PDS workers want ration shops under single department
As the ration shops were administered by different departments such as Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection and Revenue, any plea from the workers was not reaching the officials concerned, said D. Chelladurai, State deputy president, TNGFSEU.
'If only one department administers the shops, our basic demands such as decent pay and enhanced facilities could be represented through a single window. In the current situation, due to several roadblocks in accessing the department concerned, many of our demands are not even taken into consideration by the government,' he added.
The protestors also demanded equal pay for all workers of ration shops.
While Tamil Nadu Civil Service Corporation (TNCSC) runs about 3,500 ration shops, the Co-operative Department runs close to 32,000 shops, the eligibility criteria for workers of the ration shops is grade 12. In this situation, the workers falling under TNCSC were paid about ₹40,000 per month, and those under the Co-operative Department only about ₹20,000, he said.
Condemning the difference in pay as discriminatory, he said everyone should be brought under the same pay scale.
Another demand was to link the TNCSC warehouses measuring device with the ration shops billing system. By bringing them together through a system, the discrepancies in difference of stock in the warehouses and shops could be resolved.
Also, the Point of Sale (POS) machines used at ration shops to record the fingerprints of the consumer, due to high accuracy, were rejecting users with even a slight deviation of fingerprints, Mr. Chelladurai said.
'For many people, their fingerprints could fade away due nature of their work. So, in such cases, high accuracy machines could reject their fingerprints. As this has increased in recent days, the workers face delays in processing the bills and selling the products,' he further said.
When the accuracy level was reduced to about 40%, with the linkage of Aadhar card to the system, the users could be identified with whatever fingerprints they had, he added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
ADQ-Sheikh Tahnoon vehicle eyes $200 mn stake in Aadhar Housing Finance
An investment vehicle backed by Abu Dhabi's ADQ, linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, is in advanced talks to acquire a 10-12% stake in Aadhar Housing Finance from Blackstone for $200-225 million. This follows Blackstone's near $2 billion capital commitment via a continuation vehicle. The deal highlights strong investor confidence in India's affordable housing sector and Aadhar's growth potential. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Mumbai: An investment vehicle backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign investor ADQ and partly owned by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan is in advanced discussions to buy a minority stake in Blackstone-backed Aadhar Housing Finance , said people in the know. Sheikh Tahnoon is the United Arab Emirates national security adviser as well as ADQ $200-225 million investment (Rs 1,750-2,000 crore) will be made through the secondary sale of shares for a 10-12% stake in the affordable housing finance company, which held an IPO in 2024. A formal announcement is expected in the coming weeks, said the people mentioned cited will follow a larger, near $2 billion (Rs 17,335 crore) capital commitment, by Blackstone along with two of its sponsors or limited partners (LPs). This will be through the transfer of most of Blackstone's existing three-fourths shareholding into a new 'continuation' vehicle, similar to what it did in Mphasis in declined to comment about the identity of the new investor or any other details. ADQ //didn't respond to the weekend, the company made a public disclosure that Blackstone funds BCP Asia II Holdco VII Pte, Blackstone Capital Partners (CYM) IX and Blackstone Capital Partners (CYM) IX AIV-FLP have made an open offer to buy 113.5 million Aadhar shares, translating to astake, from public shareholders as per regulations at Rs 469.97 open offer was triggered as Blackstone is flipping a majority share (about 64%) of its shareholding from one set of funds to two new funds of the firm at Rs 425 apiece, to ensure continuity. The value of this secondary transaction is Rs 12,000 crore ($1.4 billion). If the open offer is fully subscribed, Blackstone will pay a further Rs 5,335 crore ($620 million) in Financial is helping with the open offer. Blackstone may have to sell some stock to comply with the ceiling of 75% non-public shareholding, if the offer is fully stake sale to the new Abu Dhabi vehicle is also expected to be at a similar Friday, Aadhar closed at Rs 496.90 for a market value of Rs 21,469.03 crore. In the past month, it has appreciated 12.11% in anticipation of a transaction. Year to date it is up 18.63% on the back of a robust performance. The company reported a 19% increase in net profit to Rs 237 crore in the first quarter ended funds, in which a private equity group sells assets from one of the funds they manage to a newer one also managed by the firm, are widely prevalent in the west. It's catching on in India with Chrys Capital and Multiples launching similar structures for some of their investments such as National Stock Exchange (NSE), Vastu Housing Finance, Quantiphi and APAC Financial to investment bank Jefferies, buyout groups have used this strategy, regarded as controversial by some analysts, to exit $ 41 billion of investments in the first six months of 2025. Such transactions hit a record 19% of all sales by the industry for the period, up 60% from a year developed markets, funds have been struggling to find external buyers or list holdings and return capital to investors. In growth markets like India, they argue that companies like Aadhar have a significant growth runway left for a fund to stay invested and ride the upside. Typically, a fund with a 10-year lifespan will have a three-to-five-year investment the IPO, even though several strategic financial groups or funds approached Blackstone to either partially or fully exit Aadhar, a transaction could not be concluded due to valuation mismatches, said people with knowledge of the matter.'Blackstone has been a committed partner to Aadhar since 2019, playing a key role over the past six years in strengthening its position as India's largest affordable housing finance company. That is what made it do an Mphasis with Aadhar too,' said an executive in the know. 'The fundamentals of the affordable housing segment remain strong giving it the confidence to stay invested and even rope in new, high-profile investors.'The industry is likely to see a five-year CAGR of 17-18%.The management and the board will stay in place. Under Blackstone's six-year ownership, Aadhar's AUM has ballooned to $3 billion, 1.2x that of its nearest than ADQ, Abu Dhabi has several sovereign investment funds, including ADIA, Mubadala and AI-focused MGX. The oil-rich emirate has been keen on betting large sums to back new vehicles as it positions itself as a hub of global capital. For example, in 2024, ADQ and Chimera Investment--part of the sprawling business empire of Sheikh Tahnoon–launched Lunate, which has emerged as one of the hottest new asset managers of the region, which has invested in close to 30 deals in one year. Lunate also owns Alterra, a $30 billion climate fund, with international groups BlackRock, TPG and Brookfield. ADQ has committed $6.5 billion to Alterra. Lunate includes Alterra in its assets under management.
The Hindu
9 hours ago
- The Hindu
Muslim hawker assaulted in Meerut; attempt to create fear, says opposition
After a Muslim cloth peddler was brutally assaulted at Fatehpur Narayan village, under Kithor police station limits, in Meerut district, opposition parties alleged on Sunday that the incident was a targeted attack designed to create fear. While villagers and police claimed Arif was mistaken for a thief, the victim's wife alleged that they were being forced to modify the complaint by the police. 'We have submitted a petition; the case is yet to be registered. My husband, who was selling clothes, was beaten, and now we are being pressured to change the petition by the Sub-Inspector,' said Tausima, the victim's wife, in a viral video. The Hindu reached out to the Meerut police, including the Circle Officer, but failed to get any response. Mob attack The incident happened on July 26. The victim, along with one companion, was selling clothes in the village when 10-15 people gathered and began calling him a thief, demanded his Aadhar card, and proceeded to beat him up. He was taken to Meerut Medical College for treatment. 'This incident shows that there is a complete breakdown of law and order in the state. No one has the right to take the law into their hands; some people emboldened by the dispensation are attempting to create a Jangal Raj kind of situation in U.P.; it is a lynching attempt that aims to create fear,' said Imran Masood, Lok Sabha MP and a senior Congress leader. Lok Sabha MP from Ghazipur, Afzal Ansari, said, 'I condemn this incident, it is clear that the accused have no fear of the administration and rule of law. They know no proper action will be taken, and this encourages them to attack poor Muslims.'
The Hindu
13 hours ago
- The Hindu
LDF, UDF condemn arrest of two Keralite nuns on ‘trumped-up' charge of forced conversion in Chhattisgarh
The arrest of two Keralite nuns on charges of human trafficking and kidnapping for forced religious conversion at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh on Friday has drawn sharp criticism from Church leaders and also the ruling front and the Opposition in Kerala. Fr. Robin Rodrigues, a spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), told reporters in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, on Sunday that the nuns were travelling with three other women, aged between 18 and 19, from Durg to Agra when persons suspected to be Bajrang Dal workers accosted them angrily. He said they accused the nuns, Sister Vandana Francis, from the Udayagiri parish at Thalassery in Kannur, and Sister Preeta Mary from the Elavoor parish at Angamaly in Ernakulam, of taking women to Agra to convert them to Christianity and offering them money, food, and accommodation as inducements. Both are attached to the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI) order. CBCI Women's Council secretary Asha Paul said the women were travelling with the sisters on their own volition. They had consent letters from their parents and identity proof, including Aadhar, and railway tickets. Judicial remand Sister Asha alleged that the police refused to hear the nuns' entreaties to contact the parents of the women and record their statements before initiating prosecution. Instead, the officers brazenly sided with the suspected Bajrang Dal activists and arrested the nuns on non-bailable charges. She said the sisters were currently in judicial remand at a Durg prison and a court will hear their bail plea on Monday. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, MP, said the arrest of the nuns on 'trumped up' charges was the latest incident in the long series of persecution of minorities in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States in north India, chiefly Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. Mr. Venugopal told reporters in New Delhi that he has conveyed Congress's strong protest to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Union Home Minister Amit Shah against the high-handedness of the State police. PM's intervention sought Left Democratic Front (LDF) leader and chairperson of the Kerala Congress (M) Jose K. Mani, MP, posted on social media that he has sought the urgent intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop mob attacks against Christians and Church leaders in BJP-ruled States. Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan depicted the BJP as a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'. He said the BJP made a show of visiting Church leaders, Christian households, and bishops to woo the community to its fold. At the same time, the BJP unleashed the Sangh Parivar forces against Christians in States where it held power.
