A corporation official checks the temperature of a resident in Chennai. Express Photo: Srinivas KTamil Nadu Telangana Assembly Elections COVID-19 Live Updates: Tamil Nadu recorded 1066 positive cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the state tally to 8,10,080. Among these, Chennai reported 302 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,23,209. The state recorded 12 deaths on Wednesday, putting the state toll at 12,024. Eleven of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 1131 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,88,742.
As Tamil Nadu is headed for elections in May next year, Kamal Haasan became the first politician to start his campaign, much before the AIADMK and DMK leaderships. And, he has already sent out a message that he would be happy to join hands with Rajinikanth’s proposed outfit, if their ideologies match. But for Rajinikanth fans, it is not a great idea at all.
Ahead of Assembly polls, Haasan is now being called the B-Team of the BJP due to his decision to, once again, contest alone. Unlike Rajinikanth, Haasan’s support base also includes the Opposition — anti-AIADMK votes — which would essentially weaken the DMK camp.
Meanwhile, it is estimated Rajinikanth’s proposed outfit will have to struggle to get a two-digit vote share for many reasons, including a much delayed party launch. Rajinikanth is yet to name his party and pick a symbol, and he is yet to begin campaigning on the ground. Further, his party leaders and district functionaries continue to be the unheard office bearers of his fans association.
The Greater Chennai Police’s Central Crime Branch (CCB) has issued an advisory urging people not to provide access to loan apps and inform the police if they fall prey to such online frauds.
Police said there are around 60 unauthorised online loan apps on Google Play Store, which are not registered or recognised by the Reserve Bank of India as an NBFC (Non-Banking Financial Company).
The advisory comes days after a 27-year-old man allegedly died by suicide near Chengalpattu following harassment by people who claimed to be representatives of online money lending applications.
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A list of people who should be inoculated on priority in Tamil Nadu is ready and 21,000 personnel are being trained and 46,000 centres identified in the state for the rollout of the immunisation exercise after the vaccine is made available, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said on Thursday.
The comprehesive list, including about five lakh health workers, all other frontline personnel like those from municipal administration, revenue and police, the elderly and those with co-morbidities is ready, he said.
Radhakrishnan said 46,000 centres for the purpose of vaccination has been identified and requisite infrastructure to handle the immunisation drive like cold chain facilities was ready, he told reporters. Tamil Nadu alone has as many as 51 walk-in coolers and 2,800 secondary cold storage points ready, he said. (PTI)
The Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to roll back the user fee for solid waste management, which it intended to charge from January 1, following stiff opposition from residents and Opposition parties. Following the move, Stalin asked whether the government would think before implementing anything.
“The residents, traders and other resident welfare organisations have requested the corporation not to charge the user fee for solid waste management in view of the pandemic and hence based on the orders of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, the proposal to collect the fee by the Greater Chennai Corporation for solid waste management is indefinitely postponed,” Prakash said.
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In the last few months, Dosapati Ramu, by his own estimates, has spent approximately Rs 52 lakh from his own pocket. The forty-three-year-old HR manager from Hyderabad withdrew a portion of his Provident Fund, swiped his credit card, and used some of the proceeds from the sale of his land in Nalagonda. He even had to give up his dream of moving into a bigger apartment with his wife and two sons. All of this was worth it, he says, as his 24*7 ‘Rice ATM’, set up for the needy during lockdown months, has completed 250 days on December 19.
For Ramu, giving back to the society also means fulfilling a vow he made in 2006. He sustained a head injury in a bike accident, five months before the birth of first child. Ramu wished for another chance at life and vowed to spend 70 percent of his salary on helping the poor. After making a full recovery, he started involving himself in different awareness campaigns to promote the use of helmets/seat belts. The campaigns slowly spread to awareness on blood donation, the need for an increased number of CCTV cameras, reducing power consumption at home, stopping the use of single-use plastic, etc. In the first few weeks of lockdown, inspired by television reality show Bigg Boss, he challenged people to stay indoors for 21 days.
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The Railway Recruitment Board, RRB released the hall ticket for the Non Technical Popular Categories, NTPC recruitment exam today. Around 23 lakh candidates who will appear for the first stage computer based test (CBT) can download the hall ticket from the region-based official websites.
The recruitment exam will be held from December 28 to January 13. The paper will be of 90 minutes, while 120 minutes for PwBD category candidates. There will be negative marking and 1/3rd mark shall be deducted for each wrong answer.
Candidates from Chennai can log onto www.rrbchennai.gov.in to download their hall ticket.
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The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 348 fever clinics in Chennai on Wednesday. A total of 19,809 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 316 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 35 camps had been set up, while Manali (Zone 2) had the least with six camps.
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Eleven-year-old Akshaya, who studies in Class VI in a government-aided school in Chennai’s Ratan Baazar, says she has not attended her online classes for months as the only phone available in her house was broken. Stories like Akshaya’s echo in nearly five hundred families living on the streets of North Chennai.
The coronavirus-induced lockdown in March this year cut the sources of livelihood of these families. In the absence of a regular income, they are struggling to make ends meet, and in some cases, children dropped out of school to support their parents.
The parents say since they don’t have a regular income, they are forced to take their children to work alongside them. Some of them have sold the items like fans, small motors, and television for a meager amount in nearby markets to manage their expenses.
These families live in areas like Ratan Bazaar, Narayanappa Street, Stringer Street, Fraser Bridge Road, Devaraja Mudaliar Street and Evening Bazaar.
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Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan said it’s his dream to see women have equal representation in the Cabinet and it will be realised if his party Makkal Needhi Maiam gets elected in the upcoming assembly election.
Haasan, who is in the second phase of his election campaign, has been visiting several districts across the state. On Wednesday, he took part in an event ‘Maiam Maadhar Sangam’ organised by the party’s women’s wing in Chennai.
Addressing the gathering, Haasan expressed his concern over the low representation of women in the Tamil Nadu Cabinet. He said that women voters alone can change the fate of Tamil Nadu as they are more in number. “In 234 constituencies, there are only 20 women MLAs. In the cabinet, out of 30, there are only four women ministers. All the women should protest against this gender bias irrespective of party. The women cadres of MNM should fight even stronger because you have the full support of the party high command,” Haasan said.
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Telangana posted 574 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the aggregate to more than 2.83 lakh while two fatalities pushed the toll to 1,524.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 109, followed by Rangareddy 48 and Medchal Malkajgiri 42, a government bulletin said on Thursday.
Over 2.75 lakh people have recovered from the disease so far. As many as 6,815 patients are under treatment and 44,516 samples were tested on Wednesday. Cumulatively, over 66.11 lakh samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was nearly 1.77 lakh, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.53 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 97.05 per cent.
The Centre on Wednesday identified six laboratories across the country for conducting genome sequencing of samples collected from people with a recent history of travel originating from the UK.
The laboratories that will conduct genome sequencing to examine presence of the new strain of novel coronavirus found in the UK are CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi; CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad; DBT-Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar; DBT-InStem-NCBS, Bengaluru; DBT-National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani, West Bengal; ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune.
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Remembering Late Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao on his 16th death anniversary, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao said on Wednesday that the former Prime Minister would remain in the country’s history forever as a staunch reformer.
The CM said the country is enjoying the results of reforms that were ushered in by Rao in the field of education, economy, land, administration and other sectors. The CM said the firm attitude put forth by Rao in internal security, external affairs and diplomacy had strengthened the country’s unity, integrity and sovereignty, according to a statement.
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A total of 231 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 115 arrivals and 116 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:
As Tamil Nadu is headed for elections in May next year, Kamal Haasan became the first politician to start his campaign, much before the AIADMK and DMK leaderships. And, he has already sent out a message that he would be happy to join hands with Rajinikanth’s proposed outfit, if their ideologies match. But for Rajinikanth fans, it is not a great idea at all.
Ahead of Assembly polls, Haasan is now being called the B-Team of the BJP due to his decision to, once again, contest alone. Unlike Rajinikanth, Haasan’s support base also includes the Opposition — anti-AIADMK votes — which would essentially weaken the DMK camp.
Meanwhile, it is estimated Rajinikanth’s proposed outfit will have to struggle to get a two-digit vote share for many reasons, including a much delayed party launch. Rajinikanth is yet to name his party and pick a symbol, and he is yet to begin campaigning on the ground. Further, his party leaders and district functionaries continue to be the unheard office bearers of his fans association.
So, together, Haasan and Rajinikanth are expected to secure a maximum 10 to 15 per cent vote share in the upcoming polls.
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Tamil Nadu recorded 1066 positive cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the state tally to 8,10,080. Among these, Chennai reported 302 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,23,209.
The state recorded 12 deaths on Wednesday, putting the state toll at 12,024. Eleven of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 1131 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,88,742.
As of Wednesday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 9314. Till date, 4,89,495 males, 3,20,551 females and 34 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, 1,36,59,300 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 70,911 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 235 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 67 are government and 168 are private facilities.
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Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao would remain etched in the country's history forever as a staunch reformer, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said on Wednesday.
Recalling the former PM on his death anniversary on Wednesday, the CM in a release said the country is enjoying the results of reforms ushered in by PV Narasimha Rao in the field of education, economy, land, administration and other sectors. The CM noted that the firm attitude put forth by Narasimha Rao in internal security and external affairs, diplomacy had strengthened the countrys unity, integrity and sovereignty.
Rao further said his government was conducting PV's year-long centenary celebrations with a lot of responsibility and respect and as a befitting tribute to the polyglot, multifaceted and the great administrator. (PTI)
Eleven-year-old Akshaya, who studies in Class VI in a government-aided school in Chennai’s Ratan Baazar, says she has not attended her online classes for months as the only phone available in her house was broken. “My father’s smart-phone got damaged a few months ago. It hasn’t been repaired till now, so I am not able to attend the online classes,” she says. Stories like Akshaya’s echo in nearly five hundred families living on the streets of North Chennai.
The coronavirus-induced lockdown in March this year cut the sources of livelihood of these families. In the absence of a regular income, they are struggling to make ends meet, and in some cases, children dropped out of school to support their parents.
The parents say since they don’t have a regular income, they are forced to take their children to work alongside them. Some of them have sold the items like fans, small motors, and television for a meager amount in nearby markets to manage their expenses.
Read more
The shooting of Superstar Rajinikanth’s Annaatthe has been temporarily suspended after some crew members were tested positive for coronavirus. A source close to the film production confirmed that as many as eight crew members have tested positive for COVID-19 so far.
The names of the infected crew members and the positions they hold in the production are unclear. An official statement from the filmmakers is awaited.
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Cracking down on illegal app-based instant microloan lending companies, Hyderabad police arrested 11 persons from Delhi, Gurgaon and the Cyberabad police arrested six others here. Based on complaints, the Hyderabad and Cyberabad police have registered 16 and 7 cases, respectively, against such companies.
In the past couple of weeks, three persons including a jobless techie and an agriculture extension officer have ended their lives allegedly owing to harassment from representatives of such apps over repayment of loans. Telangana DGP’s office had stated that at least 60 such loan apps available on Google Play Store were not registered or recognised by the Reserve Bank of India as an NBFC and their operations were unlawful.
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