QChennai: DMK MLAs Stage Walkout; Partial Lunar Eclipse & More
Catch all the latest news from Chennai right here.
1. DMK MLAs Stage Walkout Over ‘No Tamil’ in Postal Dept Exam
DMK members on Monday, 15 July, staged a walkout from the Assembly following a war of words with Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his Cabinet colleagues over the conduct of recruitment examinations in only Hindi and English by the Postal Department.
While DMK MLA Thangam Thennarasu, who raised the issue, demanded a resolution urging the Centre to conduct the examination in all Indian languages, including Tamil, the Chief Minister said the issue could be raised in both Houses of Parliament by members of both the DMK and the AIADMK, since they both shared the same view.
(Source: The Hindu)
2. Partial Lunar Eclipse on 17 July
The partial lunar eclipse on July 17 will be visible throughout India and most of Europe, Africa, Central Asia and Indian Ocean, said TN Science and Technology Centre (TNSTC). It said the partial phase of the eclipse will begin at 1.30 am on July 17, the maximum eclipse at 3.01 am and it will end at 4.30 am.
When moon comes diametrically opposite the position of the sun as viewed from the Earth, the shadow of Earth cast by sunlight will have two components - darker shadow and lighter shadow. When a portion of the moon crosses the darker shadow, the eclipse is known as partial eclipse, said a release. One such eclipse was visible from India on July 27 last year. The next partial phase of the eclipse will be visible from India on November 8, 2022.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
3. High Court Cracks Down on Buses, Autos Violating Rules
The Madras High Court on Monday directed the Transport Secretary to ensure that his subordinates across the State crack down on buses, mini buses, autorickshaws and share autorickshaws, which are found to be involved in violations such as overloading, tampering fare meters and making unauthorised modifications to their vehicles.
Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad issued the direction while disposing of a public interest litigation petition filed by 78-year-old M Chellappan of Erode. The petitioner had complained about overloaded motor vehicles being driven in a rash and negligent way causing nightmares to other motorists and pedestrians. Expressing anguish over all kinds of motor vehicles used for public transportation, the petitioner said irrespective of whether they are owned by the government or private entities, they plied with more than the permitted passenger capacity.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Water-Starved Chennai Soaks in Rain
It was a pleasant surprise for the water-starved Chennaiites on Monday evening. An intense spell of rainfall lashed several parts of city, especially the western parts such as Ambattur, Mogappair, Ayapakkam and Poonamallee. Some areas have received close to 50 mm of rainfall. Nungambakkam weather station has recorded 26 mm of rainfall. S Balachandran, Deputy Director-General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), said these were convective rains and, if lucky, Chennai would receive more rains during next three days.
“Rainfall would occur mostly during late evening and night.” This comes at a time when Chennai has been facing a historic water crisis forcing the State government to bring potable water though train to augment city water supply. The city is currently reeling under 44 per cent deficit rainfall. Between June 1 and July 15, Chennai has received 65.5 mm of rainfall as against normal 117.2 mm.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
5. Rahman, Kamal to Team Up Again After 19 Years
Music composer AR Rahman will be collaborating with actor-politician Kamal Haasan for his upcoming filmThalaivan Irukkindraan . On Monday evening, A.R Rahman had tweeted a photo of himself with the actor stating that he was happy and excited to collaborate with him on a ‘magnum opus’.
While fans began wondering which project they were coming together for, the actor himself announced on Twitter that they (he and Rahman) would be working on Thalaivan Irukkindraan . Around two years ago, Kamal Haasan had said that the film, which was reported to have been shelved, would be revived. Lyca Productions and RKFI (Raaj Kamal films international) are expected to produce the film together.
(Source: The Hindu)
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