Chennai, Feb 3 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Saturday said that 6,939 people of the state were waiting for organ transplantation.

In a statement, he said that 6,266 patients were waiting for kidney transplantation, 400 for liver, 62 for heart, 25 for heart and lung, 27 for hands, two for small bowel,41 for kidney and liver, 42 for kidney and pancreas, two for pancreas and small bowel.

Subramanian also said that the state saw 32 brain dead organ donors since the start of this year, and added that organ donation has also increased in the state.

The minister also said that after Chief Minister M. K. Stalin had on September 23, 2023 announced State honours for funeral of brain dead donors, 4,097 persons have pledged to donate their organs.

The family of a 57-year-old man, who was declared brain dead at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, consented to donate his organs and the minister placed a wreath on his body.

Subramanian also said that government was planning to create more awareness about organ donation in the state and added that film and TV stars and sports personalities will be roped in as brand ambassadors to create awareness in the state on organ donation.

Chennai, Feb 3 (IANS) Chief Minister MK Stalin, who is on a trip to Spain to garner investment, has called upon the DMK cadres to work hard and ensure that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) win from all the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu as well as the one seat in Puducherry.

In a letter to the cadres on Saturday on the occasion of the death anniversary of DMK ideologue and late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu CN Annadurai, Stalin who is also the president of DMK, exhorted the cadres not to rest until the INDIA bloc wins from all the seats of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

The death anniversary of CN Annadurai, fondly addressed as Anna in Tamil Nadu, falls on February 3 (Saturday).

Annadurai has an emotional connect with the DMK cadres as he was the first Chief Minister from the Dravidian party in Tamil Nadu.

Stalin in the letter said, “Go and tell the people about the achievements of the DMK government and how the BJP government at the Centre has betrayed Tamil Nadu.”

He also cautioned the cadres that the BJP and the AIADMK will engage in false propaganda against the party and called upon them not to get diverted by such tactics.

Stalin said, “Let us prove that we don’t fear anything through our field work.”

The Chief Minister also said that the Union Interim Budget had ignored Tamil Nadu and many other states.

He also expressed confidence that the INDIA bloc would form the next government at the Centre and autonomy of states would be safeguarded.

New Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS) Former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani will be conferred the Bharat Ratna, announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. A BJP stalwart, Advani is also the founding member of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

Born on November 8, 1927, 96-year-old Advani served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is the longest serving Minister of Home Affairs serving from 1998 to 2004. He is also the longest serving Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He was the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP during the 2009 general election.

The Prime Minister took to his personal X handle to announce the highest civilian award for LK Advani and informed that he also congratulated the party veteran on being conferred with the nation’s highest civilian honour.

“I am very happy to share that LK Advani will be conferred the Bharat Ratna. I also spoke to him and congratulated him on being conferred this honour..,” PM Narendra Modi tweeted.

Notably, Bharat Ratna is the nation’s highest civilian award, given as a mark of recognition for exceptional & distinguished service.

Showering praises on the towering stature & exemplary leadership of BJP patriarch, PM Modi wrote, “One of the most respected statesmen of our times, his contribution to the development of India is monumental. His is a life that started from working at the grassroots to serving the nation as our Deputy Prime Minister. He distinguished himself as our Home Minister and I&B Minister as well.”

Advani is widely credited as one of the tallest leaders who scripted BJP’s rise from ‘oblivion to prominence’. It was after his Rath Yatra in 1990s that catapulted the saffron party into national politics.

For the unversed, LK Advani is the second BJP stalwart to be conferred with Bharat Ratna. Prior to him, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also honored with Bharat Ratna in 2015.

Patna, Feb 3 (IANS) Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular chief Jitan Ram Manjhi has demanded two ministerial berths in the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar.

“RJD offered me the post of Chief Minister but I refused it. Now, the NDA government is giving us only one berth in the cabinet which is absolutely wrong. I told Union Home Minister Amit Shah and MoS Home Nityanand Rai that our party needed two ministry portfolios,” Manjhi said on Friday.

The former Bihar Chief Minister further expressed displeasure “allotment of ministry portfolio” to independent MLA Sumit Sumit Singh.

“The Bihar government has made an independent MLA a cabinet minister and we also heard that he is getting the department as per his wish, which is absolutely wrong. I am objecting to it,” he said.

Manjhi sought cabinet berth for his party’s state President and MLA Anil Kumar, who belongs to the upper caste community.

“He (Anil Kumar) became MLA for the fourth time and it would be beneficial for our party if he would become the cabinet minister. Our party will become stronger in Magadh region on the social front if he becomes the cabinet minister,” the HAM-S chief said.

At the swearing-in ceremony of the new NDA government, Santosh Manjhi took the oath on January 28.

Reacting to the “delay in the distribution of ministries”, Manjhi said: “I have not seen anything like this in my political career of 44 years that a government was formed but the ministry portfolios were not allotted. The Chief Minister had said on the day of swearing-in ceremony that the cabinet expansion would take place within two to three days but it has not happened till now.”

The HAM-S chief also advocated for the review of liquor prohibition law. He said that his party has a longstanding demand to lift the ban or be implemented on the line of Gujarat.

“A large number of poor people consumed 250 to 300 ml liquor and are serving jail terms due to this law. Hence, we have demanded the liquor law should be implemented on the line of Gujarat,” he said.

Panaji, Feb 3 (IANS) The opposition parties in Goa have sought the resignation of Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude after Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar levelled allegations against him over alleged misappropriation of ‘special grants’.

Tawadkar, a senior BJP leader from the ST community, said that he would not tolerate the indiscipline of the minister “who was behaving without any protocol”.

“I am witnessing such an incident for the first time that a Minister from my government is behaving in an irresponsible manner… is being indisciplined and the one who is not following protocol. I feel sad about this. It should not happen. I will not tolerate it,” Tawadkar said,

According to him, the Art and Culture Department has released funds to families who have formed multiple organisations, and have failed to organise programmes for which the grants were released.

Reacting to the allegations by Tawadkar against his own party minister, opposition has demanded resignation from Gaude and face inquiry.

“Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar’s accusation is severe, action is inevitable. His allegation of a scam in the Art and Culture Ministry, and his accusation of misappropriation of funds by the minister has to be viewed with the utmost seriousness and attention it deserves,” Goa Forward MLA Vijai Sardesai said.

“I stand vindicated as I have raised this issue myself many times before but to no avail. The government must immediately launch a comprehensive and independent investigation into this affair. The minister’s position has become untenable now with such scathing comments from the Assembly’s presiding authority, and I demand that he step down and face the inquiry,” Sardesai said.

Alleging that the Art and Culture Minister is involved in corruption, GPCC President Amit Patkar also demanded his resignation.

“Since last 10 years, time and again we have been telling that the BJP government is corrupt. Today, Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar also alleged that Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude is involved in a scam. He has done misappropriation of the ‘Special Grants’, the same minister is facing allegations of Rs 90 crore corruption in renovation work of Kala Academy. But BJP has failed to take action against him. They are protecting a corrupt minister,” Patkar said.

“This may be the first case wherein the Speaker has exposed a member of his own party involved in corruption,” he said.