The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education will launch National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) today i.e 5th July, 2021. It will be launched virtually by Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.
A short video, anthem and Implementation Guidelines on NIPUN Bharat will also be launched during this programme. Senior officers from the School Education Department from all States and UTs, Senior Officials of the Department and Heads of Institutions will also attend the event.
Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Minister of Education, Government of India will be launching "National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat)" as a part of the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy #NIPUNBharatpic.twitter.com/c4Q1g5W8rN
— Ministry of Education (@EduMinOfIndia) July 4, 2021
The launch of NIPUN Bharat marks an important step undertaken by the Department of School Education and Literacy, among a series of measures taken for implementation of the National Education Policy 2020, that was released on 29th July 2020.
The vision of NIPUN Bharat Mission is to create an enabling environment to ensure universal acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy, so that every child achieves the desired learning competencies in reading, writing and numeracy by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27. NIPUN Bharat will be implemented by the Department of School Education and Literacy and a five-tier implementation mechanism will be set up at the National- State- District- Block- School level in all States and UTs, under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha.
A unique scientific exercise serving the combined national objectives of reducing desertification and providing livelihood and multi-disciplinary rural industry support has been initiated by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). The project named “Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought” (BOLD) is the first of its kind exercise in India which was launched todayfrom the tribal village NichlaMandwa in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
5000 saplings of special bamboo species – BambusaTulda and BambusaPolymorpha specially brought from Assam – have been planted over 25 bigha (16 acres approx) of vacant arid Gram Panchayat land. KVIC has thus created a world record of planting the highest number of bamboo saplings on a single day at one location.
Project BOLD, which seeks to create bamboo-based green patches in arid and semi-arid land zones, is aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for reducing land degradation and preventing desertification in the country. The initiative has been launched as part of KVIC’s “Khadi Bamboo Festival” to celebrate 75 years of independence “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”. KVIC is set to replicate the Project at Village Dholera in Ahmedabad district in Gujarat and Leh-Ladakh region by August this year. Total 15,000 bamboo saplings will be planted before August 21.
KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the green patches of bamboo on these 3 places will help in reducing the land degradation percentage of the country, while on the other hand, they will be havens of sustainable development and food security
Member of Parliament Arjun Lal Meena said the bamboo plantation program in Udaipur will boost self-employment in the region. He said such projects will benefit a large number of women and unemployed youths in the region by connecting them to skill development programs.
KVIC has judiciously chosen bamboo for developing green patches. Bamboos grow very fast and in about three years’ time, they could be harvested.Bamboos are also known for conserving water and reducing evaporation of water from the land surface, which is an important feature in arid and drought-prone regions.
Randal H. McGuire, in the work Archaeology as Political Action (2009) discusses the use of archaeology in the Nazi Third Reich. German prehistorians elaborated Gustav Kossinna’s notion that archaeological cultures equate with ethnic groups, and they turned this into a propaganda tool for German ideas of racial superiority. German archaeologists explored eastern Europe looking for Germanic sites that would demonstrate Aryan racial superiority and justify the expansion of the Third Reich to include all of “ancient Germany. This archaeological practice did not wage war, bomb cities, or exterminate Jews, Gypsies, communists, homosexuals, and the disabled. It did, however, contribute to the legitimation of a genocidal regime, according to McGuire.
In 2019, former Tamil Nadu Minister for Tamil Language and Culture, K Pandiarajan, designated the antiquities from Keezhadi site in Tamil Nadu, part of ‘Bharatham’s civilization’. This infuriated Madurai Central MLA PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan who is also the Finance Minister now asserted “We will never accept it as a culture of Bharatham,” as it is Dravidian and has nothing to do with Aryans of main land.
The Aryan Invasion Theory although rejected by archaeologists, molecular biologists and physical anthropologists as a ‘colonial construct’ is still globally propagated by leftists and their associated religious groups, mainly by FOSA and FOIL. (FOSA), Friends of South Asia, is a US based political organization founded in December 2001, by a group of nine Pakistani and also Indian Americans. (FOIL), Forum of Indian Leftists, is a group of over 300 left-wing activists. The co-founders of FOIL are two Indian leftists, Biju Mathew and Vijay Prashad. FeTNA’s testimony at the California Curriculum Commission made the dubious claim that, the early Tamil texts clearly distinguish between Tamils and Aryans. Further LTTE arms dealer Father Gasper Raj, a close associate of Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi is also closely attached with Keezhadi excavations, which is linked with Pattanam, sanctioned by ASI.
Father Gasper Raj with DMK MP Kanimozhi
It was warned by historian Martin Sabrow that, if the cooperation between politicians and historians is too close, it might be harmful, since the relationship between history and politics can develop into a fatal friendship offering the reward of public attention and moral esteem whilst destroying the radical independence of historical research and its disposition to rethink history. Sabrow was quoted by Jan Marinus Wiersma in her work (2009), Politics of the Past: The Use and Abuse of History.
Keezhadi has an ideological and political alliance with Pattanam in Kerala. R. Sivanantham, Deputy Director, Tamil Nadu state department of archaeology, officially facilitated a lecture on Pattanam by its excavator, P.J. Cherian at Chennai. Cherian claimed that the excavated material from Pattanam and Keezhadi are similar and hence there is a brotherhood
This has been discussed to highlight the license for the year 2021, for archaeological excavations again granted to PAMA an NGO in Kerala by the Archaeological Survey of India (henceforth ASI), under Union Ministry of Culture. The site has raised much controversy from the beginning. The license was earlier granted for Pattanam excavations in 2020 after the Central Advisory Panel of the ASI at its meeting on September 12 and 13 2015 asked the closure of Pattanam excavations following complaints .PAMA is run by P.J.Cherian who is also associated with Keezhadi.
Prof.K. Rajan of Tamil University is in the Advisory Committee of Archaeological Survey of India and has lobbied for currently granting license to Cherian’s PAMA for excavating Mathilakam and other sites under Cherian’s Ancient Tamilakam Project backed by the Church.
In the document, Pattanam Excavations-2008: Muziris Heritage Project, published by Kerala Council of Historical Research (KCHR) reveals that Prof K Rajan was co-director of the infamous Pattanam Excavation project.
K. Rajan
We invite your kind attention to the fact that the PAMA is headed by a team which has nothing to do with archaeology in qualification or experience. Its Chairman R.V.G. Menon retired as an academic in engineering. Its director P.J.Cherian did his Ph.D in 1993 from University of Calicut on the topic “ The Communist Movement in Travancore: From the Origins to the Uprisings of 1946”.He did his M.Phil (1985) and M.A. (1978) in History and has no academic qualification in archaeology.
PAMA’s ‘Giant Patrons’ include Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, V.Gordon Childe and D.D.Kosambi all left ideologues(PAMA Salutes Her Giant Patrons, making its ideals and objectives clear.
There is not a single Indian archaeologist of repute as its patron. No Indian archaeologist has hitherto joined its fray and agreed to be its patron. How did the Archaeological Survey of India under Ministry of Culture, agree to be its ‘prominent partner’ and grant license to such an Ngo which has no professionals in archaeology? The Minister of Culture has been kept in the dark by the ASI. Academic archaeologists have come down heavily on pseudoarchaeology, with branding it as relying on sensationalism, misuse of logic and evidence, misunderstanding of scientific method, and internal contradictions in their arguments.
It raises serious questions regarding the methodology of excavation, people involved with the it and the credibility of antiquities claimed to have been recovered from the site at Pattanam. The current excavations have not revealed whether they are digging an Iron Age site or a site which shows transformation period in its stratigraphy and cultural remains. Archaeology primarily involves field work and laboratory studies. It also raises serious questions on our national security.
Major archaeologists such as Professors Dilip Chakrabarti, in hs work ‘ Nation First’ (2014) strongly criticized Pattanam excavations. Professor Vasant Shinde of Deccan College who excavated Rakhigarhi, has also criticized Pattanam excavations. Major archaeologists such as R.Nagaswamy, A.Sundara and T.Satyamurti also criticized Pattanam excavations.It is to this excavation that the ASI has unscrupulously granted license keeping the Cultural Ministry and Minister for Culture in dark.
The excavations are meant to establish the arrival of Apostle Thomas in Kerala and conversion of Hindus to Christianity.PAMA Director P.J.Cherian personally presented papers at the Liturgical Research Centre of the Syro Malabar Church 1) The Impact of Recent Archaeological Discoveries in the Ancient Muziris on the Historiography of the Establishment of Christianity in Kerala (Kalyan, Mumbai, 2011). 2) Pattanam Archaeological Evidence and the History of Early Christianity in Kerala (Thiruvall, Kerala 2011).
PJ Cherian
Earlier, excavations have been going on at Pattanam for over seven years and no report has been submitted no fresh excavation license can be granted according to ASI Joint Director R.S.Fonia (Doubting Thomases Suspend Saint Project in The Telegraph October 1, 2015). In 2016, the license of 20 NGOs in Kerala was suspended by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act which included the Kerala Council for Historical Research ( henceforth KCHR) which then conducted the Pattanam excavations (MHA Shows no Charity, Cuts License of around 20 Ngo’s in The New Indian Express December 8, 2016). Further the then KCHR director P.J.Cherian was alleged of creating fake government documents, illegal appointments and financial irregularities worth crores.
The academic collaboration between China and the left-dominated Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR) began in 2012. A KCHR team visited China in October, 2016; in December the Union Home Ministry cancelled the licence of over 20 NGOs in Kerala, including KCHR.
The former KCHR director P.J.Cherian could not continue his term in office and he started an Ngo PAMA. The PAMA secured license for archaeological excavations in 2020 ( (Attempts to Expropriate Security and Academics in Organiser April 5, 2020).Now again the Ngo has secured license to excavate Pattanam. After getting wind of the controversies associated with the Pattanam excavations, former President Pranab Mukherjee refused to inaugurate Pattanam Museum associated with Pattanam excavations (President skips Pattanam exhibition: The Hindu, February 28, 2016).
Has the ASI verified this track record before granting license to Pattanam excavations? The Cultural Ministry has been camouflaged by the ASI.
The Pattanam site is associated with George Soros, multi billionaire leftist who supports the Kashmir secessionists against PM Modi. Soros is an interlocutor in shaping the alliance between communism and the church. Central European University (henceforth CEU), which opened in Budapest, Hungary, in 1991, was founded by George Soros after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as an alternative recruitment and training centre for left intellectuals. The CEU launched its ambitious plan in Kerala in collaboration with Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR) under a left government.
George Soros
Prof. Istvan Perczel from CEU is a scholar on Byzantine history and Medieval Christianity, and one of the patrons of the dubious Pattanam excavations in Kerala, supervised by left historians under KCHR. Prof. Perczel delivered a lecture at Thiruvananthapuram on the historical legacy of Kerala Christianity (History of Kerala Christianity: Documents, monuments and methodological challenges, The Hindu, February 12, 2008). Formerly he sent a letter to KCHR giving his benediction and highlighting, “According to tradition, Musiris was also the port where the apostle St. Thomas landed, and the epics of indigenous south Indian Christianity started. This discovery opens immense new perspectives for the scholarship, so I wish all success for continuation”. (Muziris Heritage Project-Pattanam Excavations, 2008, KCHR, Thiruvananthapuram).
Istvan Perczel under Central European University sponsors the Biblical project, History of Kerala Christianity on the Basis of Newly Found Documents: Methodological Challenges and Possible Answers (Talk at the IIS Centre for Contemporary Studies, July 24, 2008). The work is carried out by another Indian Ngo registered in Kerala, ‘Association for the Preservation of the Saint Thomas Christian Heritage’, in close collaboration with the Marxist sponsored Kerala Council of Historical Research. Istvan Perczel is a founding member of this NGO who is also honoured with Distinguished Visiting Professorship (three lectures) at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Kerala, by the Left government in Kerala.
Pattanam is currently linked with Keezhadi archaeological site in Tamil Nadu, excavated by ASI, but virtually controlled by Father Gasper Raj a missionary with terrorist links. He is also involved in multiple activities in support of LTTE, a Sri Lankan group designated by the US State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation. (Douglas C. Lovelace Jr., Esq., 2008, Terrorism: Documents of International and Local Control, Academic, OUP, Vol. 91).
Keezhadi is patronized by K. Rajan who is in Advisory Committee of ASI.Rajan is associated with Father Gasper Raj, founder of NGO Tamil Mayyam, and officially referred in US crime records as ‘Gaspar Raj Maria Paulian’. When Rajan is clearly working as an interlocutor between Pattanam and Keezhadi with international terrorist groups and personalities, his academic credibility is diluted and stands accused of anti-national activism.
Anti Hindu propagandists are also associated with Pattanam. Sunil P.Ilayidom a Malayalam academic of Sri Sankara Sanskrit University, Kalady, Kerala who is a known Marxist ideologue and anti Bhagavad Gita/Mahabharata propagandist is involved with the Pattanam excavations. The Hindu has published a review of his book on Mahabharata (Sunil P.Elayidom on What Makes the Mahabharata So Compellingly Modern in The Hindu September 12, 2020).Ilayidom is currently involved with Pattanam to bring as a historic fact that Gita has been influenced by Apostle Thomas and Christianity.
The Cultural Ministry should take immediate action cancelling license for Pattanam excavations conducted by the Ngo PAMA and with alleged terrorist links with sites such Keezhadi and left billionaires such as George Soros campaigning to topple the Indian government.
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Senior Tamil Nadu Congress leader and Sriperumbudur MLA Selvaperunthagai has said in an interview that Indian Union is formed by many countries and not states.
In an interview with Tamil Youtube channel Chanakyaa, Selvaperunthagai, MLA from Sriperambathur constituency and leader of the Congress Legislative Party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, said that the Indian Union is made up of several countries, not states, and that the states that exist now were countries before independence.
However, anchor Rangaraj Pandey was quick to interrupt him and inform him, quoting Ambedkar, that states were formed for administrative convenience and that states do not come together to form the Indian union. The Congress MLA, on the other hand, did not change his opinion.
When questioned about MLA ER Eshwaran’s ‘Jai Hind’ issue, Selvaperunthagai stated that the Congress party did not endorse MLA Eshwaran’s views and that they were unable to raise an objection in the assembly due to their engagement in Assembly committee elections. He further said that the party has expressed its concerns with Assembly Speaker Appavu.
Netizens in social media are now questioning if the Congress party endorses the statements of the MLA.
Earlier, DMK ally MLA who runs a caste outfit cum political party Kongu Desiya Makkal Katchi (KDMK) made a controversial remark about the ‘Jai Hind’ slogan during his speech in the Tamil Nadu Assembly saying that the DMK by avoiding ‘Jai Hind’ in the Governor’s address has made Tamil Nadu proud. He thanked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin for refraining from using the words “Jai Hind,” which the previous ADMK government used.
The Congress which has 18 MLAs in the Assembly didn’t even react for the insult meted out to the ‘Jai Hind’ slogan for a straight three days. Many on social media started questioning if the Congress party in Tamil Nadu is really a national party.
After receiving severe backlash, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee reacted in a way that it does not offend its alliance partner DMK by tweeting a video of Indira Gandhi chanting Jai Hind after three days.
The Mumbai High Court in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed has said that beggars must also work and that the government can’t keep providing everything which will only increase the number of beggars in the country.
A man named Brijesh Arya had filed a PIL seeking an order from the Mumbai Municipal Corporation to ensure that homeless beggars in Mumbai have access to three meals a day, clean drinking water and hygienic public toilets. The bench comprising Chief Justice of Mumbai High Court Dipankar Dutta and Justice GS Kulkarni heard the case.
The Bombay Municipal Corporation said that all poor, simple homeless beggars in Mumbai are provided with food parcels with the help of voluntary organizations and women are provided with sanitary napkins. The argument of the corporation was accepted by the court.
The court said that there was no need of providing any further assistance than this adding that beggars must also work for the good of the country.
“They should also work for the country. Everyone is working. Everything cannot be provided free by the state. You are just increasing the population of this section of the society.” they court said adding that granting all the demands mentioned in the petition would only become an incentive to not work.
The court however directed the state government to consider if the public toilets can be made use of homeless persons free of charge.
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The attack on two youngsters by a former DMK councillor following a heated argument sparked outrage in the area.
Sachinraj and his coworker Vignesh, both from Korukkupet, Chennai, and working in a cell phone service company, went to a house in the Madhavaram Ponni Amman Medu area to service cell phones.
Thirunavukarasu, a former DMK councillor who was present at the occasion, has spoken poorly of Sachin Raja. When Sachin Raja questioned why the former councillor was using abusive language, the former councillor became furious and called rowdies from his area, who assaulted both Sachin and Vignesh after tying them in a poll.
Sachin’s eye and face were wounded, while Vignesh’s neck was injured, and both were rushed to a private hospital. Sachin Raj filed a complaint with the Madhavaram police station, and inspector Kaliraj of the Madhavaram police said he will take appropriate action.
The theft of electricity from a public power source by DMK cadres for electric lights set to welcome Udayanidhi at Virudhachalam has sparked outrage.
On behalf of the DMK cadres, lights were erected in the Virudhachalam area to welcome Udayanidhi, who was traveling from Chennai to Cuddalore district through Virudhachalam. The video of DMK cadres stealing electricity from public electric poles to power high-intensity welcome lights went viral on social media.
At a time, when people are experiencing power outages across Tamil Nadu, the DMK’s reckless stealing of electricity to welcome Udayanidhi has sparked public outrage.
Social activists and local residents also lament that the DMK’s power theft activities have gone unnoticed by electricity board employees.
French Emmanuel Macron has said that “woke leftist culture” imported from the United States is ‘racialising’ France, and has split the society and is the main reason for holding back ethnic minorities.
Without mincing words, Macron said the political left in France has taken a route where it insists on defining their countrymen by their ethnicity and depicting them as victims. He said that this has been causing rifts in French society and blamed social science ideas that have come from the US.
Macron while giving an interview to Elle magazine said, ‘I see that our society is becoming progressively racialised,’ and ethnic minorities have been placed ‘under house arrest’ by left-wing ideology.
The French President is someone who is known for his progressive thinking also pointed blame at feminists and black rights activists for seeking to define people according to their gender and their skin colour which according to him has caused rifts in French society and limit social mobility among ethnic minorities.
Macron was also critical of importing American racial and identity politics sometimes labelled as ‘woke culture’ and the Black Lives Matter movement which a new generation of younger French activists are adopting and blaming the problem of racism in France and the legacy of the country’s colonial past in Africa and the Middle East.
This has led to an unnecessary division that has created a culture in which minorities and women see themselves as constantly oppressed and discriminated against, he said.
Movements against racism over the last year such as Black Lives Matter, which resonated in France after arriving from the US, have led to fears among some critics that the country is importing American racial and identity politics sometimes labelled as ‘woke culture.’
Woke leftist culture is ‘racialising’ France, causing splits in society and holding back ethnic minorities, says President Macron https://t.co/uNKqCqXPKY
Indian left-liberals who had considered Macron as their darling now find themselves in a fix as the French President has of late been taking position contrary to the the views and opinions the left-liberals subscribe to.
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After Kitex Garments, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of kids apparel withdrew from the ₹3,500 crore investment plan Kerala due to constant harassment in the form of unnecessary inspections by the Pinarayi Vijayan government, an invitation has been extended by the Tamil Nadu government has to set up the project in the state, reports Swarajya
Sensing a huge opportunity for investment and jobs in the state, discussions were held with the Minister for Industries and Principal Secretary (Industries) of Tamil Nadu government as the state had offered many incentives like 40% subsidy on investment, land at half the market rate, exemption on stamp duty, five% interest rebate for six years, etc.
As per The Hindu, chairman of Kitex Group Sabu M Jacob told that though no official from the Kerala government contacted him, however, many Chief Ministers, Industries Ministers, and others asked him to invest in their States as Kerala which is the most literate state languishes at the bottom of the table in attracting investments and ranks 28th in the ‘ease of doing business’ index.
Kitex Garments had plans to start an apparel park in Kochi and establish industry parks at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Palakkad, however constant harassment by the communist regime forced the company to withdraw from this project.
“Almost every day, officials of the government department descend on the premises of the company and make inquiries as if we committed a big fraud. I am fed up with continuous harassment. The government treats us like bourgeoises, exploitative capitalists and land encroachers. Enough is enough,” Kitex chairman Sabu M Jacob said.
“If the situation continues like this, the State will turn into a graveyard of industries. While neighbouring states roll out red carpets for industries, we are hounding them out. No doubt, the existing climate will drive entrepreneurs to suicide,” he said, adding that the latest to inspect his premises were officials from the pollution control board.
“Whoever invests in Kerala will lose peace of mind and will be driven to suicide,” Sabu Jacob added.
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Indigenous people living in the Kodaikanal hills have been wearing a mask made of herbal leaves after the Tamil Nadu government’s insistence on wearing a face mask to control the spread of corona.
When people living in the city still consider wearing a face mask to be a burden, the tribes of Kodaikanal use a mask made of herbal leaves, living in harmony and peace with nature.
According to Siva, a tribal from Pannaikadu Vadakaraiparai hamlet in Dindigul District, where the practice is common,” We wear facemask based on government’s advise despite the fact that no case of Corona has been reported in our village. The leaves of the Pisilam tree in the forest, according to our forefathers, protect us from viruses.”
He added that wearing a garland made of Pisilam tree leaves and onion will protect their children from the common cold. He further said,” The fragrance of this leaf keeps the lungs and airways clean and we wear it as a face shield when we go outside.”
