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Social Media Monitoring Centre: DMK Govt’s attempt to crackdown on critics?

By
The Commune
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Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan presented the state’s budget for the year 2022-23 on Friday (March 18).

Of all the items presented, one of the probelmatic ones is about the Social Media Monitoring Centre.

The Finance Minister in his budget speech mentioned that the state government has decided to form a special Social Media Monitoring Centre under the police department.

It has been claimed that the Social Media Monitoring is being set up to ‘to battle fake news and misinformation on social media platforms’.

However, many have expressed concerns stating that the DMK government with the state police machinery under its control might use it to muzzle dissenting voices.

Ever since the DMK came to power, there has been a series of crackdown on social and political activists.

In July a case was registered against News J, a TV channel of the AIADMK party, and members of the party’s IT wing based on some posts they had posted years ago.

YouTuber Maridhas was arrested on December 9, 2021, for a tweet that came in the light of the late Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat’s death. A DMK functionary had lodged a complaint against the YouTuber, for his tweet that compared Tamil Nadu to Kashmir. He was also charged wiith

Kishore K Swamy, another political commentator known for his brutal criticism of the DMK, was incarcerated for 6 months by slapping Goondas Act on him.

BJP IT wing office-bearer Saravana Kumar from Dindigul was arrested for criticizing the DMK government and later released following a protest by BJP cadres in front of the police station. Another BJP functionary Kalyana Raman was arrested for allegedly derogating CM Stalin and his late father Karunanidhi.

There have been multiple instances where the state police had cracked down on opposition parties and those who posted tweets criticizing the Stalin government based on complaints filed by DMK cadres or office bearers.

It is to be noted that Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan was previously the head of the DMK’s IT Wing, a post that has now been given to DMK MP T.R. Baalu’s son and Mannargudi MLA T.R.B Rajaa.

With the launch of an exclusive ‘Social Media Monitory Cell’, it is being feared that freedom of speech and expression would be at stake as the DMK government will weaponize the unit to huntdown anyone who doesn’t agree with the party.

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NCW summons TN DGP over complaint regarding sex racket by Facebook group

By
The Commune
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The National Commission for Women (NCW) has summoned the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) over a complaint regarding a Facebook group that allegedly targets young married women to have illicit sexual relations and later threatens them of releasing their private pictures in public.

The complaint notes that the Facebook group named WSB Rebels 2.0 group initially encourages women to share their personal problems and intimate details. It says that the Facebook group admin and moderator also compelled women to write detailed articles about their sex lives in the name of ‘tasks’ adding that women were also compelled to share their intimate bedroom pictures and live videos inside the group.

However, much to the shock of the members, all personal details including intimate pictures were shared by the group admin and moderator to another Whatsapp group which has many men including some politicians and ‘Periyarists’, the complaint notes.

The complaint further claims that these men, politicians/’Periyarists’ prey on the women of WSB group by slowly developing relationships with these women, take nude pictures and videos of the women, and later threaten and extort money from them using their vulnerability.

Many women who have fallen prey to the group have been facing constant harassment, the complaint notes.

The complainant also mentions that she had filed a police complaint on 7th August 2020 at the Shastri Nagar Police Station but no action has been taken.

A case was also filed at the Saidapet Metropolitan Magistrate Court on 14th Octobebr 2020. The court ordered the police to register the case and file a report by 27th November 2020, the complaint states.

Apparently, the Inspectorof W19 Adyar All Women Police Station submitted a report before Magistrate stating that on enquiry of the case, it was revealed that many women are being pushed to prostitution by the gang following which the case was transferred to ‘Crime Against Women and Children’ Wing of Police Department, the complaint further states.

“Even after a lapse of 15 months from the date of orders of the Hon’ble Metropolitan Magistrate, the case has not been registered by the Police Department and no action has been taken so far. Since, many politicians who can influence the ruling party are involved in this case, the lives of the affected women are in danger.”, the complaint letter to the NCW says.

Taking cognizance of this complaint, the NCW has issued a notice to Tamil Nadu DGP to appear before it on March 22 along with a detailed Action Taken Report in the matter.

Earlier this month, The Commune had reported on the massive sex racket named ‘Lulu Group / Women Stress Buster (WSB)’. Read more about it here.

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How TN Govt’s proactiveness helped India win the bid to host Chess Olympiad

By
The Commune
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Amidst the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) removed Russia from being the host of the prestigious Chess Olympiad in the last week of February.

Soon, FIDE, which was looking for a new host country, received a message from India saying that the country is ready to host any chess event.

Bharat Singh Chauhan, the secreatary of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) had pinged FIDE’s Rresident Arkady Dvorkovich to which the latter responded saying if an ‘Olympiad’ would do.

Immediately, Bharat Singh started moving things to leave to get the opportunity for India. In less than a week since he spoke to Dvorkovich, India’s bid to host the Chess Olympiad was ready. This would be the first time that the country has got the opportunity to host the event.

Mr. Bharat Singh left no stone unturned. Former world champion Viswanathan Anand wrote to FIDE backing India’s bid.

But to secure the bid, a lot needed to be put in place. The place for the event, accommodations for players coming from other countries, and so on. There was also a guarantee of $10 million (around ₹76 crore) that needed to be given.

Bharat Singh had shortlisted three locations – Delhi, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu – and had been in touch with the state governments there.

However, the proactiveness of the Tamil Nadu government along with its geographic location and strong chess culture tipped the scales in the state’s favour.

Bharat Singh’s friend Srinath Narayanan who is a Grandmaster and coach set up a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in Chennai.  CM Stalin immediately furnished the financial guarantee the same day.

As soon as the Tamil Nadu government came on board, Bharat Singh went scouting for rooms and venues on the East Coast Road along wiith five to six IAS officers.

Within a day around 2,000 rooms in 23 hotels were booked of which about 1200 are sea-facing.  A temporary secretariat has been set up in Mahabalipuram. A channel of communication has been opened with players around the world. Translators in four languages have been appointed for coordination.

So in a matter of 2-3 days, a financial guarantee of ₹76 crore, accommodation for players and the venue of the event was a done deal.

Meanwhile, pictures and videos of the hotels with sea-sided views, along with a proper submission of a bid impressed FIDE.

There were few other countries bidding to host but only India managed to submit a proper bid, thanks to the proactiveness of the state administration.

India getting a chance to host the Chess Olympiad gains even more significance with the country boasting of young prodigies putting a challenge even to world champions.

The Chess Olympiad is slated to take place between the end of July and the beginning of August.

Chennai had hosted the World Championship Match in 2013.

(With inputs from The Indian Express)

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Kerala: Christian priest sexually abuses minor in Church, girl had gone to seek counselling

By
The Commune
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Another case of child sex abuse has emerged from Kerala where an orthodox church priest has been arrested for sexually abusing a minor girl in the Pathanamthitta district on Thursday, (March 17).

The Church in Kerala is a very powerful institution with far-reaching power and according to news reports, published  in Manorama, the pastor who sexually abused the minor has been identified as Pondson John, a priest from the Orthodox Church at Koodal.

The girl’s parents had sent her to talk to the priest for counselling because she was not doing well academically and fully placed their trust on the priest to guide their child.

However, the Christain priest repeatedly sexually abused the 17-year-old minor girl and as per the police complaint, the accused behaved inappropriately with the minor on two different locations on March 12 and 13.

Of all the places, the priest first sexually abused the victim in the church following which, the girl refused to go to the church the next day.

However, the priest then came to the victim’s house, took the girl inside a room, closed the door, and sexually abused her. When the girl was abused in her own home, the traumatic experience caused her to totally refuse to counsel.

She later told some of her friends what had happened who then informed the school authorities and a complaint was registered on the childline, following which the police arrested the accused pastor.

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Hindu Sadhus who watched “The Kashmir Files” ask PM Modi to allocate land in Kashmir to establish Vedic traditions

By
The Commune
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Hundreds of ‘sadhus’ on Wednesday (March 16) after watching the movie ‘The Kashmir Files’, have requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allocate land in the Kashmir valley so that they can re-establish the Vedic traditions there.

BJP leader from Indore, Deepak Jain, booked two theatres and watched the film with hundreds of Hindu saints.

Mahamandaleshwar Radhe Radhe Baba who is a seer said, “Kashmir is the land of Lord Kashyap, Lord Shankaracharya’s place of worship. In Vedic times, Kashmir was known by the name of Pandits. Today all the saints, Mahamandaleshwar, Batuk, had come to watch the film.”

He added, “To destroy the Vedic traditions, heinous crimes were done and the Kashmiri pandits were ill-treated. The new generation should be aware of these facts.”

“I want to thank PM Modi for the decision to scrap Article 370. I also request the PM to allocate the land in Jammu and Kashmir to the saints so that we can establish the Vedic traditions there,” Mahamandaleshwar Radhe Radhe Baba added.

The Hindu leader also said that the state and central government should add this movie has part of the school curriculums, or special screenings for the students should be arranged.

While speaking to ANI, Deepak Jain said, “Today we got the film screened for our Mahamandaleshwar and saints so that the society can know the reality of the ill-fated act that the Kashmiri Pandits had to go through. The reality of genocide of the Kashmiri Pandits has been shown in the movie,”.

“After 2014, our nation is changing and so is the thought process of Bollywood film-makers. Various patriotic films are now being made, which were earlier not made in such good numbers or the censor board and the government would not let them released. This has changed now,” Jain said.

Already, several states have like the newly elected state government of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Karnataka, Goa, Haryana, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh, have declared the film as “tax-free”.

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India could acquire 12 more Sukhoi-30 MKI with indigenous system built by HAL

By
The Commune
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India is all set to purchase 12 Russian-designed Sukhoi-30 MKI  to bolster the Air Force which is short of fighter aircraft. As per reports from TimesNow, a Rs 10,000 crore package, is expected to be cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and including the three chiefs.

The Russian designed fighters will include indigenous and also, Israeli systems built in India by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), and the additional Sukhois are needed because the IAF is short of fighters and the strength is down to perhaps 32, instead of the 40 that is required to maintain balance with Pakistan and China.

As of now, the IAF has just two squadrons of the 4.5 generation Rafale and it is still operating its older aircraft, including the upgraded MiG-21 Bison.

The DAC is also looking into buying 70 HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft for the IAF and these have been indigenously developed by HAL as the IAF faces shortages in basic trainers. 

The DAC in the last few years has been very active in its decision process and it could clear about 50 suites of electronic warfare equipment made by Bharat Electronics, valued at about Rs 2,000 crore as India aims towards indigenisation of weapons platforms for Atmanirbhar Bharat.

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DRDO builds multi-storey building in 45 days to test flight control system for AMCA project

By
The Commune
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The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) has built a multi-storey building in just 45 days to test the flight control system at Aeronautical Development Establishment in Bengaluru. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is slated to inaugurate the building on Thursday ( March 17).

The seven-storey structure has a plinth area of 1.3 lakh square feet and it will be the headquarters for research and development facilities for the fifth-generation medium weight deep penetration fighter jet for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

‘The DRDO has completed the construction of a multi-storey infrastructure for flight control system at ADE Bengaluru with hybrid technology consisting of conventional, pre-engineered and precast methodology in record 45 days,’ said one of the officials.

The official further added that the complex will have facilities for developing avionics for fighter aircraft and flight control system (FCS) for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) project.

India has been working on the AMCA project to develop a fifth-generation medium fighter jet with advanced stealth features for the air force and the initial development cost of the project has been estimated at around Rs 15,000 crore.

Earlier in the week, the defence ministry said it has initiated the process of obtaining the approval for the design and prototype development of the AMCA from the prime minister-led Cabinet Committee on Security.

Regarding the information on the building,it has been constructed using composite construction technology in the ‘shortest time frame’ of just 45 days to provide the necessary infrastructure for the AMCA project.

“It is a unique record of completing a permanent seven-storey building with hybrid construction technology, that too in ready-to-move condition for the first time in the country,” the official involved in the project claimed had told PTI.

The building has been constructed using hybrid construction technology and the column and beam elements of the structural frame are built with steel plates, the columns are of hollow steel tubular section.

As per reports, the design check and technical support were provided by teams from IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee and its building features include air-conditioning, electrical, and fire protection systems as per the standard national building code.

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Naga idol at Amman Temple near Nagercoil found vandalized

By
The Commune
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Feature Image Credits: Maalai Malar

A five-headed Naga idol at the Sri Bala Bhadreswari Amman Temple located near Karungal in Kanyakumari district was found broken.

Renovation work is currently undergoing at the Amman temple in Mangalakunru Manganruvilai village near Karungal. At the back of the temple is a five-headed Naga idol.

A few days ago, unidentified persons broke and damaged three heads of the five-headed Naga idol. The people of the village were shocked to find the idol broken.

The ward leader Ramachandran Karungal has lodged a complaint with the police regarding the incident. Karungal police are searching the culprits involved in the incident.

(With inputs from Malai Malar)

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BJP TN chief alleges irregularities in TANGEDCO-BGR deal, DMK Min denies charge

By
The Commune
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BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai has alleged that the state electricity generation and distribution agency TANGEDCO has offered ₹4,442 crore deal to a company named BGR Energy Systems Limited violating all procedures.

During a pressmeet at Kamalayalam, the BJP leader said that TANGEDCO has allotted 660 MW super-critical Ennore Thermal Power Station expansion project worth ₹4,442 crores to BGR Energt Systems Ltd.

The BJP leader pointed out that TANGEDCO had cancelled the contract in April 2021 because of BGR Energy’s inability to perform. He said that the company’s bank balance was ₹33 crore last year and had incurred a net loss of ₹355 crores.

Annamalai said that BGR Energy had challenged the cancellation of the contract at the Madras High Court.

He accused the DMK government of favouring and reinstating the private power company whose promoters are believed to be backing the ruling party.

Electricity Minister V. Senthil Balaji has refuted the allegations stating that  the contract was given only after due diligence was carried out, in line with the regulations of the Central government.

Earlier in October 2021, BGR Energy issued a legal notice to BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai and another Twitter user named Selva Kumar for an alleged ‘defamatory tweet’ in light of the corruption allegations levelled.

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Former IAF chief calls for supporting pvt sector in defense at the inaugural General Bipin Rawat Memorial Lecture

By
The Commune
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Addressing the inaugural General Bipin Rawat Memorial Lecture here on the occasion of his birth anniversary former IAF chief RKS Bhadauria on Wednesday (March 16) said, the time has come for the private sector industry to be given a level playing field along with public sector units to help the country produce indigenous weapon systems.

“General Rawat was a big advocate of self-reliance. He would say that in case of war, we will be able to win only through indigenous weapons. He also stressed that private sector industry should be given a level playing field along with the public sector units to help the country produce indigenous weapon systems for the country,” he said in his address.

The former Chief of Air Staff called for the need to set defined goals for the country to become self reliant in the defence sector.

“To my mind, the most critical area is to understand what do we really want and what should we aim at and then ultimately be able to define what is required to achieve Atmanirbharta (self reliant). “I don’t think so there will be any one today who will not agree with need and importance of Atmanirbharta but what do we want from Atmanirbharta as far as defence is concerned, is what we need to define. I believe it is the ability to do entire design and development which should be our next phase towards self reliance,” he said.

ACM Bhadauria also said a lot of things needs to be done in all areas that are critical in terms of technology and added, “This is critical as we go forward, the ability to do everything on your own. You have designed an equipment but imported certain products. There should be no chip working without your knowledge. If we have achieved this, we have achieved a huge step of self reliance in equipment and design. Be it testing and certification, we need to target what we have to achieve and in testing and certification is important to steer any conflict of interest….we must treat our testing ad certification agencies as national assets,” he said.

Gen Bipin Rawat was India’s first Chief of Defence Staff who tragically died with his wife and 11 other armed forces personnel in December when his military helicopter crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.

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