TAMILNADU

Maneka GandhiMP has written toTamil Naduchief minister M K Stalin seeking a policy decision to empower the state Police with powers to enforce theWildlife Protection Act.

She said a number of forest guards and officials had been caught in the last few years poaching and selling wildlife items. These officials were protected by senior officials who did not want to expose the Corruption in the department.

She said the forest department personnel were not poaching but also stealing confiscated items from range offices. Recently, Kaliyappan of Krishnagiri was caught in Bengaluru in Karnataka with two elephant tusks. He revealed that his son worked in the forest department in Hosur and that the tusks had been stolen from the range office.

Chief minister M KStalin relaunched the Varumun Kappom (preventive healthcare) scheme as Kalaignarin Varumun Kappom at a function at Vazhapadi here on Wednesday. He said 1,250 medicalcampswould be conducted under the scheme in the state in a year.

The main objective of the scheme, he said, was to prevent diseases among the people and ensure their Health. The scheme will benefit the people in all villages, town panchayats, municipalities and corporations in the state. The chief minister has increased the number of camps under the scheme to 1,250 from his earlier announcement of 1,000 to cover the maximum number of Population. At the medical camps, doctors will screen one for all sorts of health issues. He said the camps would address dental, ENT, stomach, intestine, high blood pressure, diphtheria, bone and joint, kidney, heart, and psychiatric related issues. Special focus will be given on paediatric issues, pregnant womens issues and womens health issues in general.

It would include all 45 MLAs of reserved constituencies in the state, irrespective of party affiliations.

The panel will review the implementation of the provisions of the SC/ST Act, relief and rehabilitation of the victims, prosecution, role of officers/agencies, and various reports received by the .

Anna Universityhas jumped more than 120 places compared to the previous year to break into the top 500 universities in the QS World University Ranking 2024 released on Tuesday. The technical university secured the 427th rank and found a place on the list of top 10 institutions in the country, mainly because of its improvement in the criteria of academic reputation and citation per faculty.

In the previous cycle, Anna University was ranked in the band of 551-560. Central institutions including seven IITs, IISc andUniversity of Delhifeatured above Anna University on the list. In the citation per faculty (CpF) criteria, the University got a score of 99.8, up from 85.2 it had secured last year.
On CpF, the university was ranked 12th in the world and second in the country afterIndian Institute of Science, Bengaluru which got a perfect 100. This criterion has a 20% weightage in the ranking.

Nadu is among the top five achievers in the key parameters of Education such as access, Equity, Infrastructure and Governance processes, according to the the Union ministry of education’s Performance Grading Index (PGI) for 2019-20. The state has scored 906 points out of 1,000, an increase from 793 points in the previous year. However, the PGI district scorecard revealed that some districts have poor Learning outcomes. Chennai district was among the bottom 10 districts in learning outcomes with 395 points out of 600.

Dharmapuri and Villupuram districts have been deemed to have better learning outcomes compared to other districts, according to the new Performance Grade Index-District (PGI-D) 2019-20 report.

Surprisingly, Chennai with better infrastructure is among the bottom 10 districts with an overall score of 395 of 600. Of 290 points for learning outcome category, it scored 141, below the 50% mark. In fact, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, Chennai’s neighbouring districts, fared better compared to the state capital, registering overall scores of 420 and 419.

In the education index for 2019-20 released in 2021, Tamil Nadu had shown a big improvement as it was ranked among the top five achievers with 906 out of 1000 points with better performance in the key domains including access, infrastructure, equity and governance process over the previous year. However, the score for learning outcomes remained the same compared to previous year.

Its been close to four years since the Centre announced its plan to establish DEFENCE corridors inUttar PradeshandTamil Naduwith an aim to become Atmanirbhar Bharat in manufacturing and service of aerospace and defence equipment.

The plan behind the defence industrial corridors is to catalyse indigenous production of defence and aerospace-related items and promote Growth of private domestic manufacturers, MSMEs and startups in the defence sector.

But progress of the project has been limited due to multiple reasons including the outbreak of the pandemic. Further, the is characterised by the long gestation needed for DECISION MAKING and implementation of projects, given the sensitive nature of the sectors. The low volumes on offer also make it tough for projects to evolve from concept to reality.
Tamil Nadu has been silently going about identifying its advantages and converting it as opportunities to emerge stronger in the aerospace and defence segments. The aim is for Tamil Nadu to emerge as the manufacturing and service hub for aerospace and defence industries in the country.

In Tamil Nadu, the defence corridor plan identified Chennai, Trichy, Salem, Hosur and Coimbatore as areas of focused development for the targeted sectors. The state also unveiled an exclusive Aerospace and Defence Industry Policy in 2019.

A defence park will come up in 400 acres at Sulur near Coimbatore, while more such exclusive facilities will be established at Ulundurpet, Salem and Trichy, besides the 250-acre aerospace park established near Chennai.

Voltashas laid the groundwork and performed BhoomiPujafor its new air conditioner factory at Madharapakkam in Thiruvallur district ofTamil Nadu. The Bhoomi Puja was performed by the Leadership team of the company earlier this week with Voltas chairman Noel Tata and MD & CEO of VoltasPradeepBakshi among others.

The new manufacturing facility is spread over 150 acres. The company has planned to invest over 500 crore in this factory for room air conditioners (RACs) manufacturing, over the next couple of years. This facility will ensure that all the products manufactured here are competitive on a global scale, said the company in a statement. This facility will initially manufacture RAC and is an extension to the existing RAC facility in Pantnagar.

Naduchief minister M K Stalin said his government will celebrate the centenary year of theVaikom Satyagraha(Vaikom struggle) to honour the memory of social reformist Periyar, who fought across the borders for the people and succeeded in making such revolutions in HISTORY, and to propagate the principles of social Justice.

Making a suo motu statement under Rule 110, the chief minister said the State Government would commence the centenary year celebrations on March 30. Various initiatives will be taken up for the public and students to know the history, purpose and victory of the struggle.