(01)
Assembly Elections, 2016
·
Held on May 16, 2016 for the 232 Assembly Constituencies
·
AIADMK under the leadership of Ms. J. Jayalalithaa won the
elections and became the first ruling party to be re-elected in Tamil Nadu
since 1984, though with a reduced majority
·
This is the last election Ms. J. Jayalalithaa contested, as she
died in office later in Dec 2016
·
AIADMK won 134 seats and DMK won 89 seats; later AIADMK won 2
seats and increased its tally
·
The parties which said as alternative to both AIADMK and DMK drew
a blank in the elections
(02)
J. Jayalalithaa
·
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms. J. Jayalalithaa passed away in
Chennai on Dec 05, 2016 after struggling for 75 days in Apollo Hospitals,
Chennai
·
Ms. Jayalalithaa becomes third Chief Minister from the State to
die in harness (the others being, Mr. Annadurai and Mr. M. G. Ramachandran)
·
The President, the Prime Minister and chief ministers of nine
states, along with many other VVIPs descended on Chennai to pay homage, but it
was the common man -to whom Jayalalithaa was `Amma' -who showed at her funeral
why she was so beloved
·
Mr. O. Panneerselvam was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of
Tamil Nadu
(03)
Kalpana Chawla Award 2016
·
On Aug 15, 2016, Ms. Jayanthi received the Kalpana Chawla Award
for Courage and Daring Enterprise from the then Chief Minister, Ms. J.
Jayalalithaa
·
Her workplace is one that women do not normally even visit: a
crematorium.
·
Jayanthi, of Senthamangalam in Namakkal district, is comfortable
managing the town’s crematorium, ignoring invisible barriers of orthodoxy
(04)
World's largest solar
power plant in Tamil Nadu
·
A solar power plant in Kamuthi (Ramanathapuram Dt), Tamil Nadu
just became the world’s largest plant.
·
With a capacity to produce 648 MW of electricity, the plant
comprises of 2.5 million individual solar modules and covers an area of 10 sq
km.
·
This project has been commissioned by Adani Power
·
Commissioned on Jun 13, 2016
(05)
India's first green
corridor train
·
The 114-km-long Manamadurai– Rameswaram stretch of Southern
Railway became India’s first ‘Green corridor’ (on Jul 24, 2016)
·
About 150 coaches in 13 pairs of express and passenger trains,
running in the section, would have bio-toilets and there would be zero
discharge of human waste on tracks in the section.
(06)
Ms. Girija Vaidyanathan
IAS
·
Income Tax officials raid Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, Mr. Rama
Mohana Rao IAS and also searched at the office premises of St. George Fort;
Opposition parties demand resignation of Chief Secretary
·
Government put the Officer in “withhold” list
·
Ms. Girija Vaidyanathan appointed as 45th Chief Secretary of the
State
·
She is the fourth woman to be the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu
(07)
Cauvery River Dispute
·
On Aug 2016, Tamil Nadu approached Supreme Court, seeking direction
to Karnataka to release 50.052 tmcft Cauvery water from its reservoirs for its
third samba cultivation, as mandated in the final order of the Cauvery Water
Disputes Tribunal 2007
·
On Sep 2016, Supreme Court asked Karnataka to consider Tamil
Nadu's plea on humanitarian grounds and release water and advised both states
to maintain harmony.
·
After this, protest erupted in Karnataka by attacking Tamils;
then Kannadigas attacked in Rameswaram; agitations spread across both the State
·
Prime Minister appealed for peace
·
Still, the case is in Supreme Court
(08)
Cyclone Vardah
·
Tropical cyclone Vardah, the first hurricane-strength storm to
hit the Bay of Bengal this season, has struck the Chennai City
·
The storm uprooted trees, overturned cars and did extensive damage
to buildings as it tore across the city.
·
The winds at landfall were around 140 kilometers per hour (87
miles per hour), making Vardah equal to a Category 1 hurricane on the
Saffir-Simpson scale.
·
Tropical cyclone Vardah is India's strongest storm since October
2014
·
Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur and the Children’s Park
in Guindy closed indefinitely
·
Satellites INSAT - 3DR and SCATSAT - 1 played key role in saving
a large number of lives
·
Central team headed Joint Secretary (Union Home Ministry), Mr.
Praveen Vashishtha visited the State to assess the cyclone Vardah impact
(09)
Chennai Metro Rail
·
On Sep 21, 2016 commercial operations commenced between Chennai
International Airport metro station and Little Mount.
·
First Metro Rail was inaugurated on Jun 29, 2015 between Alandur
and Koyambedu stations
·
This was the last function attended by the then Chief Minister,
Ms. Jayalalithaa
(10)
Vannadasan
·
Tamil novelist and short – story writer Vannadasan (S.
Kalayanasundaram or Kalyaniji), has been selected for this year’s Sahitya
Akademi award for his short story collection “Oru Siru Isai”
·
His father, Thi. Ka. Sivasankaran (Thi. Ka. Si) won the Sahitya
Akademi Award for literary criticism in 2000
(11)
Cho. Ramaswamy
·
Actor and Veteran Political journalist, Mr. Cho Ramaswamy passed
away in Chennai on Dec 07, 2016
·
He was the first to propose Mr. Narendra Modi as the Prime
Ministerial candidate
·
Winner of the B. D. Goenka award for excellence in journalism
·
He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by BJP government and served
as an MP from 1999 to 2005
(12)
Rajya Sabha Members
·
Six nominees (4 from AIADMK and 2 from DMK) elected unopposed to
the Rajya Sabha
·
From AIADMK, Mr. R. Vaithilingam, A. Naeenathakrishnan, Mr. A.
Vijayakumar and Mr. S. R. Balasubramaniyan
·
From DMK, Mr. T. K. S. Elangovan and Mr. R. S. Bharathi
·
With the election of four MPs, the strength of ruling AIADMK
will go up to 12 from the present 11 in Rajya Sabha. There will be no change in
the number of DMK MPs which will continue to be four.
·
From Tamil Nadu, Congress Party will have no representation in
the Upper House.
·
Strength of AIADMK in Rajya Sabha increased to 13 with its
member elected from Puducherry; the strength of AIADMK in Parliament now stands
at 50 (37 from Lok Sabha and 13 from Rajya Sabha)
(13)
V. C. Kulandaiswamy
·
Former Vice – Chancellor of Anna University, Mr. V. C.
Kulandaiswamy passed away
·
Vice Chancellor of three universities (1) Madurai Kamaraj
(1978-79); (2) Anna University (1981-90) and IGNOU, Delhi (1990-94)
·
Played a key role in orgainising the World Classical Tamil
Conference in Coimbatore in Jun 2010
·
Took Tamil poetry and came out with a dozen collections of Tamil
poems, under the name of "Kulothungan"
·
His work of literary criticism, "Vazhum Valluvam"
fetched him the Sahitya Akademi award in 1988
·
Received Padma Shri in 1992 and Padma Bhushan in 2002
(14)
Shanti Soundarajan
·
After a decade long struggle, athlete Santhi Soundarajn, who was
stripped of her silver medal won at the 2006 Asian Games because she failed a
controversial gender test, got a permanent job as a coach with the SDAT (Sports
Development Authority of Tamil Nadu)
(15)
Keezhadi excavation
·
More artefacts unearthed by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)
revealed an ancient settlement dated tentatively to 4th Century B.C
·
Located in Sivagangai District
·
Since 2013, archaeological excavation has been carried out from
Theni to Ramanathapuram along the banks of the Vagai.
·
An estimated 293 sites have been identified including temples,
ports, small settlements and commercial sites.
·
The use of fired brick, the size of the building complex, an
array of pots placed in such a way that it must have been used either as a lamp
or for painting, and other finds suggest that the settlement is of a more
civilized population than was previously suspected during the Sangam period.
(16)
K to K Campaign
·
Kanmai Karai (Tank Bund, the usual place of open defecation) to
Kazhi Parai (a toilet), under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) was lanched at
Achhampatti village, an ODF village of Madurai
Other Newsmakers
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v Lakshmi Sarvana
Kumar’s novel “Kannakan”
v Kuzha. Kathiresan
v JICA to invest in
health sectors
v Prohibition of
liquor
v Operation
Madukkarai Maharaj
v Havildar K. Siva
Kumar
v Meteroite mystery
in Vellore Dt
v Tamil Nadu joins
NFSA and UDAY scheme when Ms. J. Jayalalithaa was in hospitalized
