TAMILNADU

Nadu has risen from 14th to third position in the list of favourable states for industrial Investment, and from fifth to third position among states promoting startups, said state Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) minister T M Anbarasan.

Speaking at the inauguration of the ninth meeting of the Global Organisation of Tamil Origin (GOTO) in Chennai on Friday, Anbarasan said chief minister M K Stalin had given a fresh lease of life for MSMEs, which suffered multiple blows due to demonetisation, GST and Covid.

Listing out initiatives of the State Government to help MSMEs, he said work was progressing at a brisk pace to establish export guidance centres in 10 places across the state, including Chennai, Coimbatore, Pollachi, Tirupur, Hosur, Karur, Madurai and Kancheepuram. This apart, work was on to set up export facilitation centres in all the districts, he said.

Almost half of thescheduled tribe(ST) Population in Naduare illiterates, according to the statistics based on the 2011 census released by the minister of state for tribal affairsRenuka Singh Saruta.
Furnishing a written reply to the queries posed byVillupuramMP D Ravikumar in theLok Sabha, the minister said the Literacy rate of ST men in Tamil Nadu stood at 54.3% as against the national Average of 59% and ST Women in the state at 46.8% as against the national average of 49.4%.

Scheduled tribe men in Lakshadweep have the highest literacy rate, at 91.7%, followed by Mizoram (91.5%) and Nagaland (80%), while Andhra Pradesh ST men registered the lowest literacy rate at 48.8%. Scheduled tribe women in Mizoram have the highest literacy rate at 89.5%, followed by Lakshadweep (87.8%). Rajasthan ST women recorded the lowest literacy rate of 37.3%.

Interestingly, Saruta said as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report (July 2019-June 2020) published by the Union statistics and programme implementation ministry, the literacy rate for scheduled tribes in India is 70.6%. “However, state-wise details of literacy rates are not available in PLFS report,” the minister of state said.

The government has identified nearly 2.5 lakh fair price shops (FPS) or ration shops to upgrade them as one-stop shops for providing different facilities including for e-Services such as for paying utility bills and submittingPANapplication. So far 39,000 such shops have been on-boarded as Common Service Centres (CSCs).

Officials said this move is set to have a huge impact considering that thousands of beneficiaries visit these shops and they can play a key role in taking e-services to the doorstep of the poor.

According to the food ministry, around 10,000 ration shops inMaharashtrahave got the ISO certification and Nadu is also working towards adopting a similar model of certification of the ration shops in the state.

Meanwhile, the Centre has urged all the states and UTs to identify and develop 75 model ration shops in each district and share the list with the food ministry.
There are a total of over five lakh ration shops across the country and nearly 80 crore identified beneficiaries get subsidised foodgrain under theNational Food Security Actfrom these outlets. The government has also been distributing free foodgrain under the PMGarib KalyanAnn Yojna through these ration shops.

After the delivery of medicines at the doorsteps inTamil Nadu, the State Government will now deliver books at the doorsteps of readers.
The Tamil Nadu Directorate of Public Libraries will launch the Noolangam Nanbaragal or Friends of Library scheme in 2,500 libraries across the state.

Tamil Nadu school Education minister, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi in the 2022-23 Budget announced that the Noolangam Nanbaragal scheme would be implemented in the state.

The Directorate of Public Libraries will select five volunteers for each library and the volunteers will deliver books at the doorsteps of readers and create awareness among the public on the importance of books and reading. A meeting of the librarians would be held at the district level next week and then the notification for the selection of volunteers would be issued.

Nadu Adi Dravida and Tribal Welfare Department has reduced the budgetary allocation for the Post Matriculation Scholarship (PMS) scheme this year by Rs 48 crore.

Under this scheme, scholarship is given to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students, who pursue medicine, engineering, arts and science, polytechnic, MBA and other professional courses.

Authorities attribute the fund reduction to drop in applications and SC/ST enrolment in higher Education institutions. This decline started in 2017 the year in which the government tweaked PMS scheme guidelines. Until then, scholarship was provided to all SC/ST students in government, aided and self-financing institutions.

The Nadu Assembly passed a Bill on September 13, 2021 that made the encroachment of properties of religious institutions a cognisable and non-bailable offence.

The Bill that seeks to amend the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959.

Bill was passed unanimously empowering anyone, who is having interest in the affairs of religious institution matters, to file a complaint against encroachers and temple land encroachment.

Bill will amend the section 79-B of the Act of 1959.

The Tamil Nadu government recently launched a massive drive to retrieve temple lands, encroached in the state.

The bill was passed in Light of increasing instances of encroachments of properties belonging to religious institutions. This offence is serious in nature. Thus, the government considered that criminal complaint may be filed by any person who are interested in the affairs of the religious institution.

As many as 7,294 government schools in the state have benefitted under the Namma Ooru Palli scheme since its launch in December 2022, minister for school Education AnbilMaheshPoyyamozhi said.

The scheme is aimed at improving the standards of government schools with the participation, contribution, and PARTNERSHIP of private companies, alma maters, and the public.

Initially, 12 companies were associated with the scheme. In six months, the association has grown with a staggering 133 companies whose contributions to the welfare of government schools have now crossed Rs 100 crore, the minister said.
At the conclave, the Confederation of Indian (CII) partnered with the Namma Ooru Palli scheme, and its members contributed Rs 13.95 crore.

The scheme is for the children of migrant labourers. The scheme has been launched in Tirupur because the district is Home to many migrant labourers. And they are one of the supportive reasons for the Growth of Tirupur. There are about 34 lakh migrant labourers in the state, he said.

In order to ensure welfare of labourers, committees comprising representatives from industries, and Labour Welfare boards would be formed in district and state level, said minister for labour welfare and skill developmentC V Ganesan, who was in the city to chair a meeting with the representatives of trade unions and labour welfare boards at the collectors office.

The minister directed officials to take decision on petitions seeking assistance, a statement from the collectors office said.

Under the chief minister in your constituency scheme, the minister distributed job offers from private company to three people and books to four people preparing for government examinations. Under the social security scheme, relief funds were distributed to four people and welfare board identity cards were distributed to seven labourers.