Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam government on Wednesday allotted over Rs 1,000 crore to provide gifts of gold coin, ring and milch cows to beneficiaries to fulfill the election promise made by the party ahead of the assembly election this year.
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 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in this year's assembly polls.
He also launched 70-lakh tree sapling planting drive to commemorate the 70th birth anniversary celebrations of late Jayalalithaa.
Bharatiya Janata Party member Subramanian Swamy on Friday introduced in the Rajya Sabha a private member bill which seeks "deterrent punishment", including the death penalty, for slaughter of cow and issues related to that.
Eying a prominent role in the next government at the Centre, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Tuesday promised to extend populist schemes like distribution of free mixies, grinders, fans, milch cows and goats across the country in its Lok Sabha manifesto.
High drama was witnessed at Tamluk in Purba Medinipur district on Sunday afternoon as West Bengal Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari was prevented by police from visiting violence-hit areas in Howrah.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday released Rs 20,946 crore to 10.09 crore farmers across India as the 10th installment of financial aid under the PM-KISAN scheme and said there was a need for innovation in agriculture along with promotion of natural farming. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is provided to the eligible farmer families, payable in three equal installments of Rs 2,000. The PM-KISAN scheme was announced in the February 2019 Budget.
To meet the target, agriculture must grow at 15% compared to average of below 2% over the past four years
The campaign has gathered steam for the June 27 bypoll contest in Tamil Nadu featuring Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam workers are going all out to ensure her victory against the lone Communist Party of India challenger.
Not everyone can have access to the Pride of Cows milk.
Fighting heavy odds, J Jayalalithaa proved her detractors wrong again with her grit and determination as she steered the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to power for a second consecutive term, bucking the tradition since 1989 when no party has retained power in Tamil Nadu.
Back of the envelope calculations put government expense on each of the new schemes promised by the DMK and the AIADMK at tens of thousands of crores. But then, neither party has said how they are going to also address the mounting debt burden either, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The going is not going to be easy for the DMK and its allies in Elections 2024. Despite the seats sweepstake in the 2021 assembly polls, the vote-share difference of 5.6% (DMK's 45.38% versus AIADMK-BJP's 39.72%) is not insurmountable on a bad day, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
