Here are the big stories from Tamil Nadu today

A dairy farmer pours milk on the road at Nasiyanur demanding hike in procurement price of milk in Erode in Tamil Nadu on March 17, 2023. Photo: Special arrangement

1. Golden jubilee of T.N. policewomen | Nine welfare schemes announced

Marking the golden jubilee of women police personnel in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, during a function held at Chennai, announced nine welfare schemes for policewomen. Women were first inducted in the Tamil Nadu police force in 1973.

Accordingly, hostels for policewomen are to be established at Chennai and Madurai, the reporting time of policewomen posted in morning duty has been changed from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., separate rest rooms and toilets for policewomen are to be created at all police stations and crèche facilities for taking care of infants of policewomen are to be created throughout the State, shared the CM.

In a separate development, retired Madras High Court judge C.T. Selvam, who heads the Fourth Police Commission, submitted the panel’s first report to Mr. Stalin at the Secretariat in Chennai. The Police Commission was constituted by the State government in January last, to extensively examine measures towards the welfare of police personnel.

2. CM Stalin condoles demise of Army pilot from Theni; Mortal remains to reach Madurai tonight

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin condoled the death of Army pilot Major Jayanth A, who along with pilot — Lt. Col. V.V.B. Reddy, was killed after their Army helicopter that was flying an operational sortie near Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh crashed yesterday morning.

Major Jayanth is a native of Jayamangalam in Theni district of Tamil Nadu. His mortal remains are being be flown by an Indian Air Force plane and would reach Madurai airport tonight at 8.

3. Free PRTC bus rides for women in Puducherry: CM Rangasamy

Women in Puducherry too can now travel for free in government buses.

Nearly two years after Tamil Nadu government announced free travel for women travelling in ordinary fare buses in May 2021, Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy who spoke during the Budget session at the Puducherry Legislative Assembly informed that women can travel free of cost in government buses operated by Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC).

Only four days ago, the Union Territory government proposed to issue free bus passes to women from Scheduled Caste communities to travel in local buses operated by the PRTC

4. Dairy farmers go on strike demanding higher procurement price from Aavin

Demanding Aavin to hike the milk procurement prices in Tamil Nadu, a section of dairy farmers have gone on strike, refusing to supply milk to Aavin. It comes a day after the talks held with Minister for Dairy S.M. Nasar at Chennai yesterday failed. At Erode, the farmers poured milk on roads as a mark of protest.

While cow milk is presently procured at ₹33 per litre and buffalo milk is bought at ₹44 per litre, the dairy farmers seek a ₹7 increase per litre.

Reacting to the strike, Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai tweeted urging the Tamil Nadu government to solve the issue amicably by holding talks, as it stares at the threat of milk shortage to the extent of 10 lakh litres.

5. AIADMK general council can only suspend and not expel members: Vaithilingam, J.C.D. Prabhakar

The AIADMK general council can only suspend a party member and not directly expel them from primary membership without issuing a charge memo or giving an opportunity to explain their stand, argued expelled members R. Vaithilingam and JCD Prabhakar before the Madras High Court.

Their counsel contended that the bylaws of the party do not empower the general council to expel any member without notice and hence the resolutions passed at the AIADMK’s July 11, 2022 general council meet were without any legal backing.

6. Dinamalar publisher files PIL seeking CBI probe in Jayalalithaa death

R.R. Gopaljee, the publisher of two editions of Dinamalar, a vernacular newspaper, has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in the Madras High Court seeking a court-monitored CBI probe into the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the light of the report of Justice A. Arumughaswamy Commission which probed into circumstances that led to her death.