Rajashri Venkatesh
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has sought the Centre’s intervention to restrain Kerala from proceeding with an environment impact assessment for the construction of a new Mullaperiyar dam in Idukki district of Kerala.
Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa launched her Assembly poll campaign by asking people to vote for AIADMK so she could continue her governance and the welfare measures implemented in the last five years. She also promised to introduce prohibition in the state in a phased manner if elected to power.
Minutes after being sworn in as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for the second consecutive term, J Jayalalithaa swung into action and ordered a slew of measures in order to fulfil her electoral promises. She announced eight gram of gold for mangalsutra (chain worn by married women), waiving of crop loans of farmers and 100 units free electricity to consumers.
Freebies galore and populist schemes under the popular ‘Amma’ brand became the hallmark of late Jayalalithaa’s tenure as Chief Minister, helping her steamroll arch-rival M Karunanidhi’s DMK in this year’s Assembly polls. From the Amma canteens to Amma gymnasiums and parks, the brand became synonymous with her name. Karunanidhi may have revolutionised the freebies culture in Tamil Nadu but Jayalalithaa mastered the art right under his nose, showering a slew of freebies in 2011 and 2016 on voters. However, Jayalalithaa always took exception to the term ‘freebies’ and chose to call them free of cost, insisting that the populist schemes were aimed only at helping the lower rung masses.
Remember Baby Falak? In a country where babies, especially girls are abandoned and killed every day, the story of the bruised and battered two-year-old girl is not really new or particularly shocking.
Tamil Nadu's first Global Investors Meet (TNGIM 2015) was officially inaugurated by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Industrialists Reliance Group chief Anil Ambani, Mahindra & Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra, ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar, HCL founder Shiv Nadar, JSW Steel chief Sajjan Jindal, Adani Group chief Gautam Adani and Indian Oil Chairman B Ashok, Yes Bank Chairman Rana Kapoor, among others, attended the event.
Chief minister Jayalalithaa announced that the library, set up by the previous M Karunanidhi government at Rs 230 crore, would be converted into a children's specialty hospital. The first bench of Chief Justice MY Eqbal and Justice TS Sivagnanam granted stay after three PILs were filed questioning the decision. It also directed the government to file a counter affidavit in six weeks.
Rain water harvesting is considered the answer to India’s water woes. The practice has been patchy in many parts of the country, but Tamil Nadu’s experiment with the alternative water conservation technique is a rare success story. The Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) scheme, a brainchild of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, was launched in 2001 in a bid to rejuvenate water sources and improve ground water levels in the parched southern state.
The AIADMK on Wednesday said party supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, hospitalised since last month, is “very well” and will return home soon, even as scores of party workers continue to hold different forms of worships for her speedy recovery. “She is very well. God is by her side. She will come home soon,” party spokesperson C.R. Saraswathy told reporters here.
SHE addressed barely 22 meetings over the last two months besides two road shows in Chennai. However, the huge crowds at each of these meetings were enough to show that Jayalalithaa Jayaram wasn’t facing any strong anti-incumbency wave in this state that hasn’t voted back a government in three decades.
