1. Jayalalithaa’s Death Anniversary: OPS-EPS Pay Tribute at Memorial
Last December, the city of Chennai came to a standstill when former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa passed away. A year on, the political void she left in Tamil Nadu, remains apparent.
The AIADMK faction led by Chief Minister Edapadi Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, along with all the ministers and MLAs clad in black attire, marched from the Anna Statue to the memorial. Chants by supporters hailing Jayalalithaa filled the air, even as some functionaries were seen getting emotional.
In the oath read out by Panneerselvam and repeated by others, including Palaniswami, the AIADMK workers vowed to ensure that the 'golden rule' of 'Amma' continued by their hard work. Flanked by his supporters, including disqualified party MLAs like P Palaniappan and TTV Dhinakaran, took out a procession on a four-wheeler from arterial Anna Salai to Jayalalithaa's mausoleum in Marina Beach.
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2. Actor Vishal out of RK Nagar Bypoll Fray After Nomination Rejected
After Tamil actor Vishal had claimed on Tuesday, 5 December, that his nomination for the 21 December RK Nagar bypoll has been accepted by authorities, reports emerged that his nomination has been rejected again by the Election Commission.
Returning Officer of RK Nagar Assembly constituency confirmed on Tuesday night that his nomination stands rejected. His nomination papers had come under scrutiny after objections were raised over the genuineness of the proposers.
The RO said that two proposers – Sumathy and Deepan – had appeared in person and “submitted written representation that they had not proposed the nomination of Thiru Vishal Krishna and their signatures have been forged.”
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3. Deepa's Supporters Assaulted
Tension prevailed at the Tondiarpet zonal office of Chennai Corporation for a while after a scuffle between the supporters of the ruling AIADMK and Deepa Jayakumar (niece of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa) on Tuesday, 5 December.
While the inquiry was in progress regarding the nomination petition (which was later rejected by the Returning Officer) of actor Vishal, the supporters of Deepa Jayakumar made ‘derogatory’ comments against E Madhusudanan, the AIADMK party candidate for the byelection. On hearing the remarks, the supporters of Madhusudanan assaulted the supporters of Jayakumar, even as a huge posse of policemen watched the assault.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Govt Fixes ₹20 and ₹10 for Parking in Movie Theatres
The State government announced that the price for parking a car/three-wheeler and two-wheelers in theatres situated in municipal corporations and special grade municipalities has been fixed at ₹20 and ₹10 respectively.
In town panchayats and villages, car/three-wheeler and two-wheeler parking charges have been fixed at ₹5 and ₹3 respectively. In other non-special grade municipalities, the rates have been fixed at ₹15 and ₹7 for car/three-wheeler and two-wheeler parking respectively. It is unclear whether the new rates will be applicable to cinema theatres inside malls.
(Source: The Hindu)
5. Provide Basic Facilities to Ockhi Victims, Says HC
Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed before the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday, 5 December, a Division Bench of Justices directed the State government, the District Collector and the Kanniyakumari Superintendent of Police, to provide basic basic amenities like drinking water, food, electricity and medical facilities to people who have been left devastated by Cyclone Ockhi, and file a status report on December 7.
Close to 50,000 trees and 6,000 electric poles had been uprooted and people were living without electricity for more than five days, the petitioner said. Though the Meteorological Department had issued a warning about the cyclone, no precautionary measures were taken by the state and district authorities, and this impacted the lives of the people, he said.
(Source: The Hindu)
6. Soldiers' Final Resting Place Falls Victim to Official Apathy
One of the city’s landmarks, the Madras War Cemetery in Nandambakkam, was closed for nearly 20 days after it was inundated with rainwater.
The CWGC has on numerous occasions appealed to the authorities to lay a culvert for draining water but there has been no response. Meanwhile, the Department of Highways has sought a five-metre stretch along the premises for its road expansion project. The Madras Memorial of the First World War is situated at the rear of the Madras War Cemetery. It bears the names of 1,039 servicemen, who died in the conflict and whose graves lie in many civil and cantonment cemeteries in various parts of India.
(Source: The Hindu)
7. City-Based Start-Up Gets ₹45 Crore in Funding
City-headquartered start-up firm Flinto Learning Solutions has received funding to the tune of ₹45 crore ($7 million) from Mumbai-based venture capital firm Lightbox. The start-up, which is popularly called Flintobox, plans to utilise the funds it obtained to capture the pre-school market in India, which is worth over $4.5 billion.
Flinto is also gearing up for global expansion, starting with south-east and middle-east Asia. Arunprasad Durairaj, chief executive officer and co-founder, Flintobox, said, “In India, pre-school penetration is less than 10 percent when compared to developed countries, where it is anywhere between 90 to 100 percent. Flinto deep dives to address this major concern.”
Currently, the start-up has over 4 lakh parents as customers from over 700 cities and towns, including Port Blair and Diu and Daman.
(Source: The Hindu)
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