Puducherry

Another gubernatorial political appointee of the previous UPA regime is on the way out. In a late evening development on Friday, Puducherry Lt. Governor Virendra Kataria was sacked. A Rashtrapathi Bhavan communiqué said President Pranab Mukherjee directed that Mr. Kataria “shall cease to hold office of the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.” Lt. General (Retd.) Ajay Kumar Singh, Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar islands, will be the interim Lt. Governor. Kataria lasted for just a year Mr. Kataria has been at loggerheads with the N. Rangasamy-led government, since he assumed office, after he refused to clear files on matters over which he disagreed with the government. Recently, he faced protests in front of the Raj Nivas by parties, which accused him of running a “parallel government.” He was seen to have made an effective case for his continuance for the full term at his meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh recently. A … [Read more...] about Puducherry Lt. Governor Virendra Kataria sacked

Actor Sivakarthikeyan is gearing up for his next film, SK20. After completing a shooting schedule in Karaikal, the makers are currently shooting for the bilingual film in Pondicherry. Recently, the Remo actor and his team met the Chief Minister of Puducherry, N Rangaswamy, to talk about the shooting tax. According to the reports, Sivakarthikeyan met the Chief Minster on March 24 to discuss the high filming tax in the union territory. Earlier, the tax was a minimal amount of Rs. 5,000 which has now been increased to Rs. 25,000. The pictures from their meeting are making the rounds on social media. As most of the film is likely to be shot in Puducherry, taxation is a concern for the budget of the project. The story of SK20 revolves around the romantic saga of a foreign female tourist and a tourist guide from Pondicherry. It is a bilingual drama directed by popular Tollywood director Anudeep KV, who is known for directing films like Pittagoda and Jathi Ratnalu. The Tamil-Telugu … [Read more...] about Sivakarthikeyan Meets Puducherry CM To Discuss High Shooting Tax in UT

Summer this year is going to be special as Puducherry is all set to organise a four-day beach festival from April 13 to April 16. The beautiful beach territory has found a new way to attract tourists and boost the tourism business in the Union Territory. The department of tourism is organising an array of events at Gandhi Statue Beach promenade, Chunnambar Water Sports Complex, Pondy Marina, and Paradise Beach. The festival is titled ‘I Sea Pondy 2022.’ #Puducherry_Tourism_Festival #13APRto16APR #Puducherry_Tourism_Development #NRCMofPuducherry @ainrc @tourismpondy @pondytourism @tourismgoi @utofpuducherry @RajbhavanAINRC pic.twitter.com/ynjgm90Kqu — K.Lakshminarayanan (@vakillakshmi) April 5, 2022 Puducherry’s Public Works minister K. Lakshminarayanan took to his Twitter account to inform about the beach fest to everyone. In a press conference, he revealed the details of the festival and informed people about the various events that will take place … [Read more...] about The Beauty of Puducherry to be Enhanced During 4-day Beach Festival; Starts on April 13

Going on a cruise is usually at the top of every vacationer’s bucket list, and the news of a luxury liner that will sail from Vizag to Chennai next month has made holiday-goers in the city sit up and take notice. Tour and travel operators in the city are reporting a steady rise in bookings and enquiries for a trip aboard ‘Empress’, to be operated by Cordelia Cruises. The ship will make three round trips between Vizag and Chennai, and will depart from the Visakhapatnam Port on June 8, 15, and 22. The ship will carry up to 1,800 passengers. The cruise will depart from the city on Day 1 and will reach Puducherry on the third day, where tourists will be disembarked and taken for sightseeing till evening. At 7 p.m., they will return to the ship which will resume sailing towards Chennai and reach there the next morning. In the return direction, the two-nights cruise ship will depart from Chennai on Day 1 and will spend Day 2 at sea. It will arrive in Visakhapatnam on the third day. … [Read more...] about Chennai, ahoy! Tourists line up to book cabins on ‘Empress’ cruise ship

Dangerous climb It is three in the morning and the silence is broken by the whisper of a gentle breeze that sets the palmyrah fronds rustling. The darkness is broken by the flash of torchlights. The palm tappers have begun their day. Clothed in just loincloths, with knives in hand to slice off the tip of the inflorescence axis, and a kuduvai (vessel used to gather the sap) fastened to their waist they begin climbing up the trees with headlamps lighting their way. On the crown of the tree hang pots collecting the slowly oozing sap. A tapper changing his pots | Photo Credit: L Balachandar Lured by the nectar are wasps and snakes that make these trees their home. It is indeed a dangerous occupation. And for those getting initiated in the art of climbing these trees, the petioles (grooves on the trunk) can draw blood. As the blush of dawn cloaks the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar, the tappers, with brimming kuduvais, walk back to makeshift sheds where jaggery is made. … [Read more...] about Toddy is banned in Tamil Nadu, but palm jaggery sustains the lives of palmyrah tappers

The Congress brass has begun introspection at a three-day-long ‘Nav Sankalp chintan shivir’ in Udaipur, but even as it sits down to draft its strategy ahead, reports from similar exercises in the past remain tucked away. The latest one was a five-member committee headed by Maharashtra Minister Ashok Chavan, which submitted its report in June last year on the Congress’s defeat in Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, and Puducherry. The report, despite demands from members of the Congress Working Committee, was not tabled at the party’s highest decision-making forum. After the 2014 Lok Sabha debacle, the party had similarly constituted a committee under A.K. Antony to probe the reasons for its defeat. The committee ended up being an exercise to exonerate the Gandhi family while blaming the party’s pro-minority image for the defeat. Reports from these committees constituted in a moment of defeat have rarely seen the light of the day and it remains unclear what recommendations were made or … [Read more...] about News Analysis | As Congress begins ‘chintan shivir,’ reports from past exercises remain tucked away