The Dravidian movement that promotes a caste less society and other rationalist ideologies has completed 50 years of its existence in Tamil Nadu.
It was on February 23, 1967, that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party led by its founder C N Annadurai won 138 seats of the 173 seats it contested in the Assembly elections besides bagging 25 Lok Sabha seats in Parliament.
It was for the first time since Indian independence in 1947, that the DMK was able to displace the Congress party in Tamil Nadu. Since then, the Dravidian parties DMK, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and others have followed the same agenda. Their popularity soared because most of their leaders were former film stars, Tamil litterateurs and public personalities covering C N Annadurai, Kamaraj, E V R Periyar, M G Ramachandran, M Karunanidhi, Jayaram Jayalalithaa and others. They also collaborated with the Communist parties and the Congress and successfully kept out political parties with communal ideologies from ruling Tamil Nadu. 

Film director Das dies at 103
Veteran South Indian filmmaker Antony Mitra Das has died in Chennai. He was 103. Das is survived by his daughter. Das’ works include Tamil, Malayalam and Sinhalese films. Born in Madurai in a family of doctors, Das graduated in statistics from the American College and joined a private film institute in Calcutta, West Bengal. There he met noted film director Ellis R Duncan, who advised him to join T R Sundaram’s Modern Theatres Studio in Salem, Tamil Nadu. Das directed his debut film Dayalan with veteran actors P U Chinnapa and T R Mahalingam in 1941. His other films included Baalyasakhi, Avakasi and Pizhaikum Vazhi. He is also credited with dubbing India’s first film, Raja Harishchandra, into Tamil and Malayalam. He remained connected with films until his death. Film personalities and fans paid tributes.

Three die after fall from train
Three youths died and four others were injured after they fell off a crowded suburban train at Pazhavanthangal near Chennai. The seven had been travelling on the footboard of the Chengalpet-Chennai Beach train. Witnesses said that Manikandan, a 22-year-old air condition technician, fell when his hand hit an electric post. He grabbed at Praveen Raj and Samuel Jebasingh who also fell on the tracks along with him and died. Others who so fell along with the trio sustained injuries. Railway police have ordered a probe into the incident.

Couple held for child’s murder
A 35-year-old woman and her father have been arrested for the murder of a three-year-old girl living near their residence at Tiruvottiyur in suburban Chennai. Revathy, the woman, reportedly lured the child to her flat to play with her children. However once the child entered her home, she smothered the child and removed her silver anklets. Revathy and her father then bundled the body and disposed of it at the Tiruvottiyur dump yard. Later they pawned the anklets. Meanwhile the girl’s labourer parents filed a missing complaint with the local police who arrested Revathy after finding her answers evasive during questioning.
The incident sparked outrage as a fortnight earlier a 25-year-old youth was caught for molesting and killing a seven-year-old girl at Mangadu, another suburb of Chennai.