DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin was arrested for a brief period after he launched his party’s poll campaign ‘Vidiyalai Noki Stalin Kural’ ahead of next year’s Assembly election in Tamil Nadu. He was released an hour after his arrest.
READ | DMK chief MK Stalin’s son arrested briefly; police cite his rally violated Covid-19 orders
The Thirukkuvalai police said Udhayanidhi, son of DMK chief MK Stalin, did not seek permission to hold the meeting and hence he was arrested alongside other DMK cadres for violating Covid-19 norms.
Also Read | Tamil Nadu teen finally gets medical seat, thanks 7.5% quota
Also Read | Bishop Anthony Poola appointed Archbishop of Hyderabad
As Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election gathers steam, with filing of the nominations ending Friday for the December 1 poll, political parties are busy setting the poll agenda in their favour. Issues revolving around the ravaging pandemic and recent urban floods have found a place, along with the evergreen promises of development, investments, urban infrastructure, law and order, and welfare schemes. On the other hand, citizens too are doing their bit to remind their elected representatives about the promises they failed to fulfill.
READ | GHMC polls: Citizens remind parties of unkept promises
In one such development, the Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA) is mulling to boycott the polls over the government’s apathy towards school education. HSPA’s vice-president Seema Agarwal asked why should lakhs of parents in the city cast their votes if their children’s education, the menace of exorbitant school fees, and ambiguous online classes are no one else’s concern. She reiterated that a district fee regulatory committee ( DFRC) has not become a reality despite years of parents’ struggle.
For assistance on COVID-19-related queries and mental health support in Chennai, citizens can contact the Greater Chennai Corporation's (GCC) COVID-19 helpline 044 46122300 | Citizens can find the nearest GCC-facilitated COVID-19 fever clinic here | For lodging rain-related complaints and assistance during the monsoon, citizens can contact the GCC's monsoon helplines 044 25384530 or 044 25384540 or the control room 1913 (available 24x7)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday sprang a surprise here when he virtually broke protocol to get out of his vehicle and walk on the busy GST Road outside the airport to greet supporters, minutes after he landed here for a two-day visit of the city.
Shah is slated to attend a Tamil Nadu government event later in the day, where he will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for projects worth over Rs 67,000 crore, including phase II of Chennai Metro Rail.
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Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Chennai today afternoon. He was greeted by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and given a rousing welcome by BJP and AIADMK cadre.
Elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation will be held on December 1. The civic polls are crucial for the ruling Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS), Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress. There are 150 wards in all in the corporation, and the mayor’s post is reserved for a woman this time.
While the TRS swept the Assembly elections held in December 2018, in the parliamentary elections held in April 2019, the ruling party lost four crucial Lok Sabha seats to the BJP, and another stronghold, Malkajgiri, to the Congress, which won two other seats also. On November 10, in the Dubbaka Assembly by-election, the ruling party, which had won the seat in 2018 by a huge margin, lost to the BJP. Unnerved by the loss in Dubbaka, the TRS advanced the GHMC election, which was to be held in January, hoping to catch its rivals off guard.
For the BJP, which now has two MLAs and four MPs, the civic election is an opportunity to increase its presence in Hyderabad and gain more ground in the hinterland of Telangana. Party leaders also want to prove that it is not the Congress but the BJP which is now the main rival to TRS.
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The Tamil Nadu government Friday banned online gaming in the state. Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit promulgated an Ordinance late Friday following a decision taken by the state government.
As per the ordinance, those found gaming will be punished with a Rs 5,000 fine and six months imprisonment. Those who host common gaming houses will be punished with a fine amount of Rs 10,000 and two years imprisonment. The ordinance also bans electronic transfer of funds used for wagering and betting, distributing the winnings, prize money etc. It also states that persons who are running the company which conducts online gaming by wagering and betting will be punished.
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The look of Simbu from his upcoming movie Maanaadu was released on Saturday. The actor has reduced his thick beard to a stubble to play the role of Abdul Khaaliq.
The poster features a battered, bruised and bleeding Simbu. There is also a bullet that seems to be piercing through his forehead. And yet, the actor’s face shows no pain or anger. He is at peace even when things around him have gone up in flames.
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Suspended DMK MP KP Ramalingam joined the BJP today in the presence of BJP National Secretary and TN in-charge CT Ravi and TN BJP president L Murugan among others.
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 392 fever clinics in Chennai on Friday. A total of 18,121 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 484 people who were identified with ILI symptoms, while others were provided with medication for minor ailments.
The most number of camps were held in Teynampet (Zone 9) where 49 camps were set up, while Manali (Zone 2) had the least with four camps.
A 35-year-old man was arrested in Hyderabad Friday after he was found in possession of Hashish oil and dry Ganja worth a little over one lakh rupees. The accused, Motilal Narsing Balaji Singh, is an MS degree holder from Canada.
“He had a desk job at Facebook. After losing the job and not being able to find another one, he became a delivery boy for Swiggy. However, for over a year now he has not logged onto Swiggy. He became a full-time peddler as he developed a good customer base,” N Anji Reddy, assistant superintendent(enforcement), Prohibition and Excise department, told indianexpress.com.
The enforcement team of the Prohibition and Excise Department nabbed him and recovered 830 grams of Hashish oil and 1.28 kg of dry ganja. The Hashish oil was kept in 83 small plastic containers of 10 grams each, ready to be delivered to customers.
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Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be making a two-day visit to Tamil Nadu this weekend. The minister is expected to arrive at the Chennai International Airport at 1.40 pm. He will depart from the airport at 1.45 pm to reach The Leela Palace where he will be staying for the day.
Shah will depart for Kalaivanar Arangam at 4.15 pm where he is expected to address party cadre. Following the event, the Home Minister will depart for the hotel at 6.05 pm.
Shah will leave for New Delhi on Sunday at 10.15 pm from the Chennai International Airport.
Telangana reported 925 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the tally to over 2.62 lakh while three related fatalities pushed the toll to 1,426.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 161, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri 91 and Rangareddy 75, a government bulletin said on Saturday.
As many as 12,070 patients are under treatment and over 40,000 samples were tested on November 20. Cumulatively, nearly 51 lakh samples have been tested so far. The samples tested per million population was 1.36 lakh, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 94.86 per cent.
DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin was arrested for a brief period after he launched his party’s poll campaign ‘Vidiyalai Noki Stalin Kural’ ahead of next year’s Assembly election in Tamil Nadu. He was released an hour after his arrest.
The Thirukkuvalai police said Udhayanidhi, son of DMK chief MK Stalin, did not seek permission to hold the meeting and hence he was arrested alongside other DMK cadres for violating Covid-19 norms.
Udhyanidhi was in Nagapattinam district’s Thirukkuvalai, the birthplace of the former chief minister and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, to launch the poll campaign, which will cover all 234 assembly constituencies. The campaign, which is scheduled for 75 days, is aimed at highlighting the alleged administrative lapses by the ruling AIADMK government.
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A total of 181 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 90 arrivals and 91 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai from 9 am to 2 pm to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the affected areas:
Tamil Nadu recorded 1688 positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the state tally to 7,66,677. Among these, Chennai reported 489 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,11,084.
The state recorded 18 deaths on Friday, putting the state toll at 11,568. All eighteen of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 2173 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,41,705.
As of Friday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 13,404. Till date, 4,63,217 males, 3,03,427 females and 33 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 1,14,01,239 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 68,033 samples having been sent yesterday.
Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai and Hyderabad where we bring to you the latest updates on northeast monsoon, COVID-19, lockdown in Tamil Nadu, lockdown in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and more across Chennai and Hyderabad through the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the states in real time.
As Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election gathers steam, with filing of the nominations ending Friday for the December 1 poll, political parties are busy setting the poll agenda in their favour. Issues revolving around the ravaging pandemic and recent urban floods have found a place, along with the evergreen promises of development, investments, urban infrastructure, law and order, and welfare schemes. On the other hand, citizens too are doing their bit to remind their elected representatives about the promises they failed to fulfill.
In one such development, the Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA) is mulling to boycott the polls over the government’s apathy towards school education. HSPA’s vice-president Seema Agarwal asked why should lakhs of parents in the city cast their votes if their children’s education, the menace of exorbitant school fees, and ambiguous online classes are no one else’s concern. She reiterated that a district fee regulatory committee ( DFRC) has not become a reality despite years of parents’ struggle.
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Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to permit those seeking central government jobs to write competitive examinations in respective regional languages.
In a letter to Modi, the Rao said at present, all the competitive exams for posts in central government, central PSUs, Railways, defence services and nationalised banks are held in only Hindi and English and those who do not either study in English medium or are not from Hindi speaking states face a serious disadvantage in the competitive exams.
"In order to provide equal and fair opportunity to students from all states of India, it is requested that the candidates should be permitted to write all competitive exams in the regional languages also for recruitment in government of India and its departments and undertakings through UPSC and all other agencies like Railway Recruitment Boards, public sector banks, RBI, staff selection commission etc," he said in his letter.
Telangana reported 894 fresh coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking the tally to over 2.61 lakh while four fatalities pushed the toll to 1,423, the state government said on Friday. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 154, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (84) and Rangareddy (70), it said in a bulletin.
As many as 12,515 patients are under treatment and 39,448 samples were tested on November 19. Cumulatively, over 50.50 lakh samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was 1,35,696, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 94.67 per cent.
A Gomathi, 19, was among 227 government school students of Tamil Nadu selected for medical admission in the state on the first day of counselling on Wednesday, thanks to 7.5 per cent reservation introduced by the state exclusively for government school students who clear the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
Gomathi’s struggle—“A day in the life of A Gomathi, an aspiring medical student from Tamil Nadu state board”—was published first in The Indian Express in July 2018. It was a time the state was witness to heated debates and protests, followed by suicides of several Tamil students from ecomically poor background who failed to clear NEET despite getting high marks in Class XII.
After the report on her struggle in the face of a centralised examination for medical admission, DMK chief M K Stalin had met Gomathi and handed over a cheque for her education.
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During the COVID-19 recession, the Information Technology (IT) sector remains one of the least impacted in terms of hiring with all business going virtual. The demand for professionals in both software and hardware segments was steady, with the sector witnessed an upward month on month (M-O-M) recovery peaking in September for hardware (63 per cent) and software roles (20 per cent).
According to the job search website – naukri.com report, IT-Hardware sector has seen a growth of 10 per cent in September when compared to the pre-COVID period of February. On the other hand, IT-Software still has to catch up to pre-COVID levels, down by 28 per cent in October.”
The cities like Bengaluru (22 per cent), Delhi (13 per cent), Hyderabad (9 per cent), Pune (9 per cent) and Chennai (7 per cent) are the major contributors in the IT sectors generating around 60 per cent of the jobs.
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Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has urged Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to resolve a border dispute with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh after a recent flare-up in Koraput district.
The letter comes in the wake of escalating tensions along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border in Pottangi block of Koraput district. It was alleged by Odisha villagers that officials from Andhra Pradesh claimed certain portions of Sunabeda Mouza area under Sambai Panchayat and dug a pond there. After the villagers protested, Andhra Pradesh residents allegedly blocked the Pottangi-Arku road.
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Alangulam DMK MLA Poongothai Alangudi Aruna was brought by her family members to Shifa Hospital in Tirunelveli in an unconscious state on Thursday.
In a statement, the hospital said: “The MLA is being evaluated. At present, she remains awake, responsive and her vital parameters are satisfactory. Her clinical condition warrants stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). She is being continuously monitored by a team of doctors.”
Some DMK functionaries also reached the hospital. According to reports, Aruna had been upset over some internal conflicts within the party.
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Local civic body the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has noted a huge drop in applications for new trade licenses in the city, indicating how the pandemic has affected the same.
As per BBMP statistics, only 5646 applications were registered this financial year despite the civic body simplifying the process for application and renewal of trade licenses. In comparison to the same in 2019-20 fiscal when 51,563 trade licenses were issued, the current year has seen only 11 per cent of the same.
Explaining how the process has been simplified, BBMP stated, "Applicants shall submit just two documents which can be either the rent/lease agreement and electricity/telephone bill. They can then choose the validity of the licenses, up to five years, and make payments online. For auto-renewal, a digitally-signed approval certificate can be downloaded within minutes after paying the prescribed fee online."
However, officials have also observed that the number of trade licenses is only a minor fraction of the commercial electricity connections taken in the city. "More teams will be deployed for inspection," a senior BBMP official
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 422 fever clinics in Chennai on Thursday. A total of 19,436 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 543 people who were identified with ILI symptoms, while others were provided with medication for minor ailments.
The most number of camps were held in Teynampet (Zone 9) where 49 camps were set up, while Manali (Zone 2) had the least with four camps.
The Christian community in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderbad celebrated Pope Francis appointing Most Rev. Poola Anthony, D.D., currently Bishop of Kurnool, as the new Archbishop of Hyderabad. This provision was made public in Rome Thursday. He will be the fifth Archbishop of Hyderabad.
Bishop Anthony Poola, 59, hails from Chindhukur in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. He joined the minor seminary in Kurnool and then studied at St. Peter’s Pontifical Major Seminary, Bengaluru. He was ordained priest in February, 1992.
Bishop Poola’s appointment comes after the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Archbishop Thumma Bala of Hyderabad, who reached the bishops’ canonical retirement age of 75 in April last year.
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A total of 193 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 96 arrivals and 97 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai today from 9 am to 2 pm to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the affected areas:
Tamil Nadu recorded 1707 positive cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the state tally to 7,64,989. Among these, Chennai reported 471 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,10,601.
The state recorded 19 deaths on Thursday, putting the state toll at 11,550. Eighteen of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 2251 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,39,532.
As of Thursday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 13,907. Till date, 4,62,186 males, 3,02,770 females and 33 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 1,13,33,206 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 67,115 samples having been sent yesterday.
Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai and Hyderabad where we bring to you the latest updates on northeast monsoon, COVID-19, lockdown in Tamil Nadu, lockdown in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and more across Chennai and Hyderabad through the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the states in real time.