Chennai - Sandesh

VALUE ADDED FRUIT DELICACY FOR KIDS IN TAMILNADU GOVT PRIMARY SCHOOLS 

The banana fig (Ficus pleurocarpa) is made out of Karpooravalli variety of banana dipped in honey specially procured from Kolli hills near Salem. The Tamil Nadu government has given its consent to supply dry banana fig as part of the noon meal scheme for children in the government schools across the state, officials said, particularly in schools where consumption of egg was taboo. At present, kids who are not accustomed to take eggs are provided with a banana weighing 100 grams. Fig is made through a dry process from a machinery that has been imported from Thailand. Nutritious meal programme was launched in Rural areas in 1982 and was extended to Urban Areas later in the year. Every day hot cooked meal containing Rice, Dhal, Oil and Vegetables is provided to the children in the age group of 2 to 5+ years in Anganwadi centres. The noble objective of the scheme is to increase the literacy rate and eradicate the malnutrition.

WHERE CSI IS THE ANTI DEVELOPMENT SQUATTER HURTING HINDU SENTIMENTS 

Hundreds of members of Sri Mariamman Temple Land Retrieval Committee were taken into custody on March 31 Thursday from a busy city road junction following a ‘satyagraha’ they organised demanding permission for ritualistic preparation of Pongal in a government poromboke land presently under disputed possession of Church of South India (CSI) administration. The annual grand Mariamman festival that draws devotees in lakhs to Erode is due to take place in April. The land area measuring 12.66 acres was officially declared as ‘poromboke’ by the Settlement Tahsildar in 2012 after a united and stiff struggle by Hindus led by the Committee. Retrieval of the land will enable conduct of temple festivities thereby preventing the congestion along the Brough Road. Also, the long-pending 80-feet road linking Brough Road with Erode Railway Station could be constructed. The land will also be utilised for conduct of a modern police office complex and a vertical shopping complex with car parking that could generate revenue for the corporation, president of Federation of All Trade and Industries Association (FATIA) N. Sivanesan said.

KING 'REBEL' MUTHURAMALINGA SETHUPATHY REMEMBERED

King 'Rebel' Muthuramalinga Sethupathy, whose descendents financed Swami Vivekananda’s visit to Chicago to address the conference of all religions was honoured on his birth anniversary in Ramanathapuram on March 31. District Collector S. Natarajan garlanded a life-size bronze statue of the king, installed at the entrance of the Collectorate complex, and paid his tributes at a function organised by the Department of Information and Public Relations. Born in 1760, Sethupathy was crowned the King of Ramnad when he was 72 days old and his mother became the regent. The Nawab of Arcot, joining hands with the British, attacked his kingdom in 1772 and captured him when he was just 12 with his mother and sisters. They were released 10 years later following revolts and upsurge. The British once again attacked his palace in 1795 and this time he was lodged in Fort St George in Chennai where he died in 1809. The king earned fame after he built the third corridor of the famous Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram island. Muthuramalinga Sethupathy was a freedom fighter lodged in Chennai's Fort St. George from 1795 AD to till his death in 1809. Hence, it would be apt to rename Fort St. George (The present chief secretariat) after him.