writingonblog uncensored: Tamil Nadu budget promise falls short on rural hou...

writingonblog uncensored: Tamil Nadu budget promise falls short on rural hou...: CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu allocated just Rs 1,700 crore, or 48.6 per cent, of the Rs 3,500 crore promised for the Kalaignarin Kanavu Illam scheme ...

Tamil Nadu budget promise falls short on rural housing

CHENNAI:
Tamil Nadu allocated just Rs 1,700 crore, or 48.6 per cent, of the Rs 3,500 crore promised for the Kalaignarin Kanavu Illam scheme in 2024-25 to build 100,000 rural houses, according to Comptroller and auditor General report tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday.

The scheme was announced at Rs 3.5 lakh per house. Against the stipulated Rs 1,400 crore for SC/ST beneficiaries, the government provided Rs 680 crore, while the general category received Rs 1,020 crore against Rs 2,100 crore.

The audit said the shortfall showed that budget announcements were not fully translated into actual allocations.

A wider implementation gap was flagged in the Chief Minister Thayumanavar Scheme, announced with a Rs 27,922 crore outlay for vulnerable groups including destitute people, elderly persons living alone, single-parent families and orphaned children. No funds were provided in 2024-25, with the scheme sanctioned and launched only in August of the following year.

TN pension shortfall understates revenue expenditure by Rs 101 crore

CHENNAI:
Tamil Nadu understated its revenue expenditure by Rs 100.71 crore in 2024-25 by failing to make its full contribution to the pension scheme for government employees, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General report tabled in the state assembly. This raised questions over the management of a pension corpus of nearly Rs 89,085 crore.

The shortfall arose under the Defined Contributory Pension Scheme (DCPS), which covers employees recruited from April 1 2003. Under the scheme, employees contribute 10 per cent of their basic pay and dearness allowance, with a matching contribution from the state government.

During 2024-25, employees contributed Rs 4,238.75 crore to the DCPS, while the state contributed Rs 4,139.91 crore — a shortfall of Rs 98.84 crore. For All India Service officers, the government contributed Rs 5.83 crore against the required Rs 7.70 crore, resulting in a further Rs 1.87 crore gap.

The total shortfall of Rs 100.71 crore resulted in an equivalent understatement of revenue expenditure, the audit said.

Despite requests from the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) in 2008 and 2009 to join the National Pension System (NPS), the state declined in 2010 and has continued to operate its DCPS outside the NPS architecture for more than two decades.

The state has also not appointed a dedicated fund manager for the scheme. Instead, it has invested the pension corpus under the Life Insurance Corporation of India’s New Group Superannuation Scheme with Cash Accumulation Plan.

The investment stood at Rs 89,084.64 crore as of March 31 2025. Interest of Rs 6,198.69 crore earned from LIC during 2024-25 was reinvested in the same fund, the report stated.

Individual DCPS accounts are maintained by the Government Data Centre, which calculates and credits interest annually at notified rates. The state paid Rs 5,642.51 crore in interest on DCPS balances during 2024-25, the report stated.

Zanskar's first daughter in uniform; 342 officers commissioned as officers in Armed forces

C Shivakumar @ CHENNAI: 
Twenty-four-year-old Stanzin Tsangyang travelled from the remote mountains of Zanskar to Chennai to begin a journey that few in her home district had taken before. On Saturday, she became the first officer from Zanskar district in Ladakh to be commissioned into the Indian Army.

Her parents, Tundup Tsering, a teacher, and Rigzin Ladol, travelled from Ladakh to witness the passing-out parade at the Officers Training Academy. Dressed in traditional attire, they stood proudly alongside their daughter and relatives after the ceremony.

“There was no one to guide us to join the Army in our district,” Stanzin rued, pointing to the lack of an established pathway for young people in the region aspiring to become officers.

“This is our first time in Chennai and it is all because of our daughter. I am proud she is contributing to the nation,” her father said. Stanzin left home at a young age to study at Lamdon Model School in Leh, spending nearly 14 years in a hostel away from her family. Her academic performance lead her to Tezpur University in Assam, where she studied mechanical engineering.

It was at university that she joined the National Cadet Corps. “I came to know through the NCC that I could join the Army as an officer,” she said.

The transition from a remote Himalayan district to military training in Chennai was demanding. “The road was filled with challenges, sacrifices and moments of doubt, and the resilience instilled by the mountains kept me moving forward,” she said.

For Lieutenant Shivam Ahlawat, Saturday’s commissioning represented something different: the continuation of a military legacy spanning five generations and more than 140 years. Joining Skinner’s Horse, he follows relatives who served in conflicts ranging from the battlefields of France and Flanders to China, Italy, Goa, Kargil and counter-insurgency operations in northeast India. The family hopes its extraordinary record, spanning two World Wars, Independence and several major military operations, will eventually be recognised by the Guinness World Records.

For Ritika Dubey of Gorakhpur, meanwhile, the significance was personal in another way. She is the first member of her family to pursue a career in the armed forces. Among the locals, it was 22-year-old MR Ruswanth from Theni district who donned his olive green as 25 members of his family visited OTA parade ground.

The latest batch at the Officers Training Academy included 313 men and 29 women commissioned into various arms and services. Seventeen cadets from friendly foreign countries — seven men and 10 women from Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Bhutan and Lesotho — also completed their training. The parade was reviewed by Chief of Naval staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan.

Addressing the cadets, Swaminathan said technology can give you information, speed and precision, but it certainly cannot replace wisdom. "Do not outsource your thinking to an algorithm. Because, ultimately, the decisive advantage will belong to the one that
out-thinks the adversary," he said.

The admiral said that tomorrow’s wars will demand the combined strength of all Services and all domains. "Irrespective of the colour of our uniforms, we must train together, operate together, and when called upon to do so, prevail together," he said.

Tamil Nadu gives investment commission powers to fast-track big projects

Approvals governed by 22 state laws will be brought under a strengthened investment facilitation framework overseen by Chief Secretary

CHENNAI:
In a bid to promote Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) by positioning the State as a preferred investment destination by providing streamlined, transparent and time-bound regulatory approval mechanisms, Tamil Nadu's Industries Minister S Keerthana on Wednesday tabled a bill on the state assembly to create Tamil Nadu Investment Promotion Commission.

The commission will be chaired by the state's chief secretary which will put 22 state laws under new investment facilitation framework. These include range of laws from forest and land legislation to town planning, fire safety, public health and urban local-body acts.

The bill, which will amend The Tamil Nadu Business Facilitation (Amendment) Act, 2026, will provide commission to mandate "large, strategic and high-impact" investments. This includes projects worth Rs 200 crore or more, those expected to create at least 5,000 jobs, ventures tied to free-trade agreements, and investments by the Tamil diaspora.

Apart from the Chief secretary, the commission will have industries secretary serving as member-convener and up to 20 other appointed members. of these, five investment or industry experts can be invited to meetings as special invitees.

The move marks a shift from the advisory single-window bodies that have handled investor approvals in Tamil Nadu since 2018. According to the bill, the commission's directions to the state's various nodal agencies, single-window committees and departments "shall be binding."

The commission will also be tasked with reviewing land alloted for Industrial use that remains undeveloped.  It will also examine the use of industrial land allotted by tate Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT), the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO), the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO), and the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT), among other state agencies.

The legislation also seeks to put a tighter clock on regulatory approvals. Where state laws or subordinate legislation provide more than 21 days — or no deadline at all — for a clearance, the approval period will generally be deemed to be reduced to 21 days. The provision will not override a longer deadline prescribed under a Central law.

writingonblog uncensored: SDAT terminates Rs 205.89 crore contract of Global...

writingonblog uncensored: SDAT terminates Rs 205.89 crore contract of Global...: CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu's flagship Global Sports City project at Semmencheri, along Chennai’s Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) corridor  has b...

SDAT terminates Rs 205.89 crore contract of Global Sports City

CHENNAI:
Tamil Nadu's flagship Global Sports City project at Semmencheri, along Chennai’s Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) corridor  has been hit, with the state's Sports Development Authority (SDAT) terminating the Rs 205.89 crore work order awarded for its construction. The foundation stone was laid by then Chief Minister M K Stalin on February 18.

This was disclosed by RPP Infra Projects Limited, which bagged the contract on February 20, 2026, to the National Stock Exchange in its filing on Thursday.

It is learnt that SDAT said the project would be redesigned on a larger footprint, citing the need to make full use of available land to build a "bigger, comprehensive and all-encompassing" sports city capable of hosting major national and international events, including competitions on the scale of the Asian Games.

The company said it received formal communication from SDAT on August 12, 2026 confirming the work order had been cancelled.
The original contract was disclosed to exchanges on February 20, 2026. The company said it had already begun work under the order and incurred significant costs before the cancellation.

According to the filing, the decision followed a broader review of ongoing state projects and work orders undertaken by the new administration. The company said it had engaged with SDAT in an effort to keep the original project alive, but the termination went ahead regardless.

The filing gave no indication of a revised timeline or budget for the redesigned Global Sports City, nor whether the company would seek compensation for expenditure already incurred.

The company said it is now evaluating the financial and other implications of the termination, along with its rights and remedies under the terms of the work order. It cited these circumstances — including its efforts to continue the project and the expenditure already incurred — in explaining what it called an inadvertent delay in disclosing the termination to the exchanges, for which it expressed regret.

The Global Sports City is planned over more than 80 acres in the first phase. The project was to include an international-standard football stadium, shooting ranges (10m, 25m and 50m), archery facilities, rowing and kayaking infrastructure, BMX cycling and skating arenas, multi-discipline indoor stadiums and residential hostels for athletes.

Semmmancheri was among the three sites finalised for setting up the Global Sports City. The other two considered were Kuthambakkam and Vandalur.  The site was prone to flooding and then Chief secretary Shiv Das Meena  has asked Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority to prepare a stormwater drainage plan to avoid flooding.