Tamil Nadu to celebrate centenary year of Vaikom Satyagraha.
- To mark the beginning of the centenary year of the famous Vaikom Satyagraha, a watershed moment in India’s history which prompted several such movements for people from all castes entering temples, the government has planned year-long celebrations, including taking Periyar’s works and ideals to the younger generation.
- Vaikom Award would be given to eminent personalities or organisations that worked for the welfare of oppressed sections beyond the State borders.
- It would be awarded on Periyar E.V. Ramasamy’s birth anniversary on September 17, which is also being observed as Day of Social Justice by Tamil Nadu.
- Periyar was among the leaders who took part in the movement and went on to earn the title ‘Vaikom Veerar’.
- The government would take steps towards issuing a commemorative stamp to mark the centenary of the satyagraha.
- The memorial for Periyar at Vaikom in Kerala would be renovated at a cost of ₹8.14 crore and efforts would be taken to set up a memorial at Aruvikutti, where Periyar was held in jail for the first time.
- Researcher Pazha Adhiyaman’s book Vaikom Protest in Tamil would be translated into Malayalam. It would also be published in Telugu, Kannada and English.
The Tamil Nadu Tourism Department has been awarded for its outstanding performance in the development of the coastal facade at Kanyakumari.
- The Government of India has given an award to the Tamil Nadu Tourism Department. With a view to promote the tourism sector, the Union Ministry of Tourism is improving the infrastructure facilities of the tourist destinations for this purpose a scheme called ‘Swadesh Darshan’ has also launched.
About Swadesh Darshan:
- Swadesh Darshan is a Central Sector Scheme.
- It was launched in 2014-15 by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India.
- It envisages theme-based tourist circuits in the country. These tourist circuits will be developed on the principles of high tourist value, competitiveness and sustainability in an integrated manner.
Swadesh Darshan 2.0:
- Instead of focusing on theme-based circuits, under this, to attract domestic tourists, the focus is on one destination at a time.
- It is in line with India’s new domestic tourism policy, which emphasizes moving away from theme-based tourist circuits to reviving destination tourism.
- It is a revamped version of the Swadesh Darshan scheme with the mantra of ‘Vocal for local’.
- The Scheme is 100% centrally funded.
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna’
- Tamil Nadu has topped the list in India by opening 3 crore accounts under the Post Office Savings Scheme.
- Tamil Nadu ranks 2nd in the list of states with the highest number of accounts opened under the ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna’ scheme.
About the scheme:
- ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna’ is a small deposit scheme for girl child, launched as a part of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign, which would fetch an attractive interest rate and provide income tax rebate.
- ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Account’ can be opened at any time from the birth of a girl child till she attains the age of 10 years, with a minimum deposit of Rs 250. A maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh can be deposited during a financial year.
- Current annual interest rate -7.6% per annum.
