TN This Week: Political Parties, Farmers Welcome Centre’s Decision on Repealing Farm Laws

Political parties and farmer organisations in Tamil Nadu welcomed have Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of repealing the three contentious farm laws. Chief minister MK Stalin congratulated the farmers and urged the Centre to withdraw the laws on the very first day of the next session of Parliament.

State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have, however, not uttered a word with Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai, a vocal supporter of the laws who had said that “not a comma would be changed in the policies”, is silent.

P Shanmugam, state secretary, Tamil Nadu Kisan Sabha, who led more than 1,000 farmers from the state to Singhu border in August, said, “This is a massive blow to the BJP government’s pro-corporate policies, and the death of 700 martyrs who died on the protest sites was not in vain.”

MORE RAINS CAUSE DAMAGE

After torrential rains hit Chennai and surrounding districts last week, heavy rainfall caused by another depression over the Bay of Bengal affected normal life in most parts of the state for a few days this week.

Kanyakumari district was particularly affected by last weekend’s heavy rains with several parts of the district under the water. Thousands of people had to be moved to safety as many huts were damaged.

Two thousand acres of standing samba paddy crop already inundated during last week’s rain were almost submerged. Nine people, including four children, died when their house collapsed during the heavy rainfall in Vellore district. Four cows and one buffalo died after being electrocuted when they stepped in a pool of water near an EB pole in Medavakkam on Thursday.

COVID-19 VACCINATION MANDATORY

To achieve 100% vaccination in the state by the month-end, the health department will hold two mass vaccination camps on Thursday and Sunday every week. Tamil Nadu inoculated 8.36 lakh people in the ninth edition of the mega vaccination drive before Thursday.

The state has made vaccination mandatory before stepping into public places, including markets, theatres and factories.

The fresh COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu dropped to 772 on Thursday with the reporting of the 13th death. Though the number of cases has further dropped, some districts have witnessed a spike.

WEAVERS PROTEST YARN PRICE HIKE

Power loom workers in Namakkal district staged a protest on Friday against the hike in the prices of yarn and other raw materials.

Weavers protest yarn price hike. Courtesy: CITU, Tamil Nadu

Weavers in other western districts, such as Erode and Tirupur, which are renowned for the textile industry have been protesting the yarn price rise. The weavers have complained of a huge stagnation in textile production due to the rise in production costs.

SUPPORT POURS FOR ‘JAI BHIM’ MAKERS

The Vanniyar Sangam, the founding organisation of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) party, issued a legal notice to the makers of Jai Bhim movie and OTT platform Amazon Prime Video on November 15 alleging that the movie portrays the Vanniyar community in poor light.

A PMK functionary was booked for announcing a cash reward for kicking Jai Bhim protagonist Suriya. Similarly, last week a case was booked against Hindu Makkal Katchi founder Arjun Sampath on charges of issuing a threat to actor Vijay Sethupathi on social media for allegedly insulting a revered freedom fighter.

Support has poured in for Suriya and the Jai Bhim team. Various associations in the Tamil film industry threw their weight behind Suriya; the association of producers, employees and others in the industry issued statements in support of artistic freedom. #WeStandWithSuriya hashtag was one of the top Twitter trends early this week.

Meanwhile, five Kuravar tribal men alleged custodial torture reminding of the scenes from Jai Bhim.

DMK, PMK MOVE SC FOR VANNIYAR QUOTA

The Tamil Nadu government and the PMK have filed separate petitions in the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the Madras High Court’s (HC) November 1 order that had struck down the 10.5% internal reservation for the Vanniyar community within the 20% quota for the most backward classes in government jobs and higher educational institutes.

MADRAS CHIEF JUSTICE TRANSFER ROW

Senior advocates of the Madras HC have opposed the SC collegium’s decision to transfer Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee to the Meghalaya HC.

The extraordinary general body meeting of the Madras Bar Association held on November 14 observed that the collegium might have violated the letter and spirit of the memorandum of procedure of appointment of HC Judges.

59th DAY OF PROTEST AT DAIRY PLANT 

The protest by the terminated employees of Hatsun Agro Products dairy plant in Dharmapuri district entered its 59th day. They have occupied the entrance to the dairy plant demanding to be reinstated after being fired for setting up a trade union. The workers have said that the management and the labour department have turned a blind eye to their protest.

ANOTHER GIRL TAKES LIFE, ALLEGES ABUSE

A 17- year-old girl committed suicide at her house in Karur district on Thursday. The girl had written in her diary that she was forced to take the extreme step after being sexually assaulted. Last week, a girl of the same age killed herself in Coimbatore alleging sexual harassment by a schoolteacher.