinTech city, will receive our focus. On the IT and ITeS front, we will push it in a much bigger way in Tier 2 & Tier 3 as well as rural areas, the official said.
Emerging sectors such as aerospace and DEFENCE, e-vehicles, electronic manufacturing and petrochemicals, and traditional sectors such as textiles and leather will get a thrust. Non-leather footwear is another emerging area for the state.

MSMEs contribute about 30% of the countrys GDP, and could do the same, if not more, in the state. MSMEs can grow better only through cluster approach. We have recently announced five mega industrial clusters for MSMEs in select sectors such as aerospace & defence, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, precision manufacturing and e-vehicle manufacturing. Each cluster will be developed with an of Rs 100 crore and will surely emerge as Growth centres in a few years

Sanctuary for Slender Loris – Kadavur Reserve Forest

There is a demand to declare Kadavur Reserve Forest in the Karur district of Nadu as a sanctuary for Slender Loris.

Highlights:

The whole wooded area in the taluk has been categorized as a reserve wooded area and viewed as a hotspot in the State for Slender Loris.

According to a census taken in 2016-17 through the Forest Department, the Reserve Forest has a populace of 3,500 Slender Loris, and the modern-day populace is estimated to be around 5,000.

The Slender Loris are a small, secretive nocturnal primate. These animals are about 25 cm long & have long, thin arms. Their most prominent function is the pair of two large, closely set, brown eyes.

It is frequently discovered in the tropical scrub and deciduous forests as properly as the dense hedgerow plantations bordering farmlands of Southern India & Sri Lanka.

Being arboreal, they spend most of their existence on the trees. Slender Loris live between 12 to 15 years.

There are 2 species of slender loris: The narrow red loris (Loris tardigrades) and the grey slender loris (L. lydekkerianus)

They are fond of lantana berries and additionally consume insects, lizards, small birds, tree frogs, smooth leaves and buds.

They have an addiction to urine washing of their face and limbs, which is ideal for soothing or defending against the sting of the toxic insects they pick to eat.

IUCN status- Endangered

The Tamil Nadu government constituted a 13-member expert committee for revival of MSMEs in the state.

It will be headed by N Sundaradevan, former Industries secretary, Nadu government.
The State Government had promised to constitute such a committee to formulate schemes for revival of MSMEs in the Governors address delivered to the state assembly on June 21, 2021.

In addition, secretaries to Tamil Nadu government for finance, industries and MSME as well as industries commissioner and chairman, State Level Bankers Committee. The newly constituted committee will submit its report to the state government in three months.

MSMEs play a vital role in Economic Development apart from providing EMPLOYMENT and export earnings. MSMEs are undergoing a very difficult period due to Covid pandemic and also due to various economic factors, the statement said. The committee will look into the challenges faced by the MSME sector in Tamil Nadu and will suggest immediate, medium and long term measures required for the revival of the MSME sector.

Simple Energy to raise $100mn in next phase

Electric vehicle manufacturer Simple Energy is in the process of raising $100 million as part of its next round of fund raising even as it scales up supply chain and retail footprint for its just launched product Simple One.SuhasRajkumar, founder-CEO, Simple Energy said, So far we had cumulatively raised just under $50 million and now were raising $100 million. Weve already raised a large chunk of it and will complete the fund raise round by the end of this quarter.
The current round has seen participation by family offices, institutions as well as the companys existing shareholders. Simple Energy has just started production and it began selling its e-scooter from June first week.

TN luring Kitex to invest in their state

With the news ofKerala Governmentofficials continually harassingKitex Garments, a leading supplier of childrenswear to Europe and the US, spreads outside the boundaries of Kerala, Nadu Government has made a swift move by inviting the firm with a bouquet of benefits.

A forty per cent subsidy on the total Investment and land at half the price are the major attractions offered by the TN government toKitexGroup. Full waiver on the stamp duty, five per cent interest subvention for the initial six years, 25% subsidy on environmental protection facility, and 50% subsidy on Intellectual Property Rights protection are included in the incentives, said Sabu M Jacob, chairman, Kitex Group.

Apart from this, TN government will be bearing 20% of the employee cost for up to 10 years, says the document sent by Gaurav Daga, Associate Vice President of Guidance Tamil Nadu, the industrial promotional arm of the TN government. Guidance Tamil Nadu has sought a personal meeting with Jacob, next week, to discuss the offerings.Dagahas extended the offers after discussions with Industries Minister and Principal Secretary-Industries of TN government.

Other notable incentives TN has offered to Kitex include: Electricity at subsidized rate for five years, 100% waiver on State GST charges on capital assets, Rs 4,000 each for employee training and Rs 6,000 each for training of employees from SC/ST communities, and 50% subsidy for quality assurance certification charges.