TAMILNADU

Braving the choppy waters the sector faced globally, seafood exporters in Naduhad a decent haul in the first seven months of this fiscal. They earned $758 million in exports, nearly 80% of the $973 million export target set for 2021-22 by the Centre.

This despite the Covid-inflicted troubles that had hit production, the steep increase in freight cost, the non-availability of refrigerated containers on time due to cartelisation by shipping lines, not to mention China conducting nucleic tests on seafood imports from India.

Its a labour-intensive Industry, employing mostly Women the 40-odd seafood exporters in Tamil Nadu employ more than 30,000 people. But despite a 1,076km coastline, Tamil Nadu accounts for a mere 15% of the total $7.8 billion Indian seafood exports targeted for this fiscal.

Tamil Nadu is proactive. It has identified seafood exports as one of the champion sectors for boosting exports and helping the state achieve its $1 trillion economy target by 2030. We made a detailed presentation to finance ministerPalanivel Thiaga Rajan. He and Fisheries ministerAnitha Radhakrishnanhave promised all support for us, says K V V Mohanan, Tamil Nadu president of the Indian Seafood Exporters Association.

Tamil Nadus 15% share of seafood exports includes transfers fromAndhra Pradeshthrough the Chennai port. Aquaculture (mostly shrimp) contributes almost 70% of the export kitty, with capture fisheries accounting for the rest. Aquaculture production in TN has been dropping for the last few years, while other states such as Andhra Pradesh have upped output. The hatcheries sector, which originated in Chennai, has fallen victim to extortion by anti-socials with political support. As a result, the industry went virtually into hibernation over the past 10 years in the state, the industry delegation told the ministers.

Engineering and fabrication MSMEs inTrichyare estimated to produce about 30,000 tonnes of components for the upcoming 9 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum) grassroot mega refinery and petrochemicals complex in Nagapattinam.

The Rs 31,580-crore modern refinery of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Iocl) will produce liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Bharat Stage VI quality gasoline and diesel and Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF).

Land acquisition for the new refinery, which requires about 600 acres adjacent to the existing refinery, is making quick progress. As Trichy MSMEs have experience in advanced welding technologies, the major and critical fabrication products are to be produced locally by taking suborders from the contractors entrusted to erect the new refinery.

The number of housing projects registered with theTamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority(TNRERA) till October this year has exceeded the total number of projects that were registered in 2020.

While 765 housing projects were registered with the state’s real estate regulatory Authority between January and October, only 755 projects were registered from January to December in 2020.

A year before, 492 housing projects got registered for the entire 2019. All ongoing housing projects must be registered with the state’s real estate regulatory authority.

At least one in every 10 Women between 15 and 24 years of age in Nadu, around 13%, uses cloth during her period, data from the fifth edition of theNational Family Health Surveyshows.

Although the scores for menstrual hygiene in Tamil Nadu were ahead of the national Average, child rights activists say there is a risk of girls with poor hygiene dropping out of school, besides facing health issues.

The NFHS-5 (2019-21), which considers cloth as one of the hygienic practices, has said that nearly 98% of women age 15-24, use a hygienic method during menstruation. On Thursday, the NGO, Child Rights and You (CRY) said there is a strong positive correlation between menstrual hygiene practices and the Education of girls (Literacy as well as years of schooling) across south India.

In Tamil Nadu, 96.2% of women with 5-7 years of schooling were practising hygienic methods during menstruation. This increased to 98.6% in women who have completed ClassXIIor more years of schooling in TN.

It is time to reinvent the states Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture sector to match global standards. Its contribution to the gross state domestic is sagging at a mere 13% and fortunes offarmershave not changed much.

TNs farmers have been getting inadequate prices for their produce due to lack of like cold storage for horticultural produce, warehouses for storing grain and ripening chambers for fruits. In this situation, Mega Food Parks or integrated food terminals offer solutions that are technologically Sound and futuristic.

These facilities have integrated infrastructure such as multi-temperature cold storage, meat and Food Processing units, wholesale and retail markets, dry port, export processing zone, skilled training centre for workers, sorting and packing with branding support, so that farmers bringing their produce can use these facilities to sell directly, store for later vend or value add and sell depending on their choice.

Integrated food parks in the West have created a model to efficiently store farm products and get congenial prices for products all year round. Not many substantial complaints have risen from farmers or farm cooperatives these many years.

The gross value added products from agriculture, Forestry and fishing are valued at 19.5 lakh crore and growing at 5.7% as per 2020 estimates, of which farmers now get just a small proportion.
The platform will help develop scientific relations with traders and encourage marginal and small farmers to engage in collective farming to exercise profitability.

Five state universities slipped in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings 2021 released on Thursday. While Anna University slipped by four places in both university category and engineering category to be ranked 16 and 18 respectively,University of Madrasslipped six ranks from 22 to 28.

In the colleges category, Loyola College was ranked the third best college in the country, moving up three places. But, Presidency College slipped two ranks to 7th. As many as 32 colleges from Nadu featured among the top 100, the same as last year.

Bharathiar University from Coimbatore slipped from 13 to 14 while Bharathidasan University in Trichy came down from 53 to 57 in the university category. Madurai Kamaraj University also slipped from 60 to 63.

However, Alagappa University in Karaikudi have moved up from 36 to 33 andPeriyar Universityin Salem jumped 10 places from 83 to 73.

When the GST kicked in in 2017, the Centre promised to compensate states that faced a shortfall in tax collections for five years. The dues for TN as of March 2021 were Rs 20,033.02 crore.

Madurai district has improved its score in the performance grading index (PGI-D) combined report for districts of India in 202122 compared to the previous year and ranked 15th among districts inTamil Nadu. The report for 2020-21 and 2021-22 was released by the ministry of Education, government of India.

The PGI-D report assesses the performance of the school education system at the district level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis. The overall score comprises a total weightage of 600 points across 83 indicators, grouped under six main categories: outcomes, effective classroom transaction (ECT), facilities and student entitlements (IF and SE), school safety and child protection (SS and CP), digital Learning (DL), and Governance process (GP). The data for PGI-D was drawn from several sources, such as the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+),the NationalAchievement Survey (NAS), and data provided by respective districts.

In 202122, Madurai secured an overall score of 383 out of 600, compared to 373 in 202021, receiving the grade Uttam for a 61%70% score. The district notably scored higher in the outcome category, which includes learning outcomes and quality, access outcomes, and teacher availability and professional development outcome, improving from 137 to 143 out of 290. Ranking 15th among districts in Tamil Nadu in 202122, Madurai also topped among the south TN districts.

Naduchief ministerM K Stalinon Tuesday formed a commission headed by former chief Justice of the Delhi High Court JusticeD Murugesanto study the poor enrolment ofgovernment school studentsin professional courses like engineering and Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture.

The State Government introduced 7.5% special reservation for government school students in medical admissions last year.

Citing the admission data of government colleges, universities and top private colleges, the government received petitions from various quarters stating that fewer students from government schools are entering into these institutions to study professional courses such as engineering, agriculture, veterinary, Fisheries and law.

The state launched a programme to offer free short-course therapy for the prevention oftuberculosisamong close contacts of patients with the bacterial infection.

The two drugs, which must be taken once a week for three months, reduce the risk of disease and help officials reduce the monitoring period from 180 days with conventional therapy although it costs ten times more than the conventional therapy.

The programme was launched by Health minister Ma Subramanian while releasing the state’s strategic plan 2.0 for the elimination of tuberculosis by 2025. The infectious disease that most often affects the lungs is caused by a type of bacteria. It spreads through the air when infected people cough, sneeze or spit.

So far, the state offered a drug that a patient relative must have every day for six months. Volunteers and healthcare workers found it tough to monitor them, and the high dropouts made preventive therapy ineffective.