TN This Week: the Budget of Many Firsts, Growing COVID-19 Clusters

The Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan presented the revised budget 2021-22 for the next six-month period, on August 13. It is the first budget of the DMK government in this tenure, presented for the first time without paper in an e-budget format. For the first time, an agriculture budget was placed separately in the assembly.

More farmers from Tamil Nadu headed to Delhi to join their counterparts in opposing the union government’s farm laws. More than a thousand farmers who travelled from Tamil Nadu last week held a protest opposing the Mekedatu dam on August 11.

The overall number of COVID-19 cases in the state remained relatively static this week, but seventeen districts reported a rise in cases.

COVID-19: CLUSTERS INCREASE, CASES STATIC

On August 13, the number of new cases was reported to be 1,933, and the deaths from COVID-19 was 34, compared to 1,985 infections and 30 deaths that happened a week ago, on last Friday. Chennai and Coimbatore reported the maximum proportion of cases, more than 200, this Friday.

The Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said on Wednesday, “Every day we are identifying 10-20 clusters in various places and stopping the spread.” To avoid further clusters being formed as results of large gatherings, Tamil Nadu government ordered religious places to remain shut from Friday to Sunday.

Meanwhile, the vaccine dosage tally increased to 2.40 crore doses at government centres and 18.01 lakh at private hospitals.

REVISED STATE BUDGET

The government fulfilled part of its poll promises by slashing the state excise duty on petrol by Rs 3, waiving loans to the tune of Rs 2,756 crore availed by women's self-help groups (SHGs), and increasing the allocation for school education.

The white paper presented by state finance minister Palanivel Thiagarajan on August 9 boosted expectations that the government would propose revenue generation measures by levying new taxes in the budget. However the government gave little attention to mitigate the Rs 58.692.88 crore revenue deficit of the year 2020-21.

The ailing small and micro enterprises (MSME) felt that their expectations were not met in this budget (Read more).

MORE TN FARMERS HEAD TO DELHI

On August 11, the Tamil Nadu Vivasaigal Sangam farmers who travelled to Delhi last week held a protest demonstration against the construction of a dam across Cauvery river at Mekedatu in Karnataka. They condemned the Karnataka government's attitude of wanting to construct the dam no matter what, and urged the BJP-led union government to not permit that.

Image courtesy: Shanmugam P. Tamil Nadu farmers in Delhi oppose dam at Mekedatu

More farmers, affiliated to the Communist Party of India’s farmers’ union, began their journey from Tamil Nadu to Delhi on 14 August to join the protesting farmers at the Singhu border.

GRAM SABHAS WITHHELD

The Tamil Nadu government announced the postponement of the Independence Day grama sabha meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. According to state rules, it is mandatory to hold gram sabhas on January 26 (Republic Day), May 1 (May Day), August 15 (Independence Day) and October 2 (Mahatma Gandhi birth anniversary). The sabha meeting for May Day was also not conducted this year.

The postponement was criticised by Communist Party of India (Marxist), Kamal Hassan’s Makkal Neethi Maiam, and others. The demand for holding gram sabhas with COVID-19 protocols was made.

PROTESTS AGAINST FISHERIES BILL

Fishermen across Tamil Nadu held protests, demonstrations and strikes against the Indian Marine Fisheries Bill on Monday.

The fishermen unions have accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of not consulting with stakeholders before moving the proposed legislation. Read more

'RESTORE RAILWAY CONCESSION' – DIFFERENTLY-ABLED

The Tamil Nadu Association for Rights of All Types of Differently-Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC) protested across the state on August 11, demanding that the Railways restore concessions for differently-abled persons in all the trains.

More than 8,000 differently-abled persons held protests in front of 72 state and central offices demanding that their rights be restored. Read more

BULLOCK-CART WORKERS DEMAND SAND QUARRIES

Bullock-cart workers in districts across Tamil Nadu have been demanding that the government allocate sand quarries. This demand opposes the blanket ban on sand mining in Tamil Nadu, which the lorry-owning big businesses get away with while small-time bullock-cart owners become victims.

Image courtesy: CITU, Tamil Nadu. Bullock-cart workers in Karur protest demanding sand quarries

 This week, on August 10, bullock-cart owners in Karur protested outside the Taluka office demanding a solution for their livelihood. They urged the state and district administrations and the Public Works department, to make immediate allocation of sand quarries. Pudukottai bullock-cart workers are also fighting with the same demand.

RAID ON AIADMK LEADER

A month after its raids on former minister MR Vijayabaskar, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Tuesday raided more than 50 premises linked to the former minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader SP Velumani and his associates in Chennai, Coimbatore and other places.

AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami condemned the raid, saying it was politically motivated.