The next World Tamil Conference will be held in Coimbatore in January-February 2010.
A decision to this effect was taken on Thursday by the State government at the conference of District Collectors and Police Officers at the Secretariat here.
Inaugurating the conference of the Collectors and Police Officers, Chief Minister M. Karunandhi indicated the government’s plans of hosting the next World Tamil Conference.
[Tamil Nadu, till now, hosted three editions of the Tamil Conference. The Second World Tamil Conference took place in Chennai in January 1968; the Fifth Conference in Madurai in January 1981 and the Eighth Conference in January 1995]
In his speech, Mr. Karunanidhi urged the police to monitor the coastal areas of the State. It was the duty of the police personnel to ensure that undesirable elements, in the name of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, did not enter the State.
Expressing satisfaction over law and order, he directed the police to prevent entry of sleeping cells of terrorist organisations and hawala transactions. He reminded the police that it was one of their foremost duties to see to it that no custodial death and illegal detention took place. Expressing concern over the increasing rate of road accidents, he wanted the police personnel to analyse the causes of the accidents and work for road safety.
Insurance
In view of the delay in giving compensation to victims of road accidents that involved buses of the State-run Transport Corporations and high cost, the government decided to insure all buses belonging to the Corporations. This would enable quicker disbursal of compensation.
Noting the increase in the number of farmers covered under an insurance scheme in the last three years, the Chief Minister asked the Collectors to take steps for bringing more farmers under the scheme. The number of farmers insured went up from one lakh in 2006-2007 to 9.88 lakh in 2008-2009.
Referring to the Universalisation of Secondary Education, he said the vision of the programme was to provide high quality secondary education to children up to the age of 16 by 2015 and extend higher secondary education to them up to the age of 18 years by 2020. This year, 20 model schools would be opened.
He reminded the police that it was one of their foremost duties to see to it that no custodial death and illegal detention took place. Expressing concern over the increasing rate of road accidents, he wanted the police personnel to analyse the causes of the accidents and work for road safety.
The financial assistance provided by banks to self-help groups was of the order of Rs. 2,174.57 crore in 2008-2009 whereas the amount of assistance given over the period of 19 years (April 1, 1989 to March 31, 2008) was just Rs. 3,163 crore. He wanted the Collectors to intensify their efforts in this regard.
