1. Doyen of Education, Mrs YGP No More
Acclaimed educationist, journalist and patron of the arts, Mrs YG Parthasarathy, who founded the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Group of Schools driven by her desire “to Indianise school education”, died in a city hospital on Tuesday afternoon. She was 93.
Her son Y Gee Mahendra, actor and theatre personality, said she was taken to the hospital on Monday after she complained of breathlessness. “She was stable and talking to us. In the afternoon, she asked for something to eat, but then just collapsed. It was a cardiac arrest,” he said. She was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2010.
(Source: The Hindu)
2. Pvt Eng Colleges Want Old System of Counselling
Private engineering colleges in the State are shocked by the drastic fall in minimum cut-off marks, even for top institutions. This comes amid concerns about government quota seats in these colleges not getting filled through the single-window counselling conducted by DoTE.
Now, fearing this would affect semester results, the colleges have decided to approach the government, and request reintroduction of the old system of counselling in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy. At the end of the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission counselling this academic year, only 49.7 percent seats were filled. A whopping 84,256 seats had no takers.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
3. Sterlite Closure Not Knee Jerk, Says TN Govt
The State government on Tuesday stoutly denied the contention of private natural resources company Vedanta Ltd that the latter’s Sterlite copper plant in Thoothukudi was closed down only as a knee-jerk reaction to the death of 13 protesters during the police firing on 22 May 2018.
Arguing before a Division Bench of Justices TS Sivagnanam and V Bhavani Subbaroyan, senior counsel KV Viswanathan, assisted by government advocate Yogesh Kanna, said the arguments advanced on behalf of Vedanta on the ground of “malice in law” was unjustified and unfair if not mischievous.
“Law says don’t go only by public sentiments without any other materials. Only then, it is malice in law. Whereas in this case, cogent materials were available with us for having taken action. Their argument is as if there were protests followed by firing and then closure of the unit. It is not so,” the counsel clarified.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Bid to Smuggle 1.86 Kg Gold Foiled
Flights from Middle East countries are now under the scanner of the Customs department, for smuggling of the yellow metal, as sleuths yet again foiled a bid to smuggle in 1.86kg gold worth Rs 70.25 lakh at Chennai airport and arrested one person.
On Tuesday morning Muzmmil Husain (40), hailing from Muzaffarnagar, who had arrived from Riyadh via Muscat by Oman Airways flight, was intercepted at the exit of Customs arrival hall by Air Intelligence Unit officers, on suspicion of carrying gold as he appeared to be walking in a suspicious manner, according to a release.
One rechargeable hand light was found among his personal effects, which, on examination, appeared to be unusually heavy. On dismantling the same, 16 gold bars bearing marking of Suisse 10 tolas Fine Gold 999.9, were found concealed inside and the same were recovered.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
5. ‘UK Watching Kashmir Developments’
The United Kingdom is closely watching the developments in Jammu and Kashmir and hopes that things are resolved soon, British High Commissioner to India, Dominic Asquith, said on Tuesday. He said he would be meeting Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
“A third of UK investments in India was made here in Tamil Nadu. It is really an important area for us to operate in. Our focus areas would be the automotive sector, including e-vehicles, healthcare and FinTech,” he added.
He moderated a panel discussion on ‘Building a Vibrant Nation through Women Leadership’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Indian Women Network (IWN) and the British Deputy High Commission. During the panel discussion, Saundariya Rajesh, social entrepreneur and founder and president, Avtar Group, said women workforce participation in most countries was lesser than that of men.
(Source: The Hindu)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)