TAMILNADU

The board set up to ensure the welfare of thedifferently abledin the state have held no meetings for three and a half years now, though it is supposed to meet at least twice a year.
Thewelfare boardfor the differently abled, which now has chief minister M K Stalin as chairman, last met in August 2017. It was set up in 2007. A second body called the state advisory board (SAB) was constituted two years after the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act 2016 came into force. Experts in rehabilitation of the disabled are supposed to be members of the board.

The objective of the welfare board and SAB is to facilitate framing of policies for the Empowerment of the differently abled, implement welfare schemes and support them to improve their socioeconomic status.

The Nadugovernment has notifiedArittapattiandMeenakshipuramvillages inMaduraidistrict as abiodiversity heritage site. The first such site in the state is Home to several endemic species and historical structures more than 2,000 years old.

A total of 193.2 hectares in Meenakshipuram in Madurai taluk and Arittapatti in Melur taluk have been notified as the Biodiversity heritage sites.

As per the government order issued by additional chief secretary of Environment, forest and Climate-change”>Climate Change Supriya Sahu, some hillocks in the area have rich biological and historical significance with the presence of around 250 bird species, including three raptor species, laggar falcons and other wildlife including endangered slender loris.

The area consists of a chain of seven barren granite hillocks as a watershed and supports 72 lakes, 200 natural spring pools and three check Dams.

The megalithic structures found in the area have Tamil Brahmi inscriptions, Jain beds and rock-cut temples which are 2,200 years old.

In order to become a worldwide fintech powerhouse, the Nadu government established a FinTech Governing Council.

Highlights:

Under the chairmanship of Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu, the FinTech Governing Council was formed.

Vice Chairman of the Governing Council will be Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu.
Pooja Kulkarni, the Managing Director and CEO of Guidance Tamil Nadu, will chair the Governing Councils.

The announcement of the formation of this council coincided with the introduction of the fintech policy at the Investment Conclave.

On November 23, 2021, a business conference will be held in Coimbatore. MK Stalin, the Chief Minister, will preside over the event.

Chief minister M K Stalin inaugurated Nadus first liquefied, compressed natural gas (LCNG) station set up by AG & P Pratham near Manthangal village inRanipetdistrict.

The facility will cater to the piped natural gas requirements of domestic households, industries, commercial establishments and CNG for the transport sector. The company will lay a 300km pipeline Network in Vellore and Ranipet regions by the end of this financial year. The new station will benefit more than 30,000 households and 325 industrial and commercial establishments across Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupattur districts,” Gupta said.

He said the company is developing city gas distribution networks in six districts — Kancheepuram, Chengalpet, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Ramanathapuram — besides South-East Chennai.

Take immediate measures to retrieve 62 acres of land belonging to Arulmighu Trisoolanathar temple in Tirusulam from encroachment, the Madras has directed the Chennai district collector and the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department.

The issue pertains to a plea moved by advocate S Xavier Felix alleging that a substantial part of the land belonging to the temple had been taken over by encroachers and the authorities did not take any meaningful steps to recover the land.

Health minister Ma Subramanian gave away Awards to senior transplant surgeons, nurses and counsellors in government and private hospitals. From about 185 donations in 2016, the number of donations came down to 127 in 2019 and 55 in 2020, according to data published byTRANSTAN, a state registry that networks with hospitals and registries across the state. “In the last five years, there has been an increase in the number of people heart, lungs and pancreas being utilised. In case hearts can’t be used, doctors harvest valves,” said director of medical Services Dr S Gurunathan.

Earlier this year, 25 kids from Chennai schools made it to the prestigious Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Satellite Launch Vehicle Mission 2023. This project brought together 5,000 schoolchildren from Classes VI to XII from all over India to learn about designing and developing 150 PICO satellites, which were launched by the sounding rocket on February 19, 2023, from a coastal hamlet near Chennai.

Cracking a major national programme like this one was a breakthrough for the 25 Chennai schoolchildren who were part of engineering major Larsen & Toubros engineering futures (EF)programme. For the company, it was validation that its back-to-school projects are in a class of their own.

The EF programme (launched in 2019) is one of two major CSR projects L&T has inTamil Nadu the other being Every Child A Scientist or ECAS (since 2020). The aim: To kindle scientific temper and critical thinking among students of government schools. Both programmes aim to bridge educational gaps by helping students use technology and work with cutting-edge TEACHING and Learning Resources. The EFprogramme integrates the four disciplines of STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) into a learning paradigm based on real-world applications. The ECAS program me helps children improve their academic scores and provides them opportunities to learn about the earth and atmospheric sciences, biology, Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture, Health and Nutrition, physics, chemistry.
So far, nearly 16,000 students from 50 schools in Nadu have been covered in the last threeand-a-half years. L&T officials say the aim is to ensure students do not get spooked by science and maths. The EF programme strives to ignite childrens innate creativity and curiosity. By offering experiential learning, complex concepts become more accessible and maths and science become less daunting, says Mabel Abraham, head-CSR, L&T. For the EF project, L&T has partnered with the NGO American India Foundation to cover Classes VI to VIII in government schools in Chennai, Kanchipuram, Chengalpet, and Tiruvallur districts.