Minister: 500 ‘Kalaignar Unavagams’ soon
The Hindu
100% assistance from Centre sought
The Tamil Nadu Government has proposed to open 500 more community kitchens, called ‘Kalaignar Unavagams’, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies R. Sakkarapani said in New Delhi on Thursday. He urged the Union Government to provide 100% assistance under the National Food Security Act, 2013, to extend the community kitchen scheme to all those in need.
Speaking at a meeting of State Food Ministers in the national capital, he said the State Government was running 650 community kitchens called ‘Amma Unavagams’, through the local bodies, throughout the State, providing hygienic food at subsidised prices.
Between June 1 and November 18 this year, over 2.15 crore people benefitted from the kitchens, he said. Over 30,000 migrant labourers also benefitted during the period. “During the lockdown, and at the time of natural calamities, free food was served,” he said. Approximately, ₹3.5 lakh is spent per kitchen in a month, he said.
Hampi, the UNESCO-recognised historical site, was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire from 1336 to 1565. Foreign travellers from Persia, Europe and other parts of the world have chronicled the wealth of the place and the unique cultural mores of this kingdom built on the banks of the Tungabhadra river. There are fine descriptions to be found of its temples, farms, markets and trading links, remnants of which one can see in the ruins now. The Literature, architecture of this era continue inspire awe.
Unfurling the zine handed to us at the start of the walk, we use brightly-coloured markers to draw squiggly cables across the page, starting from a sepia-toned vintage photograph of the telegraph office. Iz, who goes by the pronouns they/them, explains, “This building is still standing, though it shut down in 2013,” they say, pointing out that telegraphy, which started in Bengaluru in 1854, was an instrument of colonial power and control. “The British colonised lands via telegraph cables, something known as the All Red Line.”