1. Tamil Star Trisha Is a UNICEF Celebrity Advocate
South Indian film star Trisha Krishnan was conferred the UNICEF celebrity advocate status in Chennai on Monday, 20 November. "Trisha is an icon for adolescents and young people. She has the power to amplify children’s issues and address the violation of child rights in the family, community, and in public spaces. She will also promote education and health of adolescents and the value of the girl child in family and society," said Job Zachariah, Chief of UNICEF, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
She stressed on the importance of girls’ education, a magic bullet to eliminate social evils like child marriage and child labour. “If every girl attends school up to 18 years, we can eliminate child marriage and child labour. In the long run, girls’ education will also contribute to the reduction of maternal and infant mortality, and malnutrition among children”, Trisha said.
Read the full story here.
2. TN Governor Refutes Charges of Overstepping Authority
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has refuted recent criticism that he is acting at the behest of the Centre. A press release from Raj Bhavan quoted him as saying it “is absolutely wrong and false and based on the figment of imagination”. Purohit had drawn flak from the Opposition in the state after he held a review meeting of development projects in Coimbatore and met with senior district officials including the collector. The opposition parties accused the Centre of exerting its influence through the Governor as the state government was weak due to infighting within the ruling AIADMK.
Reacting to the criticism, the release said some critics had felt the Governor was politically motivated and “acting at the behest of the Central government given the current political context” in the State. But such criticism was wrong and the meetings were not to “subvert the authority of the State government but to support their efforts in good governance,” it added.
(Source: The Hindu Business Line)
3. Over 8,000 Building Plans Pending with Local Bodies
The Chennai Corporation has not cleared 1,347 applications for building approval in the past six months, citing challenges in the implementation of the regularisation scheme for unauthorised layouts and plots as the reason. As many as 8,500 applications are pending with other local bodies in the Chennai Metropolitan Area.
“The regularisation scheme for layouts and plots commenced on May 4 to help the poor and middle class develop the properties. However, the Corporation is yet to give any approval for the construction of buildings on the plots for the past six months,” said A Balasubramani, president of the Greater Chennai Corporation Licensed Surveyor Association. According to licensed surveyors, the Corporation has started sending the applications to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) before giving clearance.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Did Disqualified Legislators Threaten to Defy Whip: HC
The Madras High Court on Monday sought to know if there was any threat by the 18 disqualified AIADMK MLAs to defy a whip issued by their party in case of a motion of confidence being moved on the floor of the Assembly. The Speaker of the Assembly had on September 18 disqualified these MLAs under the anti-defection law for having given a letter to the Governor on August 22 expressing no confidence on Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
The question was raised during the hearing of individual writ petitions filed by them challenging their disqualification before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar. Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing 14 of the 18 disqualified MLAs, replied to the question with a categorical “no” and went on to state, “This court may record my submission. Please record it.”
(Source: The Hindu)
Also Read: AIADMK Drama: How the Wait for HC Verdict Could Alter TN Politics
5. List Measures Against Stalking: HC to Government
The Madras High Court has directed the State government to file a detailed affidavit explaining steps taken by it so far and those under contemplation to prevent incidents such as the one that took place at Adambakkam on 14 November, when a 21-year-old software engineer S Induja was burnt alive. Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar passed the interim order on a public interest litigation petition filed by advocate A P Suryaprakasam who wanted a special team of women police officers to be appointed in every police station to protect women who were stalked, eve-teased and subjected to mental and physical violence.
The petitioner, in his affidavit, said: “Some beasts in the garb of human beings are finding pleasure in killing innocent young girls by pouring kerosene and petrol on them and setting them ablaze for the simple reason that these girls reject the one-sided love expressed by men or refuse to marry people they don’t like.”
(Source: The Hindu)
Also Read: #TalkingStalking: Have You Been Stalked? The Quint Is Listening
6. Draft of New Syllabus Posted on SCERT Site
The School Education Department has uploaded the draft of the new curriculum for Classes 1 to 12 on the State Council for Education, Training and Research (SCERT) website (http://tnscert.org). Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, who released the draft, said the revised textbooks were being made available to teachers, parents and students so that they could offer suggestions. Comments can either be uploaded online or sent through post.
The State government launched the exercise of revising the textbooks through a Government Order dated 22 May. A curriculum framework committee with former Anna University Vice-Chancellors M Anandakrishnan and E Balagurusamy and school education secretary T Udhayachandran was constituted. In July, a three-day workshop was held in which over 2,000 experts, authors and teachers participated. Their suggestions were documented. The current draft has been developed after comparing with the textbooks prepared by the National Council for Education Training and Research and those developed by other State boards.
(Source: The Hindu)
7. The Big Fish That Inspired a Beach Cleaning Drive
It’s the fish that launched a thousand beach cleaners. Well, maybe not a 1000. But the image of plastic all twisted up in the belly of a dead shark that washed ashore has become a catalyst for a massive beach cleaning movement in the fishing villages of north Chennai.
“We had gone to discuss the decline of fishing resources around our villages with a marine research scholar a few months ago,” explains K Vinod, a young fisherman, who along with friends is spearheading the movement to clean the coast. That’s when inspiration struck him in the form of a dead shark. “The scientist showed us a photo of the dead shark that had washed up along Kovalam beach, and we could see the insides. We saw a whole load of plastics in the gut. He told us that the whole bunch of waste plastics weighed around 50 kg. The plastic waste was the reason for reduced catch too, he told us.”
(Source: The Hindu)
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