TN This Week: Electricity Board Employees Hold State-wide Protest Against Privatisation

The number of persons seeking unemployment assistance from the state government has increased in the last year, revealed the Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department. The beneficiaries increased from 58,936 to 69,762 (by 18%) in 2021-2022.

The Housing and Urban Development Department has signed a loan and programme agreement with the World Bank for Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) to implement Second Tamil Nadu Housing Sector Strengthening Programme at 190 million US dollars.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on February 11 condemned the Union government’s proposal to introduce common entrance tests for admission to Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) as part of its new vocational education policy.

Tamil Nadu Police arrested a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) councillor and his aides for beating a soldier of the Indian Army to death in Krishnagiri.

Tamil Nadu has announced its new electric vehicle (EV) policy offering incentives for manufacturing EVs and parts. It targets to attract 50,000 crores in investments that would generate employment for 1.5 lakh people.

In an odd protest against Valentine’s Day, the right-wing Hindu outfit Hindu Munnani held a mock wedding ceremony involving dogs in the Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu on Febraury 14.

A student at IIT Madras died by suicide on February 13. The deceased student, identified as Steven who hailed from Maharashtra, was a second-year research scholar in the Department of Electrical Engineering. 

Three people died and seven were injured in an explosion at a firecracker godown in Vaniyambadi, Tirupattur district of Tamil Nadu on February 12.

Villupuram police busted an ashram which was operating without requisite licenses and rescued more than 100 inmates who were chained and allegedly raped by those who ran the ashram.

NewsClick brings you a round-up of the happenings this week in Tamil Nadu.

CM ATTACKS GOVERNOR

The ruling party DMK said that Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi is using Babasaheb Ambedkar as a 'facade' to find fault with social justice.

CM M K Stalin said that the Governor has insulted the state Legislative Assembly by delaying the assent to the bill passed by the House banning the online game Rummy.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and governor-designate C P Radhakrishnan on February 15 declared that he was "a proud RSS cadre" during a function held in Chennai to felicitate him.

NO END TO CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION

Pallar community (a Scheduled Caste) was prohibited from using a public road leading to the common crematorium for funeral possession in Naduvakurichi, Thoothukudi on February 11.

Two school girls belonging to the Scheduled Caste community in Thoppampatti village of Dindigul district attempted suicide after their Maths teacher allegedly abused them with casteist slurs on February 15.

After students objected to the reference to the occupation of parents as “unclean” in the online application of the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravida welfare department launched last week, the portal was closed down.

More than 6,000 cases against Dalits and Adivasis have piled up before courts in Tamil Nadu over the last 30 years without a resolution in sight. The oldest of these cases dates back to 1992. 

PROTESTS AND MOVEMENTS

Employees of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) under the Electricity Employees’ Federation of India staged protest demonstrations across the state on February 16. They demanded minimum daily wages for contract workers, regularisation of the attendance registry and ensuring that the TANGEDCO remained a public sector undertaking.

TNEB employees held a state-wide protest. Image credit: CITU, Tamil Nadu

The contract employees and workers of the NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited (NTPL) in Thoothukudi began a strike on February 13 demanding permanent jobs for contract workers and employees. Read more 

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, DMK deputy general secretary and Thoothukudi MP has sought the intervention of the Union government to provide relief to protesting contract workers of the NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited (NTPL) in Thoothukudi at the earliest.

The ongoing protest against the Greenfield airport crossed the 200-day mark on February 12. A huge number of villagers gathered in Eganapuram amid high police deployment and raised slogans against the state government and demanded to change the airport location.

The standoff between fishermen relying on mechanised boats and their owners over revenue sharing and paying commission from netted fish off the Thoothukudi coast led to a strike this week. 

The Administrative Staff Association (ASA) of Madurai Kamaraj University staged a protest on February 13 against the Vice Chancellor's decision of refixing, redesignating and recovering the salaries of the varsity staff.

Mini marathons were conducted at 22 locations across the State on February 12. As many as 1,500 people participated in the marathon called by CITU’s transport union against the deterioration of the public transport system and the increase in usage of private transport which are damaging the environment.

To address the salary discrepancies of Secondary Grade Teachers (SGTs), the State government formed a 3-member committee with the finance secretary (expenditure), principal secretary of the School Education Department and director of elementary education.

The CITU-affiliated Tamil Nadu Streetside Vendors Association (TNSVA) protested in 15 district headquarters across the state on Monday against the alleged violation of their rights and entitlements under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. Read more