“Vanakkam Gen Z”. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay gave a special shoutout to Gen Z in his maiden Independence Day address, greeting them with a “Vanakkam”.
“To all my Tamil relatives across the world, Gen Z friends, my Vanakkam to all”, said Vijay as he delivered his address from the Fort St George premises in the state Capital Chennai.
Vijay’s parents — SA Chandrasekhar and Shoba Chandrasekhar — along with actress Trisha were seated in the front row ahead of Vijay’s flag-hoisting ceremony.
Vijay assured cooperation to the Union government on administrative matters and asserted that, however, his government will always oppose policies going against the state’s rights.
The chief minister said eliminating corruption is equivalent to freedom and his government is working towards that goal.
“Government’s revenue going to private individual has been prevented and continuous action is being taken to eliminate graft in all departments,” he said and underlined a transparent, good governance under his watch.
Without making any specific reference, he said forces working against his government will be defeated and conspiracies against his regime will also be thwarted.
Speaking about welfare schemes that were initiated by the previous governments in the state, he said: “We are continuing the old schemes of past governments that were useful for people. Some include Amma Unavagam (Amma canteens) by the AIADMK, Breakfast scheme for school children (DMK)”.
On September 15, marking the birth anniversary of Dravidian icon CN Annadurai, the gold ring gift scheme (Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram Thittam) for new-borns in state-run hospitals will be launched at a cost of Rs 755.83 crore, he said at the event.
“I once again extend my respectful greetings and salute the people of Tamil Nadu who have broken the caste and religious considerations rejecting money and muscle power and gave us an overwhelming support to establish people-centric and social justice government. We are on mission mode to achieve a corruption free government. We want our people to develop zero tolerance towards corruption,” he said.
The financial assistance provided for the wedding of daughters (upto two daughters are eligible to receive the assistance) of ex-servicemen will be increased to Rs 50,000 from Rs 25,000, he announced.
Monthly assistance for differently-abled ex-servicemen and their families will be increased to Rs 7,000 from Rs 5,000.
Pension for freedom fighters will be increased to Rs 23,000 and family pension for their dependents will be increased to Rs 12,500, he further announced.
