Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 1218

NCTP member Gopi Shankar alleges DMK govt of protecting officer accused of harassment as Min of Social Justice seeks action taken report

By
The Commune
-

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has sought an ‘action taken report’ from the DGP of Tamil Nadu on the harassment and abuse meted out to trans-activist Gopi Shankar Madurai who is the southern representative at the National Council for Transgender Persons (NCTP) by the Chengalpattu district administration.

Chengalpattu Collector Rahul Nadh IAS allegedly harassed the southern representative of the National Council for Transgender Persons, Gopi Shankar Madurai by initiating action against him and other fellow members of his community while they had gathered at a place to discuss the problems faced by the trans community. They were reportedly verbally abused and physically harassed by the Mahabalipuram police inspector and RI who later sealed the place of the fishermen community. The Chengalpattu District Administration had later filed cases against Gopi and the person who was sheltering him.

In this light, NCTP south representative Gopi had sought intervention from various government departments to initiate action against the Revenue Officer James, VAO Venkatesh Rajesh, and Dist Collector Rahul Nadh IAS.

However, Gopi has claimed that the DMK government is abusing its power and protecting the wrongdoers.

Earlier, the Intersex Asia, a Taiwan based human rights body has condemned the harassment meted out to Gopi and the trans community.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

 

Anti-India propaganda outlet NYT that published op-ed of Taliban terrorist wants PM Modi’s help to evacuate its journalists in Kabul

By
The Commune
-

The New York Times newspaper that once ran an op-ed written by the Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani has reportedly sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help with the evacuation of its journalists from Kabul in Afghanistan.

This request comes at a time when the Islamic terror outfit has rapidly seized territories in Afghanistan after the US announced the withdrawal of its troops after twenty years that has all the potential for a full-scale civil war.

It must be noted that the Taliban had earlier brutally murdered and mutilated the body of Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who was working with Reuters, after ascertaining his identity and nationality.

Now the New York Times that had justified the publication of an op-ed authored by Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, has now sought India’s help in securing the evacuation of its journalists from Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, which according to the US intelligence will soon fall into the hands of the Taliban terrorists.

However, it is very ironic that the liberals in the US had critised the NYT when it published an op-ed written by Senator Tom Cotton who is also a veteran of its armed forces but chose stone-cold silence over the Haqqani op-ed.

Indian journalist Aditya Raj Kaul in a tweet said, “The New York Times that publishes a Sirajuddin Haqqani Op-ed, the same New York Times that consistently badmouths Modi’s India, now turns to Modi’s India with a request to facilitate the evacuation of its journalists from Kabul. All the irony that’s fit to print,”.

In February 2020 the New York Times published an opinion article titled “What We, The Taliban, Want”, in which Haqqani had said that after the withdrawal of US troops, the Islamic terror outfit wants to “build an Islamic system” in Afghanistan.

Sirajuddin Haqqani is also the leader of the Haqqani network that is responsible for the death of many US and NATO soldiers in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Scotland will allow children as young as four to determine their gender at school without parental consent

By
The Commune
-

Under guidance introduced in Scotland, Children as young as four in primary schools will not have the power to determine their gender at school without the consent of their parents because children who are only four or five have the ability to “recognise and development of gender identity can occur at a young age”, reports dailymail.

Now any pupil as young as four who are in kindergarten can decide if they want to switch gender and it must be supported and listened to in school following the Scottish Government’s advice.

The new guidelines also give explicit instructions to teachers not to question a child who says they want to transition to be known as a boy or a girl and must ask for their new name and pronouns. However, it is questionable if children as young as four or five have the faculty to understand what are pronouns.

The Scottish government has also given guidelines to Primary and secondary schools to put books featuring transgender people on the curriculum and allow pupils to choose which changing room or toilets they prefer to use and is also considering introducing a gender-neutral uniform.

However, not everyone is happy with this new decision that allows children as young as four to determine their gender and has branded these new guidelines introduced by the Scottish government as “shocking”.

The advice says, “Some young people are exploring their gender identity in primary school settings. Primary schools need to be able to meet the needs of these young people to ensure they have a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment in which to learn,”.

A section on, “changing name and recorded sex’ says children simply need to tell others informally that they want to use a different name, and that they don’t need to record this formally on their official school record. Advice to school staff on what to do if a child wants to discuss their gender includes asking ‘what name and pronoun you should use to address them,”.

According to Marion Calder, director of the For Women Scotland campaign group who said, ‘To be transgender you have to have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. What are they thinking? Parents will be very concerned to be reading this document.’

But Scottish education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said, “This guidance outlines how schools can support transgender young people while ensuring that the rights of all pupils are fully respected and the new guidelines provide schools with practical suggestions. The guidance is not prescriptive and does not promote transitioning,”.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

DMK supporter and Christian pastor gang rapes married woman and records act, arrested

By
The Commune
-

The Tamil Nadu police have booked Christian priest Arumanai Stephen who is the secretary of Arumanai Christian Association (ACA) for allegedly gang-raping a married woman and also making a recording of this barbaric act.

When the alleged gang rape took place, seven other men joined Pastor Arumanai Stephen. At present, Pastor Stephen is already arrested for organising an event in the Kanyakumari district in which controversial Catholic priest George Ponnaiah made a hate speech against Hindus and abused Hindu deities.

However, Pastor Stephen is now in even more trouble after a 36-year-old woman from Veeyannoor of Thiruvattar district in Tamil Nadu registered a complaint and accused him of not only gang-raping her but also recording the act.

The victim has accused Arumana Stephen and seven others of spiking her drink and when she lost all consciousness, they gang-raped her, and the pastor and his friends then filmed the act and the rape according to the victim took place inside a farmhouse.

However, what is disturbing is that the victim had filed a complaint in April with the police, but no action was taken due to pastor Stephen’s close relationship with the ruling DMK.

The police have now booked Stephen, DMK functionary John Bright, Henslin, Callister Jebaraj, and other accused under IPC sections for unlawful confinement, stealing, sexual abuse, issuing death threats, etc. However, one accused Jefferson ended his life fearing police action.

The police only sprung into action after Stephen was arrested in the hate speech case, along with Catholic priest George Ponnaiah, and that led to the victim file another online complaint against Stephen seeking justice.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Kerala HC: Cardinal Alencherry and his associates must face trial in alleged land scam

By
The Commune
-

The senior-most leader of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church Cardinal Mar George Alencherry suffered a massive setback when the  Kerala High Court said on Thursday (12 August) asked him and a few others to stand trial in an alleged land scam, reports The Week.

This ruling comes in the wake of a massive financial scandal that also rocked the Mecca of Christendom, the Vatican where authorities unearthed hundreds of millions of financial misdealings by senior Vatican officials.

The apex court in Kerala also rejected all the six petitions submitted by Alencherry challenging the ruling by the lower court.

Before the case moved to the High Court, the lower court had passed the verdict asking Alencherry and others involved in the land deal to face trial and after this setback, the influential Alencherry approached the High Court seeking to quash the lower court verdict.

But what is most troubling for the Church is that these allegations have driven a wedge between the priests and the laity as a section of the people demanded that the Cardinal should step down from the post, as the issue had hurt the Church and even petitioned Pope Francis in this regard.

Recently, Mercy Senthil Kumar, the daughter-in-law of DMK minister I Periyasamy and wife of DMK MLA I.P. Senthil Kumar, has urged that a law be enacted requiring the Vatican Pope’s approval to arrest Christian pastors and sisters around the world.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

DMK gets caught in its own web of lies: Opposed electricity metering when in opposition, bats for metering now

By
The Commune
-

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan who released a ‘white paper’ on the states’ finance had said that the financial condition of transport and electricity sectors are in shambles. He had said that it cannot be business as usual in these sectors and reforms have to be done. For rationalizing subsidies, Palanivel Thiagarajan had said that it was important to bring all consumers including farmers under the purview of the state through metering so that the government knows whether the subsidy is going to those who actually need it.

It is to be noted that the Central Government had been nudging states like Tamil Nadu to rationalize power subsidies given to farmers and undertake serious reforms to improve the finances of the electricity generation and distribution companies (TANGEDCO for Tamil Nadu). The government had said that metering of all connections it needed to curb power theft. However, back then, the DMK which was in opposition had strongly opposed bringing farmers under metering. It had peddled lies that metering would lead to farmers paying electricity bills who have been enjoying free power.

But not that the DMK is in power, its Finance Minister is strongly batting for bringing farmers under metering. In an interview to a Tamil news channel, he said that those who are benefitting out of the present broken system are the ones who are peddling lies that metering would lead to farmers getting charged. He said that only when the connection is metered, farmers would get free electricity and added that only when the connection is metered the government would know where the power is going and whether the free power is being used by the right beneficiaries.

When the anchor points out that metering was strongly opposed by the DMK before, Palanivel Thiagarajan said that  this is his stance today which need not be necessarily his party’s stance. He added that ‘information is poor man’s friend and not enemy’.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Anti-democratic and violent behaviour of opposition during the Parliament sessions scripts a dark chapter in the history of Indian democracy

By
The Commune
-

Deplorable actions by opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) have become a norm. Their actions in this session were not an exception but a continuation. From tearing of the rule book last year to the opposition indulging in most unparliamentary conducts ever witnessed by this House, the conduct of opposition is becoming shameful day by day. This was said in a press conference today in New Delhi. The press conference was attended by Union Ministers Shri Piyush Goyal, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Shri Prahlad Joshi, Shri Bhupendra Yadav, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal and Shri V Muraleedharan.

The Ministers pointed out that opposition had publicly stated that the session should be washed out. Their intention was to not let the house conduct business. Infact, the Government had offered discussions on several occasions. However, appeals for discussions fell on deaf ears and they even took papers from the hands of the Hon’ble Minister and tore them. Even the Hon’ble Prime Minister was not allowed to introduce the Newly sworn In Council of Ministers.

Some Opposition members desecrated the sanctity of the House by climbing the Sanctum Sanctorum (Garbhagriha), namely the table located at well of the House and threw the Rule Book at the Chair. The Member of Parliament who stood on the table in the Parliament was not only standing on the table but was trampling upon Parliamentary ethics. He was not only throwing a book at the chair but was also throwing Parliamentary conduct out of the House. Such behaviour is unprecedented in our House and the opposition has done grievous harm to the reputation of the house. Opposition’s behaviour was an assault on the dignity of the institution and could have grievously injured the Secretary General. Misbehaviour by the Opposition members is a shameful disgrace in the Parliamentary History of India. It is rather unfortunate that the opposition MPs are not even apologetic about their actions. Rather they are considering these shameful actions as acts of valour.

Shri Piyush Goyal said that opposition has misbehaved throughout the session only because they do not want issues of public welfare to be discussed. It is demanded that strict action should be taken on the shameful and obstructive behaviour of the Opposition. They wanted to create Opposition unity to foster national disunity. They owe answers to the nation.

The Opposition questions over bills being passed in din. However, it is their refusal to allow parliamentary debate that has left no choice. From merely shouting, they have shifted to violence and manhandling staff to disrupt parliamentary process. Also, where was this concern about passage without discussion when numerous bills were passed in din during the UPA rule. Between 2006 and 2014, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA 1 & 2) government passed a total of 18 Bills in a hasty manner.

Despite highest disruption since 2014, the no. of bills passed per day during this session in Rajya Sabha was the 2nd highest since 2014 (i.e. 1.1 bills per day passed). The time lost due to interruptions / adjournments (till Aug 11) was 76 Hours 26 Minutes and the highest average time per day lost due to interruptions / adjournments since the 231st session of Rajya Sabha in 201 was 4 Hours 30 Minutes.

Despite all the chaos and disruption, 19 Bills passed in Rajya Sabha (incl. Constitutional Amendment on OBC reservation also passed), which are in national interest and will benefit the poor, OBCs, workers, entrepreneurs, & all sections of our society. This reflects the commitment, productivity and ability of the Govt to drive legislative agenda in the Parliament, which aims to fulfil the aspirations of its citizens. It will shape the future of our country. Govt successfully carried out Govt business during the session.

(Published from PIB)

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Modi Govt working towards restoring ancestral property of persecuted Kashmir Pandits

By
The Commune
-

In a long-delayed justice for the persecuted Kashmir Hindus who were driven out in 1990, the central government on Wednesday (11 August) said that it is working towards restoring the ancestral property of persecuted Kashmir pandits who had to flee the Valley to save their lives.

In a written reply to a question regarding whether the government was taking steps to restore the ancestral properties of the Kashmiri Hindus who had to run away from Kashmir in the wake of terrorist violence there, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai responded, “Yes” and he further informed that as many as nine properties in Kashmir have been restored.

“Regarding restoration of properties to its rightful and original owner, 9 properties have been restored, as per the information provided by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir,” the minister stated.

On the question of whether the government has appointed any authority to receive the request of property restoration from Hindus who returned to Kashmir to reclaim their movable and immovable property, Rai said that under the J&K Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection & Restraint on Distress Sales) Act, 1997, District Magistrates (DMs) of concerned districts in the UT are the legal custodians of the immoveable properties of migrants, who take suo motto action on eviction proceedings in cases of encroachment.

“The migrants can also request DMs in such case,” the minister said.

As per government data, provided by the J&K government, a total of 520 migrants have returned to Kashmir for taking up the jobs under the Prime Minister’s Development Package-2015 after the abrogation of Article 370.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Govt releases Rajya Sabha CCTV footage of opposition members acting like goons inside the Parliament

By
The Commune
-

After the opposition parties created mayhem in the Rajya Sabha, CCTV footage is now available now in various social media platforms which the opposition members attacking security personnel.

The said footage of Congress and other opposition parties attacking security personal in the Upper House was released today by the government in a 2-minute-50-second long video, and one can see and hear opposition MPs raising slogans at the centre of the House and marshals, responsible for the security of the Parliament, trying to restrain them.

In the video footage, several opposition members can also be seen tearing papers and flinging them, while one of them is climbing a table.

Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha condemned the opposition’s ‘behaviour’ in the just-concluded Monsoon Session of the Parliament and called for strictest possible action against the unruly members of Opposition, who should apologise to the nation for their conduct.

Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Anurag Thakur, Bhupender Yadav, V. Muraleedharan and Arjun Ram Meghwal held a joint press conference at the Shastri Bhavan here on Thursday and condemned the ‘unruly’ and ‘violent’ behaviour of the opposition parties led by the Congress.

The BJP ministers were particular with their criticism of the Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for demeaning the parliamentary procedure.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “The Monsoon Session concluded yesterday, but the behaviour of the Opposition has been most unfortunate since day one. At the party meetings held a day before the commencement of the Monsoon Session, the opposition parties had indicated that they would not allow the House to run smoothly and the session would be washed out.”

 

“The Chairman of the House allowed short duration discussions as demanded by them (Opposition) over price rise, Covid and agriculture. Despite that, the Congress and its friendly parties did not allow the Parliament to function properly,” Joshi said.

Referring to the Opposition’s demand for discussion on the Pegasus issue, Joshi said, “The Chair allowed suo moto statement and clarification on their demand. In spite of all this, the opposition parties did not allow discussion on important Bills, which were passed amid din.”

“With all my responsibility, I am telling you that myself and Piyush ji told the Opposition that we are ready to extend the session up to Monday and we are not going to curtail it. We requested them to support the passing of Bills with discussions. But they threatened that if we try to pass the Bills, a more disastrous situation than yesterday will unfold,” he said.

“Whenever a Bill is introduced, it is for the welfare of the people and it is the basic duty of the Parliament to pass it. Even after seven-and-a-half years, the Congress is not able to digest the people’s mandate and thinks that it has the birth right to remain in power, which (Narendra) Modi has snatched,” Joshi said.

A group of ministers belonging to the BJP met Rajya Sabha Chairman Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and demanded the strictest possible action against the unruly members of the House so such behaviour is not repeated in the future.

Union minister Piyush Goyal, who’s also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, said, “The Opposition’s act was shameful and disrespectful to the Parliament and a clear sign that they are trying to divert the attention from the main issues.”

Union minister Anurag Thakur said, “The Monsoon Session of the Parliament ended on Wednesday and the whole country witnessed how the opposition parties spread anarchy from ‘Sadak se Sansad’ (street to parliament). They must apologise to the country for their behaviour.”

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

DGCI and Subject Expert Committee on COVID gives approval for mixing Covishield and Covaxin

By
The Commune
-
India J&J vaccine Quad COVID-19 patent waiver

In a significant development and in a bid to have enough and improved vaccines to counter the Wuhan virus, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved the study on mixing of two Covid-19 vaccines – Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin as recommended by the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the DCGI on 29 July granting approval to the study.

The expert committee is granting permission to CMC, Vellore in Tamil Nadu for conducting the Phase-4 clinical trial on 300 healthy volunteers for mixing of Covid-19 vaccines Covaxin and Covishield, reports India Today.

The study will determine if a person can be given two different vaccine shots to complete the vaccination course.

Also, the SEC had in July gave its approval to Bharat Biotech to conduct a trial that will involve combining the doses of Covaxin and Hyderabad-based firm’s other nasal COVID-19 vaccine.

Bharat Biotech is presently conducting trials of its intranasal COVID-19 vaccine in the country and the SEC has given its approval to conduct the phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, administering a dose each of Covaxin and the adenoviral intranasal vaccine with an interval between the two jabs.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

1...1,2171,2181,219...1,722Page 1,218 of 1,722
TheCommune
The Commune is a news and views portal focusing on social and political issues of the southern part of India with a focus on Tamil Nadu.
Contact us: thecommune.news@gmail.com
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube

NATIONAL NEWS

© The Commune 2025. All Rights Reserved.