Amma of all sops: Free phones, 50% off on scooters

May 6, 2016

Chennai, May 6: AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa on Thursday unveiled her party manifesto for the May 16 assembly elections, promising freebies such as mobile phones to all 1.92 crore ration card holders, 50% subsidy on scooters for working women, 100 units of free power and free Wi-Fi at public places."I have fulfilled all the promises made in the last election. This time I'll do more than you can imagine (if returned to office)," she said in Perunthurai in Tamil Nadu's Erode district. In 2011, she had a similar manifesto, outdoing her rivals in the last leg of the campaign. The promises are largely meant for first-time voters and women who form her core constituency.

After the last election, she had distributed free laptops to class 11and 12 students. Now they have been promised free internet connectivity.The `Amma bonanza' comes at a stage in the campaign when the DMK was seen to be gaining ground.

DMK's Karunanidhi had announced tablets for 16 lakh school students and smartphones for the poor.He had also promised power subsidies, lower milk prices and a waiver on educational and farm loans. Jayalalithaa has incorporated most of these, and gone a few steps ahead.

Highlights of the AIADMK manifesto, released on Thursday, include a complete waiver of all farm loans, Rs 40,000-crore loans for farmers from 2016-21, no FDI in retail, free laptops with internet for Class 10th and 12th students, free set top boxes to all Arasu cable TV subscribers, and up to 100 units of electricity free of cost to consumers, which will exempt 78 lakh domestic consumers from paying electricity bill. The poor have been promised an Amma banking card to avail of all government services while a Rs 50-crore Amma Venture Capital fund will be set up for first generation entrepreneurs. The manifesto also talks of breakfast for primary schoolchildren. PMK member Anbumani madoss, who has positio Ramadoss, who has positioned himself as an alternative to the two veterans, said, "The government has increased the financial burden on the state. This will go further up."

The TN poll debate is gradually veering away from personality cults to the themes of development and corruption, especially in urban areas.

Both AIADMK and DMK have focussed on jobs, infrastructure, start-ups, industry and investments. DMK's leader-in-waiting M K Stalin agreed that jobs mattered more to young voters than freebies.For the first time, both parties have promised an anti-corruption ombudsman.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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