The AIADMK-led Tamil Nadu government on Thursday extended the restrictions on social, political, cultural and academic events even after November 16, until further orders. Earlier, a government order on October 30 stated that public events with maximum participation of 100 people will be allowed November 16 onwards.
The move comes at a time when the BJP has been pushing hard to get police permission for the month-long Vel Yatra. The yatra, slated to cover six abodes of Lord Muruga, was scheduled to begin November 6 from Tiruttani temple in the north of Tamil Nadu and culminate at Tiruchendur temple in the south.
READ | Amid BJP push for Vel Yatra, Tamil Nadu extends curbs
Referring to a second wave of Covid-19 outbreak abroad, a government release on Thursday said the administration has to intensify preventive measures.
Also Read | LSR student’s death prompts college protest
The Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli on Wednesday decided to withdraw a book authored by Arundhati Roy from their syllabus following a complaint from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
READ | Tamil Nadu varsity removes Arundhati Roy’s book from syllabus after ABVP’s objection
‘Walking with the Comrades,’ a decade-old work of the Booker Prize winner, captures the face-off in the forests of central India between the Indian state and the armed revolutionary guerrilla force, Maoists. The book was a part of the syllabus in the university since 2017 under the Commonwealth Literature category for BA English language and literature students in the third semester.
Superstar Rajinikanth celebrated Diwali with his family. Earlier today, Rajinikanth greeted the fans who waited outside his Poes Garden residence to catch a glimpse of their favorite star.
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announces solatium of 25 lakh rupees each to the families of the two firemen who lost their lives on Friday while dousing fire at Madurai. Expressing his condolence, DMK leader MK Stalin said the government should provide financial assistance of 1 crore to the families of the deceased firemen.
As per the order issued by the government a week ago, the public are allowed to set off fireworks only for two hours.
Two firemen died while dousing fire at an old building near Madurai in Tamil Nadu. The incident took place near a garment shop at Therkuvasal in Vilakkuthoon on Friday evening. The firemen died when the building on fire came down on them. Two other men were injured and they are admitted to Rajaji Government Hospital.
The Tamil Nadu government Friday formed an inquiry committee helmed by retired Madras High Court Justice P Kalaiyarasan under the provisions of section 11 of Anna University Act, 1978, to probe into the alleged financial irregularities, malpractices in semester examination and revaluation charge leveled against varsity’s Vice-Chancellor VC Surappa. According to the order, the panel needs to submit their report within three months.
The government order, issued by the Tamil Nadu Higher Education Department on November 11, read: “Since the prime-facie in the above allegations are serious in nature, the Government have decided to conduct an inquiry against Prof MK Surappa, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University.”
The order further stated that the government received six complaints against Surappa. This included a complaint from one Suresh from Tiruchirapalli, who alleged rampant corruption in Anna University with professors appropriating crores of rupees from government funds. In his complaint, Suresh has alleged that one Sakthinathan and Dr. Surappa have amassed nearly Rs 80 crore by taking bribes between Rs 13-15 lakh per candidate for the recruitment of temporary teaching fellows for the Anna University main campus and its constituent colleges.
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India’s main holiday season — culminating Saturday with Diwali, the festival of lights — appears to be giving a much needed boost to demand, with online retail sales to business activity indicators signaling Asia’s third-largest economy is recovering.
In the run-up to the festival, retailers including Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart saw a 55% jump in online sales from a year ago to $4.1 billion, according to estimates from consultant RedSeer for the period Oct. 15-21. Data compiled by Bloomberg showed an increase in new vehicle registrations during October, while a separate gauge pointed to a rise in credit card transactions much ahead of the holidays.
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The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has cleared a total of five trees which had fallen in the city following heavy rains on Thursday. The GCC cleared three trees in Royapuram (Zone 5) and two trees in Kodambakkam (Zone 10).
Citizens can contact the monsoon helpline to register rain-related complaints.
Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi on Friday announced that he has tested negative for coronavirus. The actor said that doctors have concluded that he is free of the virus after subjecting him to three different tests. And he claimed that he tested COVID-19 positive earlier due to a faulty testing kit. Chiranjeevi even shared the test report on his Twitter handle.
“A group of doctors did three different tests and concluded that I am Covid negative & that the earlier result was due to a faulty RT PCR kit. My heartfelt thanks for the concern, love shown by all of you during this time. Humbled !,” tweeted the 65-year-old actor.
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A three-month campaign to focus on awareness generation and early intervention with regard to childhood pneumonia, enabling caregivers across the country to identify critical symptoms at earlier stages and trigger prompt care-seeking with qualified providers, was launched by the Union Ministry of Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Thursday.
The initiative targets to reduce less than five pneumonia deaths, per a 1000 live births, to less than three deaths by 2025 through the accelerated SAANS (Social Action and Awareness to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully) initiative.
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The Tamil Nadu government has deferred the reopening of schools in the state following opposition from parents during a meeting held between the schools and parents. Earlier, the government had announced that schools for classes 10, 11 and 12 will be reopened from November 16. Meanwhile, colleges for research and final year postgraduate students will be reopened on December 2.
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Chennai recorded 428.90 mm rainfall as parts of the city received moderate to heavy showers today from Thursday evening. The average rainfall recorded was 38.99 mm.
Here is the breakup of rainfall recorded across Chennai until 6 am on Friday:
The AIADMK-led Tamil Nadu government on Thursday extended the restrictions on social, political, cultural and academic events even after November 16, until further orders.
Earlier, a government order on October 30 stated that public events with maximum participation of 100 people will be allowed November 16 onwards.
The move comes at a time when the BJP has been pushing hard to get police permission for the month-long Vel Yatra. The yatra, slated to cover six abodes of Lord Muruga, was scheduled to begin November 6 from Tiruttani temple in the north of Tamil Nadu and culminate at Tiruchendur temple in the south.
Read more
Telangana reported 997 fresh coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking the tally to 2.56 lakh while three fatalities pushed the toll to 1,397, the state government said on Friday. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 169, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (85) and Rangareddy (66), it said in a bulletin.
As many as 17,094 patients are under treatment and 42,163 samples were tested on November 11. Cumulatively, 48.12 lakh samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was 1.29 lakh, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent, while the recovery rate in Telangana was 92.76 per cent.
A total of 200 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 100 arrivals and 100 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 354 fever clinics in Chennai on Thursday. A total of 13,816 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 233 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.
Tamil Nadu recorded 2112 positive cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the state tally to 7,52,521. Among these, Chennai reported 565 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,07,173.
Tamil Nadu recorded 25 deaths on Thursday, putting the state toll at 11,440. Twenty two of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 2347 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,22,686.
As of Thursday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 18,395. Till date, 4,54,454 males, 2,98,034 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, 1,08,63,921 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 77,356 samples having been sent yesterday.
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