Tamil Nadu

Sports Infrastructure & Cash Incentives (SDAT)

Felicitation of Asian Games & Chess Olympiad Medallists:
- Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay felicitated state medallists from the Asian Games and the Samarkand Chess Olympiad at an event organized by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT).
- Enhanced Cash Incentives: State rewards were increased to ₹75 lakh for Gold (up from ₹50 lakh), ₹50 lakh for Silver (up from ₹30 lakh), and ₹30 lakh for Bronze (up from ₹20 lakh). Team Silver and Bronze winners received ₹15 lakh and ₹10 lakh per player respectively.
- Infrastructure Expansion: Minister for Public Works and Sports Development Aadhav Arjuna announced plans to set up air-conditioned sports hostels across all 38 districts, specialized sports facilities for physically challenged athletes, and dedicated sports competitions for transgender athletes.

Key Decisions of the 57th GST Council Meeting:
- Chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the council approved significant compliance reforms targeting implementation from April 1, 2027.
- Removal of Arrest Powers: Arrest powers of GST officers were removed for minor offenses, and the threshold for criminal prosecution was raised from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore. General penalties were reduced from ₹25,000 to ₹10,000.
- Interstate Transit Regulations: Goods in transit can now be inspected, detained, or seized only by officers of the supplier or destination State (not transit States), requiring specific intelligence and Joint Commissioner-level authorization.
- Faceless Assessment: Announced a faceless assessment system for Central GST alongside restricting GST rate adjustments to an annual review cycle.

Supreme Court Directives on Women’s Safety:
- A Supreme Court Bench (Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran) issued binding orders to the NCT of Delhi following suo motu proceedings on public safety.
- Mandated 24/7 beat patrolling around educational institutions, strict background verification for public transport and app-cab drivers (Ola, Uber, Rapido), and setting up control room war rooms.
- Invoked the “Broken Windows Theory” of policing, noting that unaddressed minor administrative defects (such as broken streetlights and non-functional CCTVs) foster an environment conducive to serious crime.

US Permanent Labor Certification Restrictions:
- The US Labour Department suspended major IT firms (including Microsoft, Adobe, Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, and Capgemini) from filing new permanent labour certifications (green card sponsorship) citing fraud investigations and domestic hiring priorities.

2026 Nobel Prize in Literature:
- Awarded to Canadian poet, essayist, and translator Anne Carson (76) for her genre-blending works fusing classical Greek literature with modern forms. Her notable books include Eros the Bittersweet, Autobiography of Red, and Men in the Off Hours.