Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legislator and the party's youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin was sworn in as minister in Chennai on Wednesday by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi.
His likable boy-next-door face and casual approach to public speaking have a unique appeal for the younger generation, but it stops there, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Villpuram district in north Tamil Nadu continued to reel under unprecedented flooding on Monday following extremely heavy rainfall, virtually blocking access to villages and residential colonies as bridges and roads overflowed, inundating huge acreage of standing crops and leaving passengers stranded as rail and road traffic was hit.
He said that Chief Minister MK Stalin has been implementing a number of initiatives through the HR&CE department since the DMK came to power in 2021.
D Gukesh credited mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton for helping him tame the 'emotional pressure' of competing at the World Chess Championship.
Two years after winding up its India production, global automobile giant Ford Motor Company is in talks with the Tamil Nadu government to restart operations at Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai, where it will focus on exports. Chief Minister Stalin visited Ford headquarters in Michigan on Tuesday and held discussions with its top management, urging it to restart production. "Had a very engaging discussion with the team from Ford Motors.
'Peninsular Indians could ask 'Why should we contribute half of India's tax revenues if we account for only a quarter of the seats in the Lok Sabha?'.' 'The rest of the country seems likely to counter that 'democracy means one vote per person irrespective of where that person resides in India'.' 'With no easy answers to this thorny debate, the south's economic ascendancy could end up creating a Hobson's choice.' A revealing excerpt from Nandita Rajhansa and Saurabh Mukherjea's book, Behold the Leviathan: The Unusual Rise of Modern India.
Intermittent, widespread rains lashed Chennai and other regions of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday and the India meteorological department said the low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal has turned into a well-marked low pressure area and it is likely to become a depression.
A bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said, "He (the governor) seems to have adopted his own procedure. He says, 'I withhold assent, but I will not ask you to reconsider the bill'. It does not make sense to keep withholding assent and not send it to the legislature, thereby frustrating the provision of Article 200."
A medical oncologist at the Kalaignar Centenary Super Speciality Hospital in Chennai was stabbed seven times on Wednesday by the son of a patient allegedly over grievances on treatment to his mother at the same facility, a hospital official said.
The breakfast scheme for government school students from class 1 to 5 was launched in Madurai on Thursday by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin who served and ate the food along with the children.
The minister's reaction came days after Rajinikanth praised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin for "managing" senior DMK leaders in the party.
"The DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention.
The Indian government has advised states to intensify surveillance for respiratory illnesses, including influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illnesses (SARI), following the detection of five human metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases in the country. The decision comes amidst reports of a surge in HMPV cases in China. The Union Health Secretary, Punya Salila Srivastava, chaired a virtual meeting with states and union territories to discuss the situation and public health measures. While there is no cause for public concern, the government is emphasizing the importance of preventive measures such as handwashing, covering coughs and sneezes, and avoiding close contact with those showing symptoms.
Besides heavy traffic congestion, the intermittent heavy rains led to inundation in several parts of the city and neighbouring districts of Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengelpet.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Centre to extend the benefits accorded to Scheduled Castes also to those among the SCs embracing Christianity.
American auto major Ford Motor on Friday said it is preparing to utilise its Chennai manufacturing plant to roll out vehicles for exports and has intimated the same to the Tamil Nadu government. Minister for TRB Rajaa, who is in the United States accompanying the Chief Minister M K Stalin to woo investors, said the efforts of the Chief Minister to reposition 'Brand Tamil Nadu' in its Numero Uno place has yielded rich dividends.
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.
'Within a short span, it increased attendance, improved children's physical fitness, and led to a rise in the enrolment ratio.'
Maamannan could have been so much better with an alternate lead actor and a tighter, more gripping storytelling, sighs a disappointed Divya Nair.
'Does anyone understand India?' 'Does anyone have a larger perspective for India as a whole?' 'Today we have rulers who do not understand the ruled.'
Tamil Nadu's voters wanted tough leaders at the helm, to the point of being autocratic. It was what Karunanidhi, MGR and Jayalalithaa ended up becoming, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
India's opposition parties have sharply criticized the Union Budget, calling it inadequate to address the country's economic woes and accusing the BJP-led government of using it to woo voters in Bihar and Delhi ahead of upcoming elections. Leaders from the Congress, TMC, DMK, SP, and CPI(M) voiced their disapproval, highlighting concerns over inflation, unemployment, and the lack of substantial measures to support the agricultural sector and the poor. They also criticized the tax cuts for the middle class as insufficient and coming too late after years of high taxes and rising prices.
Bringing the latest instance of the arrest of TN fishermen to the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Stalin said 12 of them were arrested on Thursday and two mechanised fishing boats were seized by the Lankan Navy.
He is likely to undergo an elective procedure at the cath lab later in the day, a source said.
Taiwanese footwear major Hong Fu Industrial Group - a supplier to Nike, Converse, Vans, UGG, Puma, Adidas, Reebok, HOKA, Under Armour, and ON (a Swiss sportswear brand) -marked its India entry on Monday, with the ground breaking ceremony of the Rs 1,500-crore footwear manufacturing facility at the SIPCOT Industrial Park in Panapakkam, nearly 85 kms from Chennai.
In a shocking incident, a woman teacher was fatally stabbed on government school premises in Mallipattinam in the district by a youth, leading to some tense moments in the educational institution, police said on Wednesday.
Stalin also heaped praise on "brother" Rahul Gandhi, saying he is the "ideal antidote" to the BJP's "parochial" politics.
The travails due to enforcement of the eligibility test was because the AIADMK regime under K Palaniswami allowed the test to be conducted, despite DMK's efforts to keep it at bay, he said
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called on her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin in Chennai on Wednesday and the two leaders said politics did not come up during their discussion.
Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Saturday played down reports of his possible elevation as Deputy Chief Minister and said Chief Minister M K Stalin has to take a call on the issue.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with some opposition leaders too expressed surprise over the President not being invited to the important occasion of shifting Parliament to new premises.
Palanivel Thiaga Rajan was on Thursday relieved of the finance portfolio by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin.
After visiting those being treated at Villupuram government medical college hospital, Chief Minister MK Stalin told reporters Villupuram that investigation into the matter would be transferred to the CB-CID and he assured tough action.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister may have opened a Pandora's Box on the religion front with the appointment of qualified non-Brahmin temple priests, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Throwing his party's weight behind the Congress to ensure an Opposition win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday said arguments by some favouring a front without the grand old party should be rejected.
This is the first meeting between Stalin and Sonia Gandhi after the DMK-Congress alliance was elected to power in the just-concluded assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
After a photoshoot with the artistes, the CM settled down for tea with the Governor.
Stalin has given due respect to seniority in the pecking order, but has also taken into consideration the demands of individual ministries and the suitability of individuals, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP's strategy seem to be to wean away allies from the Congress, in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, and maybe later in UP, Bihar and elsewhere, though in slow doses, but without wooing them into a new alliance. The idea seems to be only to weaken the INDIA bloc from within -- and leaving it at that, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.