TN This Week: School Boys Attack Dalit Student for 'Complaining About Caste-based Harassment'

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian refuted the statement of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman regarding the delay in the construction of AIIMS Madurai in Parliament on Thursday. She said the AIIMS hospital was delayed because the state government did not acquire the identified land.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi slammed the government on Wednesday for bringing the ‘Sengol’ into the new Parliament building. Stating that the BJP does not know the history of Tamil Nadu, she said that Pandyan Sengol was burnt and shattered after the king failed his people.

In a rare development, the Madras High Court decided to suo motu take up the revision of a judgment passed by a Vellore court in June, acquitting Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi and his wife in a disproportionate assets case.

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday produced Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji, who was arrested in connection with a money laundering case, before a sessions court here, after completing its custody. He was remanded in judicial custody until August 25.

Tamil Nadu officials have identified 41 bonded labourers from a jewel-making unit in Sowcarpet, Chennai, and are facilitating their return to their families. The labourers were found in inhumane conditions in a cramped space in a locked room on the fourth floor of a building.

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

SIX MINORS APPREHENDED

Unable to cope with the alleged harassment by upper caste students, a 17-year-old dalit boy stopped attending school in Vallioor, Tirunelveli. This prompted the school administration to summon him and his parents for an inquiry. After the family elaborated on the boy’s ordeal, the administration issued a warning to the perpetrator students.

On Wednesday night, three students allegedly barged into the victim’s home and began assaulting him. His sister, who tried to intervene, was also attacked. The boy reportedly suffered 15 cuts and the girl endured five cuts.

The Tamil Nadu police apprehended six minor boys on Friday for the attack.

‘MODI, QUIT INDIA,’ SAY UNIONS

As part of the call to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the anniversary of the Quit India Movement, a state-level agitation was held in Chennai on August 9. CITU, AITUC, HMS, INTUC, AICCTU among several other trade unions held a mobilisation near Rajarathinam Stadium, Egmore, Chennai.

CITU president Hemalata speaking at the gathering in Chennai.

The all-India call emphasised 14-point demands as an alternative to the neo-liberal policy of the Modi government. They demanded that the anti-labour, anti-people, and anti-democratic BJP government at the Centre must leave the government.

Tens of thousands of workers participated in the gathering, and they said that while the slogan during the Quit India Movement was “British, quit India”, today it is "Robber Modi, quit India" – reflecting their determination to defeat the BJP in the upcoming 2024 parliamentary elections.

PROTESTS & MOVEMENTS

Fishermen held continuous protests condemning the delay in the construction of a groyne near Amali Nagar, Tiruchendur.

Members from the Federation of Nurses Associations staged a protest in Thanjavur on Thursday for various demands including filling the existing 2,300 vacancies of Village Health Nurses.

On the Handloom Day (August 7), Kovilpalayam weavers, near Pollachi, held a demonstration with their families. They condemned GST imposition on handloom and the increase in the price of yarn, which has affected handloom production.

Women belonging to around 150 families at Narayanapuram near Vaniyambadi were unable to apply for the state government’s Rs 1,000 monthly scheme for women because the panchayat reportedly refused receipts of online payment of property tax. Registration for the new scheme is underway. Read more

A draft law for streamlining the subsidiary schemes for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities was released by the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) on Monday. Read more

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) sough an investigation into the suspicious death of a dalit youth and a caste-Hindu minor girl in Theni on August 3. The party’s state secretary K Balakrishnan said that Marimuthu (22) and Mahalakshmi (17) from the same locality were in love, and their parents were opposed to their marriage.