TAMILNADU

Everyone inTamil Naduwill soon get a unique Health ID (UHID) that will help them access medicare and provide the government with a Database to better prioritise and provide health care.

The unique ID will also be the backbone for schemes such as makkalai thedi maruthum, a scheme to provide comprehensive and holistic healthcare for non-communicable diseases at peoples doorsteps. Every listed beneficiary under the scheme is brought under thePopulation Health Registry(PHR). The registry will have the name, age, gender, mobile number, smart (ration) card number, health ID, street details, health sub-center of the beneficiaries.

A four-day long session was held beginning June 21, with governor Banwarilal Purohit making a customary address to the newly elected members of the 16th assembly.

Nearly 35% of the construction work has been completed on the upcomingjallikattuarena at Keelakarai village near Alanganallur and it would be ready in December end as planned, state public works, highways and small ministers E V Velu, said after inspecting the work.

Chief minister M K Stalin had announced a world-class arena for jallikattu, the traditional sport ofTamil Nadu. While the arena is coming up for 77,683sqft, the whole premises would be of 16 acres. The arena will have vadivasal, administrative blocks, dispensary, medical facilities, cloak and changing rooms, screening rooms and dormitories.

Researchers from themolecular laboratoryin the department of Zoology and Wildlife Biology in the Government Arts College in Ooty have discovered a newwingless insectin the Nilgiris.
A research paper on the new species has been published in international journal Biologia published by Springer Nature. The 1mm-long flightless insect has been named Bionychiurus tamilensis as it was recorded in Tamil Nadu, said associate professor and laboratory head R Sanil. There are only six species under this genus reported so far across the world and reported only from cold high-altitude regions of Switzerland, China and Korea.
The insect was first observed in 2018 in the Soil samples collected fromOoty Government Arts Collegecampus. Further surveys showed its presence in grasslands and unpolluted humus soil samples.

DNA profiling was conducted and details are deposited in the NCBI Database. None of the similar specimens obtained from other parts of the world are barcoded till date.

Chief ministerM K Stalininaugurated 500 urban public Health centres that will offer free healthcare Services, including Vaccines for pregnant Women and children, tests for diseases such as tuberculosis, hypertension and diabetes, and medicines for ailments to urban poor.

The 500 urban primary healthcare centres 140 under the Greater Chennai Corporation, 50 for Coimbatore, 46 for and 25 each for Salem, Trichy, and Tiruppur in addition to 189 UPHCs in municipalities were inaugurated from the new centre on Vijayaraghava Road in T Nagar. Inspired by the Aam Aadmi Mohalla clinics in 2022,Stalinmade the announcement in the assembly that the state would also have 708 urban primary health centres to cater to the needs of the people living in the cities. Three decades ago, when young doctors graduated, they would set up small clinics near their houses, benefitting people in their neighbourhood. However, such clinics have vanished, said health minister Ma Subramanian. Now these urban centres will work for the urban poor, just like how primary health centres have worked for the people in rural areas, he added.

Each of these clinics, built at a cost of 25 lakh, will have a doctor, nurse, health inspector and an assistant recruited through the district health societies.

These UPHCs will offer telemedicine facilities for e-consultations and utilise the e-sanjeevani app to refer patients visiting these clinics to higher levels of care, such as peripheral hospitals, district headquarters, or government medical college hospitals

Chief ministerM K Stalinon Sunday revamped theState Development Policy Council(SDPC) with Prof J Jayaranjan as the new vice chairman.

Besides a permanent member, the revamped council, headed by the chief minister, will have eight part-time members, including industrialist Mallika Srinivasan and DMK MLA from Manargudi T R B Rajaa.

Astate planning commissionwas originally established by former chief ministerM Karunanidhion May 25, 1971 as an advisory body to recommend developmental schemes for the state. It was renamed as State Development Policy Council (SDPC) by the earlier AIADMK government on April 23, 2020, but retained former state finance minister C Ponnaiyan as its vice chairman, a post he was handling for the state .

The synchronised elephant census 2023 will start from Wednesday acrossTamil Nadu,KeralaandKarnataka. Around 40 teams have been constituted in the Coimbatore forest division to carry out the three-day census.
As per the nationwide syncrhonised elephant census 2017, it was estimated that Nadu had 2,761 elephants.
The Karnataka forest department expressed plans to conduct a joint syncrhornised elephant census with Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu forest department then asked the Kerala forest department to join the census.

According to sources, the Tamil Nadu forest department has identified 708 blocks from 26 forest divisions in the state for the census. As many as 42 blocks from seven forest ranges in the Coimbatore forest division were identified. Each block would have a team consisting of a forest department staff, anti-poaching watchers and two representatives of NGOs or college students.

The Pulayar, also known as Pulaya, Holeya, or Cheramar, are a major ethnic community in Kerala, Karnataka, and historical Nadu (Tamilakam).

In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, they are classified as a Scheduled Caste.

Pulayas are known for their music, craftsmanship, and specific dances such as,

Klam-thullal, a mask dance that is used in exorcism rituals, and

Mudi-ttam , or hair dance that originated in a fertility ritual.

Pulaya King was the name given to Mahatma Ayyankali.

Anamalai Tiger Reserve:

It is one of Tamil Nadu’s four Tiger Reserves.

It is located in the Southern Western Ghats and is part of the Anamalai Parambikulam Elephant Reserve, which was established in 2003.

It is bordered on the east by Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, on the south west by Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, and Eravikulam National Park (all belong to Kerala).

The reserve is also surrounded by Kerala’s reserved forests of Nenmara, Vazhachal, Malayattur, and Marayur.

Amaravathi, Udumalpet, Pollachi, Ulandy, Valparai, and Manamboli are among the ranges found in this reserve.

Donations from abroad for NGOs inTamil Naduhave dropped by 90%, pushing the state to fourth in the country in attracting funding under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). This has adversely impacted activities of many groups largely dependent on such contributions.

Data furnished by theUnion Home ministryin theRajya Sabha, a fortnight ago shows NGOs and associations in TN received more than Rs 2,000 crore for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19, second only to Delhi. This fell to Rs 219 crore in 2019-20. Data for 2019-20 was based on Annual Returns (ARs) filed on 16-03-2021, but an extension has been given till June this year.

As per media reports, between 2014 and 2019, FCRA registration of more than 14,800 NGOs across the country including several in Nadu was cancelled. In 2019 alone more than 1,800 NGOs and academic institutes found violating laws were banned from receiving foreign funds, a media report added. Several NGOs executing religious and social work came under the scanner after theCentretightened the screws.

There has been a marginal increase in the Population of the Nilgiri Tahr in Nadu, an endangered species and the state animal, says a study taken up by World Wide Fund for Nature – India (WWF-I).

As per the study, which has been submitted to the state forest department, the number of individual animals in the state is estimated at 3,122, but a WWF-I source said the figure cannot be looked at in isolation as the Tahr would move frequently across the borders of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The population of the Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) is broadly distributed across the Nilgiri hills which include Mukurthi National Park, forest divisions of the Nilgiris and Gudalur, Siruvani hills, the upper ranges ofPalanihills, which includedAanamalaitiger reserve (ATR) in Pollachi, Munnar in Kerala and Chinnar in the ATR besides Kodaikanal forest division.

Grazing of cattle in the Tahr habitat, man-made forest fires, unauthorised trekking and other human activities such as firewood collection, camping and tourism have been identified as major threats to the survival of the species