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COIMBATORE: The district has seen an increasing number of child marriages during the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown to contain the contagion. As per the data available with the social welfare department, 21 minor girls were married off so far this year, compared to just three in 2020.
A social welfare department official said they were notified about 62 child marriages till date this year and had stopped 41 of them. In the case of the 21 marriages that were consummated, first information reports have been registered in 13 cases under relevant sections of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, while the remaining eight cases are under investigation.
About 36 women migrant workers employed in various garment companies in Tiruppur district boarded the train to their hometown in Jharkhand after railway authorities from Salem Division attached an add
More than 60% of the complainants had sought the intervention of the court to resolve the issue.
While 374 complaints were registered in 2020 in the district, 183 complaints were filed in 2017.
Of the 374 complaints, 111 complaints were received during the lockdown period between March and September and the number is 30% higher than the number of complaints received in 2019, said an official from the social welfare department. More than 10 complaints were registered this month alone.
Domestic violence complaints are registered directly with the social welfare department, women helpline number (181), in courts and through counsellors.
The official said, “Financial and mental distress caused during the lockdown period is considered as the main reasons for increase in complaints this year. Of the complaints registered during the pandemic period, all the cases except one were resolved through counselling sessions.”
While Pappammal has won the award for agriculture, Subramanian won the award for trade and industry.
Subramanian founded the trust Shanthi Social Services. Through the trust, he provides multiple high-quality services including medicines, petrol, scans, dialysis treatment, cremation, ambulance services and food at subsidized costs. This made lakhs of people who could not afford basic needs like food, healthcare and education access the above through the trust. The trust does not accept any donation.
However, the government has decided to honour him for his work in establishing Shanthi Gears from scratch and turned the company into a third largest player in gear industry. Known as the ‘Gear Man’ of Coimbatore, Subramanian completed his diploma in PSG Polytechnic in the 1960s and taught for a few years in the college, before establishing Shanthi Engineering and Trading Co in 1969. The company was manufacturing small gears. In 1972, he converted it into a private company called