The Tamil Nadu government was committed to all-round development in line with the policies of late J Jayalalithaa,Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Wednesday and announced a ₹ 2,000 hike in freedom fighters’ pension.
In his Independence Day address after unfurling the tricolour at Fort St George in Chennai, Mr. Palaniswami also said the state was performing well in social and economic sectors.
“In order to honour the freedom fighters who had dedicated their lives for the cause of the country’s freedom, their pension will be increased from ₹ 13,000 to ₹ 15,000,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
Hailing the contribution of freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu, he said the family pension provided to their next of kin would be hiked from ₹ 6,500 to ₹ 7,500.
Though the 1857 sepoy mutiny against the British is believed to be the country’s first war of independence, a similar revolt had occurred in Vellore in 1806.
He recalled the contributions of various freedom fighters like local rulers Veerapandia Kattabomman, Maruthu brothers, poet Mahakavi Bharathi, C Rajagopalachari, K Kamaraj and E V Ramasamy ‘Periyar’ in the independence struggle.
The Chief Minister also announced a two per cent reservation in select government positions for sportspersons from the state who win medals at national level games or those organised by the state government.
This would also apply to those from Tamil Nadu who win laurels in recognised international tournaments or even represent the country there, he said.
A high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary will draw the guidelines for implementation of this quota in the state government departments or its run PSUs, he added.
Listing out the AIADMK government’s various achievements and proposals to ensure the state’s growth, Palaniswami said he has launched over ₹ 22,000 crore worth projects so far, besides initiating an additional ₹ 16,000 crore worth .
His government was committed to all-round development in line with the policies of the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, he said.
The Chief Minister said the state was doing well in social sectors like education, with enrollment in higher education touching 48.6 percent, making the state “no.1” in this aspect.
The government’s focus on a “second green revolution” with steps to achieve this had resulted in foodgrains production crossing 100 lakh tonnes five times between 2011-12 and 2017-18, he said.
In the IT sector,the state’s software exports for 2017-18 was estimated to be ₹ 1,11,179 crore with about 6.38 lakh ’experts’ involved in the sector, the Chief Minister said.
Underlining his government’s commitment towards industrialisation he said works were on to conduct the second edition of Global Investors’ Meet in January 2019.
Later, Mr. Palaniswami gave away various awards, including the Kalpana Chawla Award for bravery to I Muthumari, a labourer from Valparai in Coimbatore district.
She was honoured with the award for “single handedly” attacking and chasing away a leapord in May this year after it entered her house and attacked her 11 year-old daughter.
The Dhaksha (UAV) Team, Centre for Aerospace Research, Anna University was given the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Award for the year 2018.
The four-member team of the varsity’s faculty was honoured for developing three Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems to be used by various government departments.
