1. Allegations of uprooting suspects’ teeth | Top police officer placed in vacancy reserve
Balveer Singh, a 2020 batch IPS officer and the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Ambasamudram Sub-Division in Tirunelveli district, who has been accused of breaking the teeth of a few suspects using blue metal and then uprooting using cutting pliers on March 23, has been put in ‘vacancy reserve’, pending an inquiry.
Action has come a day after the video of statements made by three affected men went viral on social media. Subsequently, G. Venkatesan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Srivaikundam Sub-Division in Thoothukudi district has been made the officer in-charge of Ambasamudram Sub-Division.
Reacting to the issue, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder Dr. S. Ramadoss demanded the dismissal of the IPS officer. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai said such violence on those detained for inquiry was completely unacceptable, irrespective of the crime committed.
2. CM Stalin announces eligible beneficiaries for ₹1,000 monthly honorarium
Announcing the categories of women who would be eligible to receive the ₹1,000 monthly honorarium, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, while speaking at the Legislative Assembly said, road-side vendors, fisherwomen, construction workers, labourers in small-scale commercial establishments, maids employed in multiple households are among those who would benefit from the Universal Basic Income scheme.
He added that about 1 crore women are to get ₹1000 credited in their bank accounts every month.
Two years after DMK promised to provide ₹1,000 monthly honorarium to women family heads as part of its 2021 Assembly election manifesto, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, during the Budget presentation on March 20, announced that the scheme would be launched by the CM on September 15.
3. Chennai Corporation Budget tabled
Chennai Mayor R. Priya presented the Budget for Greater Chennai Corporation for the financial year 2023-2024, during the council meeting at Ripon Building in Chennai.
Some of the announcements include cash award of ₹10,000 for students who score 100/100 in their class 12 public examinations in any subject, plans to relay more than 4,000 roads in the city and implementation of a scheme to remove abandoned vehicles along all city roads.
4. Attack on DMK MP Tiruchi Siva’s house | Five of Minister Nehru’s supporters get conditional bail
After the bail pleas were rejected twice by the Judicial Magistrate Court - II, the Principal District and Sessions Court in Tiruchi granted conditional bail to five supporters of Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru, who were arrested recently for barging into a police station and attacking loyalists of Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva, following violence that erupted between the supporters of the two DMK leaders on March 15.
Notably, two days after the incident ( that was triggered when the MP was not invited for a government function that was being attended by the Minister), Mr. Nehru, within hours after meeting CM Stalin, met Mr. Siva at his residence and explained that he had no role in it.
5. RSS route march | SC reserves verdict
The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment in a dispute between Tamil Nadu government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), over permission to conduct route marches on public roads across the State.
Earlier on March 17, the State government had filed a special leave petition in the apex court against a September 22, 2022 order of the single judge of the Madras High Court allowing RSS to conduct route marches. The single judge, had in November last year, imposed some conditions such as organising the march only on premises with compound walls, such as grounds or stadia.
