Disburse pending paddy procurement dues to farmers
The Coordination Committee of All Farmers Associations of Tamil Nadu President P.R. Pandian on Thursday said that the procurement of paddy should be through the direct procurement centres and private agencies should not be involved in procurement.
Speaking at a press meet held in Madurai, Mr. Pandian said that necessary steps should be taken to pay pending paddy procurement dues to farmers. The State government should also address the issues related to crop insurance, he said.
He said that the State should withdraw the Tamil Nadu Land Consolidation (for Special Purposes) Act, 2023. Corporates in the name of development could grab the fertile agricultural lands and the waterbodies. The farmers should be protected and their grievance redressed, he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Govt launches portal for Waqf properties
The Union government on Friday launched the Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development (UMEED) portal, a centralised platform aimed at creating a digital inventory all Waqf properties, with minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju calling it a 'historic' move that would ensure Waqf assets are utilised effectively and fairly for poor Muslims. 'The UMEED portal will add a new chapter in the history of Waqf property management and administration in India. It will not only bring transparency but will also help the common Muslims, particularly women and children,' Rijiju said after launching the portal. He was accompanied by minister of state for minority affairs George Kurian. Calling it a historic step, Rijiju emphasised that the UMEED central portal — developed by the ministry of minority affairs — is more than just a technological upgrade. 'It is a symbol of the government's firm commitment to safeguarding the rights of minority communities and ensuring that community-owned Waqf assets are utilised effectively and fairly, for the poor Muslims, for whom, it was originally meant,' the Union minister said. The central portal, named after the eponymous UMEED Act of 1995, is intended to streamline the management of Waqf properties, ensure real-time data collection, and provide open access to verified information. It also aims to improve greater transparency, accountability, and public participation, officials familiar with the matter said, adding that all Waqf properties across the country are required to be registered on the portal within six months from the date of launch. Rijiju said that all state waqf board representatives, who participated in the portal launch virtually, have been informed to keep the six-month deadline in mind, while pointing out that not adhering to the same would cause additional delays and 'trouble' for the ministry. Registrations will be carried out by the respective state Waqf boards. Properties that remain unregistered beyond the deadline, and extension, if any, will be classified as disputed and referred to the Waqf tribunal, officials said. Ministry of minority affairs secretary Chandra Shekhar Kumar said the UMEED portal will mandate submission of official documents for registering a Waqf property, aiming to prevent the inclusion of 'illegal or encroached' land. For properties lacking such documentation, he added, the mutawalli will be required to approach the waqf tribunal for verification. Notably, the portal also includes a field that asks whether the waqf property is located on government land. 'Since land is a state subject, it will ultimately be up to the state government to confirm or deny whether the land in question is indeed waqf,' Kumar told HT. The portal launch comes in the backdrop of the enactment of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, on April 5 this year. Several petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf Act are pending before the Supreme Court. The development comes a day after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) opposed the launch of the portal in view of the petitions against the Waqf law being pending before the apex court. Rijiju, however, said, 'I hope the court recognises that this is a landmark law, and it has now been enacted. The opposition must accept this fact and cooperate with the government to ensure smooth implementation. As for the Waqf rules, it is a natural process—we are actively working on it.' According to the guidelines, properties must be registered with detailed descriptions including dimensions, ownership documents, and geotagged locations. Properties recorded under the names of women will not be eligible to be declared as Waqf. Ministry secretary Kumar said that women, children, and economically weaker sections will be among the primary beneficiaries of Waqf assets. The portal generates a 17-digit unique identification number for each property. It features dropdown-based structured data input, integration with GIS mapping and e-Governance tools, and an online grievance redressal mechanism. Public users will have access to basic property information. A three-tier user verification process has been instituted. The 'Maker' is a mutawalli or an authorised person of the Waqf Board who will initiate data entry. The 'Checker' is a district-level officer or a designated official to verify the data. The 'Approver' is the CEO or another officer authorised by the State or UT Waqf Board who will grant final approval. All data on the portal will be governed by existing data protection and privacy regulations. A toll-free helpline has been made available for technical assistance and support.
Time of India
6 hours ago
- Time of India
Justice Janarthanam, a quota warrior, is no more
Chennai: Former judge of Madras high court , Justice M S Janarthanam, known for his work on the reservation front and who had studied and recommended a 3% internal reservation for arunthathiyars among the Scheduled Castes, passed away on Friday. He was 89. Justice Janarthanam served in the high court from 1988 to 1998. He was appointed Tamil Nadu Backward Class Commission chairman in 2006 and served in that role until 2015. Chief minister M K Stalin said Justice Janarthanam would be accorded state honours and that he would personally attend the last rites, in recognition of the judge's contribution to social justice. "It was based on his recommendation that reservation was implemented for Muslims, Christians, and arunthathiyars in Tamil Nadu," Stalin said in a condolence message. Justice Janarthanam headed the state commission for backward classes and also was the one-man commission constituted by then chief minister, M Karunanidhi, to study the educational, social, and economic backwardness of the arunthathiyar community, which was part of the Scheduled Caste category. In Aug 2024, a seven-judge bench of Supreme Court, headed by then Chief Justice of India, Justice D Y Chandrachud, upheld the validity of the Tamil Nadu Arunthathiyars Reservation Act, 2009. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Pinga-Pinga e HBP? Tome isso 1x ao dia se tem mais de 40 anos Portal Saúde do Homem Clique aqui Undo The Tamil Nadu govt had passed the Act based on the recommendation of the commission headed by Justice Janarthanam, providing a 3% internal reservation to the arunthathiyar community within the 18% quota provided for the Scheduled Caste in 2008. The Act brought together seven scheduled castes (SCs) — arunthathiyar, chakkiliyar, madari, madiga, pagadai, thoti, and adi andhra — as arunthathiyars for the sake of reservation on a preferential basis. Justice Janarthanam also served as president of the Tamil Nadu State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. "He was a firm but gentle human being. I have been associated with him since he was a registrar in Madras high court before his elevation as a judge of the court. His demise is a loss to the legal fraternity," advocate-general P S Raman said. Describing him as a shining example of the chairman of the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss said Justice Janarthanam recommended a 10.5% reservation for vanniyars. CPM state secretary P Shanmugam said: "The passing of such a figure is a great loss to both the judiciary and democratic movements fighting for social justice." Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Eid wishes , messages , and quotes !
Indian Express
10 hours ago
- Indian Express
US Supreme Court reverses order which provided relief to Government of India in dispute over $1.2 billion award for failed 2005 Devas-Antrix satellite deal
In a setback for the Government of India and Antrix Corporation – a commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) – the US Supreme Court has rolled back a reprieve given in 2023 by a US appeals court in a legal battle over a compensation claim of $1.2 billion by start-up firm Devas Multimedia for a failed satellite deal from the year 2005. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had ruled on August 1, 2023, that Antrix Corp, as an alter ego of India, must have some amount of business in the US to be subjected to the jurisdiction of US courts under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) of the US. The August 2023 order of the appeals court was expected to end efforts by Devas Multimedia to enforce in the United States a $1.2 billion compensation award made by an arbitration tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce on September 14, 2015. The award had been confirmed by the US court for the Western District of Washington on October 27, 2020. The US Supreme Court, in an order dated June 5, following a plea by Devas Multimedia against the August 2023 appeals court order, has ruled that the appeals court had erred in its ruling that a firm must have some minimum business in the US for it to be liable to be sued in US courts. The US Supreme Court, which reserved its orders in the matter on March 3, 2025, has stated in its order on Thursday that US courts have jurisdiction over foreign entities 'when an immunity exception applies and service is proper'. 'The FSIA does not require proof of 'minimum contacts' over and above the contacts already required by the Act's enumerated exceptions to foreign sovereign immunity,' the US Supreme Court has ruled while reversing the 2023 order of the appeals court. The US SC has referred the case back to the Ninth Circuit for fresh consideration of the matter. 'Antrix's alternative arguments – that the Fifth Amendment itself requires a showing of minimum contacts, that the claims at issue do not fall within the FSIA's arbitration exception, and that the suit should be dismissed under forum non conveniens – were not addressed below by the Ninth Circuit. This Court declines to address them in the first instance,' the US SC said in its June 5 order. Earlier during the hearing of the case in the US SC, India had asked the court to respect the comity of nations by upholding the August 2023 order for setting aside the $1.2 billion arbitration award against Antrix Corp. 'India has great interest in ensuring that the set-aside decisions, and the Supreme Court of India decision on which they are based, are afforded comity and due respect from the courts of the United States,' said a written submission made by the Government of India to the US SC, ahead of the commencement of an oral hearing on March 3 by the US SC. When the oral arguments in the dispute over the $1.2 billion arbitration award were allowed by a bench of the US Supreme Court on March 3, the counsel for Antrix argued that the case 'serves as an irritant to the Indian government'. The counsel for Antrix Corp, Carter G Philips, said during the oral arguments that the Antrix-Devas agreement of 2005 – which was cancelled for security reasons during the tenure of the UPA government in 2011 – did not have any US interests or anything 'that remotely affects either interstate or foreign commerce'. The Antrix Corp counsel argued that only courts in India could deal with the matter according to the original agreement and that the Supreme Court of India had already set aside the ICC arbitration award in favour of Devas Multimedia. The acting Solicitor General for the US Department of Justice, Sarah M Harris, who argued as an amicus curiae on behalf of the US investors in Devas Multimedia in the US SC said that the US appeals court had erred in ruling that a foreign entity like Antrix Corp should have some minimum contacts in terms of business in the US to be subject to US courts. She said that the US FSIA says 'when personal jurisdiction over a foreign state shall exist and omits any minimum contacts requirement. That is all this court needs to hold to reverse. The Ninth Circuit's contrary statutory holding disregards that text, and no one, even Respondent, appears to defend it.' Following the filing of the case in the US SC against the appeals court order by Devas Multimedia investors, several business bodies like the US Council for International Business, the Chamber of Commerce of the USA and the American Petroleum Institute supported the stand of the investors in Devas Multimedia – that an enterprise does not require to have business interests in the US for federal courts to confirm international arbitration awards. The Ninth Circuit court's order that a foreign entity must have minimum contact or presence in the US to be liable to suits 'undermines (the US) Congress's goal of creating a uniform body of law concerning the amenability of a foreign sovereign to suit in United States courts,' the foreign investors in Devas Multimedia argued. The August 1, 2023, order of the US appeals court was a major relief for Antrix Corp and the Indian government, which is fighting legal battles all over the world in connection with a 2011 decision of the UPA government to annul a satellite deal with Devas Multimedia. Antrix had argued that 'there is no longer an award to enforce because the Delhi High Court – the court of competent jurisdiction to determine the award's enforceability – set it aside, a decision affirmed by the Indian Supreme Court.' The UPA government annulled the 2005 Devas-Antrix satellite deal in February 2011, citing the requirement of space spectrum allocated for the satellite services of Devas for security needs. The deal was cancelled after it was cited as a 'sweetheart deal' and another instance of corruption under the UPA regime after the 2G scam. Under the failed 2005 Antrix-Devas deal, Isro was supposed to lease two communication satellites for 12 years for Rs 167 crore to Devas Multimedia. The start-up was to provide multimedia services to mobile platforms in India using the space band or S-band transponders on Isro's GSAT 6 and 6A satellites. After the NDA government came to power in 2014, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) began seriously investigating the deal, even as the foreign investors in Devas Multimedia – The German telecom major Deutsche Telekom, three Mauritius investors, and Devas Multimedia itself – approached various international tribunals seeking compensation for the failed deal. Devas Multimedia was awarded $1.2 billion by the International Chamber of Commerce on September 14, 2015. Deutsche Telekom was awarded $101 million in compensation by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Geneva, and the Mauritius investors were awarded $111 million by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in India ordered the liquidation of Devas Multimedia on May 25, 2021, citing fraud in its creation. The NCLT order was upheld by the Supreme Court of India on January 17, 2022.
