TN CM announces sops to farmers, withdraws cases against Jallikattu protesters

On the last day of the state Assembly session in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami made a slew of announcements for the people of the state. The announcements made by the Chief Minister on Friday significantly come at a time when the state is headed for polls. The Assembly was adjourned sine die on Friday and is likely to reconvene next for the state budget session.

Since the DMK had walked out on the first day of this year’s Assembly session citing the Governor’s delay in deciding on Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict AG Perarivalan’s release, none of the MLA’s from Tamil Nadu’s opposition parties were present in the Assembly when the Chief Minister made these announcements. In line with his predecessor J Jayalalithaa’s preference, Edappadi K Palaniswami also made the announcements under Rule 110 of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly rules. As per Rule 110 of the TNLA Rules, a minister is allowed to make a statement in the Assembly with prior intimation and a debate is not allowed on it. 

Here are the important announcements made by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday: 

• All cases registered against people who participated in the 2017-Jallikattu protest will be withdrawn. However, FIRs registered for serious offences related to attacking the police and burning the police vehicles on the last day of the protest will not be withdrawn. The state government had, in January 2017, filed cases against hundreds of people from across Tamil Nadu who had participated in the protests in support of Jallikattu. The protests ended in violence including vehicles being burnt.

• Crop loans borrowed by Tamil Nadu farmers from cooperative banks to the tune of Rs 12,110 crore will be waived. This is expected to benefit over 16.13 lakh farmers of the state. The decision comes as an attempt to provide relief to the farmers whose crops have suffered extensive damage due to the unprecedented rainfall Tamil Nadu saw in January 2021. Apart from the rains, the farmers also suffered due to two cyclones (Nivar and Burevi) and the COVID-19 pandemic.

•  A bill to set up a university in the name of former Chief Minister and AIADMK Supremo J Jayalalithaa was introduced by the state minister for higher education KP Anbalagan. Dr Jayalalithaa university will come up in Villupuram and will be in charge of the government colleges in Thiruvannamalai, Vellore, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Vriddhachalam, Villupuram and Tindivanam.