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Sita in Ravana’s mind: Exquisite statue recovered by TN Idol Wing

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The Commune
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Authorities of the Tamil Nadu Idol Wing have recovered 12 idols worth ₹40 crore, including 9 idols from the 11th century and earlier Chola period.

Twelve idols have been recovered, including a one-meter-tall statue of Goddess Parvati, a one-foot-tall swirling Lord Krishna statue and a one-and-a-half-foot-tall statue of Lord Natarajar. However, one idol has caught everyone’s attention and that is the statue of Lord Ravana!

Completely different from the other ones that have been recovered so far, the statue of the ten-headed Ravana that has now been recovered has amazed everyone.

The one-foot (27 cm) tall idol has the 10-headed figure of Ravana on the front and a sleeping figure of Sita on the back.

Idol with Ravana and Sita on either side
Source: DT Next

The sculptor has sculpted the idol to convey that Ravana’s mind is filled with thoughts about Sita.

Authorities say that the idol of Ravana could have come from Sri Lanka or north India as there is no exclsive temple for Ravana in Tamil Nadu. But there is a village named Rawan near Vidisha in the state of Madhya Pradesh. There is a temple dedicated to Ravana in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, there are five temples dedicated to Ravana in northern India, including Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

More than a hundred idols from various countries have been recovered by the Idol Wing officers. An emerald lingam worth ₹500 crore was recovered last week.

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Ex-Muslims start an organisation in the Communist state of Kerala

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The Commune
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A special Ex-Muslims organisation has been started in Kerala for all those who have converted from Islam to other religions. On 9th of January, an organisation called Kerala’s ex-Muslims, was launched in Kochi, Kerala. Liyakkathali, the leader of the organisation, said that the organisation was formed specially for those who were once practicing Muslims, but have then decided to convert out of Islam, or who decided to stop practicing the religion.

The organisation has also said that the day the organisation was started, 9th January, is to be celebrated annually as ‘Ex-Muslims Day’. This is first time, such an organisation has been created in the country.“We have formed a 10-member executive committee and membership campaign is on. Initially, we have identified 300 Muslims, who have abandoned their religion over the years, who openly come out in support of the organisation,” the Outfit’s leader said.

He also added, “There are many Muslims who have abandoned their religion but are reluctant to declare it openly as they fear repercussions from society. Many are forced to live hiding their identity after abandoning religion. They fail to get support from even family and are targeted in their places of work. We want to give support and courage to people who are willing to come out of the religion. Those who abandon religion should be allowed to live fearlessly.”

Liyakkathali said that he had abandoned Islam two years back after he had realized the hollowness of religion.

(With inputs from Indian Express)

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Swajal: AI-driven start-up by IIT alumni comes out with new tech to provide clean drinking water at cheaper rates

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The Commune
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Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today launched Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Start-Up by IIT alumni  for water purification through innovative technology. The facility aims to provide clean drinking water at a price much lesser than the market price.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Start-Up initiative should be motivating for other Start-Ups as well.

A MoU was also signed between Technology Development Board (TDB), a statutory body of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and M/s Swajal Water Private Limited, a tech Start Up company founded by ex-IITians based in Gurugram. The company is focused on innovative technologies to make reliable clean drinking water accessible to communities at affordable price, for their project on IoT enabled point of use Solar Water Purification Unit for slums, villages and High Utility Areas.

Dr Jitendra Singh welcomed the financial support extended to Swajal by TDB and said that his Ministry is committed to reach out to potential small and viable Start-ups having skill and talent pool, but lacking resources. The Minister asked the CEO & Co Founder of Swajal, Dr VibhaTripathi to scale up this technology to help achieve India’s ambitious target of providing clean drinking water to all by 2024, as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Minister said, apart from the Centre’s initiatives like National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and Jal Jeevan Mission, Private Sector should come forward in a big way with state of the art tech solutions to cover nearly 14 Crore households where clean drinking water is yet to reach.

Referring to Prime Minister’s 75th Independence Day speech, where he said that in just two years of the Jal Jeevan Mission, more than four and a half crore families have started getting water from taps, Dr Jitendra Singh said that Ministry of Science and Technology is positively contributing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision and Mission of “Har Ghar Nal Se Jal”.

It may be recalled that Dr Jitendra Singh launched state-of-the-art Heli-borne survey technology for groundwater management, developed by CSIR-NGRI Hyderabad with Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekawat from Jodhpur in October, last year. To start with, the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana are being taken up for this latest heli-borne survey.

The Gurugram based company’s patented system, ‘Clairvoyant’ uses artificial intelligence to optimise purification systems and predict future breakdowns.Thus,allowing it to remotely manage, update, and repair each system in real time. They have also developed clean drinking water solutions in the form of Water ATMS, which combines Internet of Things technology with solar energy to provide clean drinking water. Theserural Water ATM by Swajalproposed to use solar energy to pump water from rivers, wells, ponds or groundwater depending upon the location. The water will then be treated with appropriate technology to make it healthy & pure for drinking. With this innovation, the cost of purified water be brought down to as low as 25 paise per litre.

Dr. Srivari Chandrashekhar, Secretary DST & Chairperson TDB, pointed out that this project is a combination of new emerging technologies — IOT, Artificial Intelligence combined with renewable solar energy to cater to the need of pure drinking water in villages and remote areas.

“With the financial support from Technology Development Board, a social impact start-up like Swajal could do wonders. We are looking forward to cover more states in India at the earliest,” said Dr VibhaTripathi, CEO & Co Founder, Swajal.

Shri Rajesh Kr. Pathak, IP&TAFS, Secretary, TDB, has said that this project will empower communities to plan & monitor their drinking water needs with community ownership, and will get affordable, accessible, reliable, and clean drinking water 24×7 throughout all 365 days of the year. TDB is committed to support such innovative technologies for mass utility.

(Published from PIB)

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Tamil Nadu: Villagers of Panmangalam protest against construction of Church

By
The Commune
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There are almost 200 families living in Panmangalam village, located on the Sirgazhi bypass, in Mayiladuthurai district. In that village, a foundation stone has been laid in order to start the construction of a Church, on a land belonging to a Church in the village.

The locals have been against the Churches that are being set-up in the village, because the village entirely has a non-Christian population. Following this, the residents of the village, members of the Hindu Munnani and BJP, marched to the venue chanting slogans, demanding the immediate stop of the construction of the Church.

They were then detained by the Police officers, where were placed there for security, as a precautionary measure. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Lamek, told the villagers and the Hindu Munnani that it was not permissible to stop or protest against the construction of a Church on private land, and that it was better if they found a legal solution to the problem. The villagers and other opposing parties, then accepted the advise and dispersed from the area.

(With inputs from Maalaimalar)

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Edible oil prices decline significantly by ₹5-₹20 per kg in major retail markets

By
The Commune
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India is one of the largest importer of edible oils as its domestic production is unable to meet its domestic demand. The Country has to rely heavily on imports to meet the gap between demand and supply. Around 56-60% of the edible oils consumed in the country is met through imports. International prices of Edible Oils are under pressure due to shortfall in global production and increase in export tax/levies by the exporting countries. Therefore, domestic prices of Edible Oils are dictated by the prices of imported oils.

As the domestic prices are governed by the international price trends, the prices of edible oils in the country have been ruling very high for the past one year. This has been a major cause of concern for the Government. In order to rein in the prices and provide relief to the consumers who are reeling under unprecedented inflationary circumstances, the government has taken a number of steps. In a bid to reign in continuous rise in the cooking oil prices since past one year, the basic duty on Crude Palm Oil, Crude Soyabean Oil and Crude Sunflower Oil have been cut from 2.5% to Nil. The Agri-cess on these Oils has been brought down from 20% to 7.5% for Crude Palm Oil and 5% for Crude Soyabean Oil and Crude Sunflower Oil.

Consequent upon the above reduction, the total duty is now 7.5% for Crude Palm Oil and 5% for Crude Soyabean Oil and Crude Sunflower Oil. The basic duty on RBD Palmolein Oil has been slashed to 12.5% from 17.5% recently. The basic duty on Refined Soyabean and Refined Sunflower Oil has been slashed to 17.5% from the current 32.5%. Before reduction, the agricultural infrastructure cess on all forms of Crude Edible Oils was 20%. Post reduction, the effective duty on Crude Palm Oil will be 8.25%, Crude Soyabean Oil and Crude Sunflower Oil will be 5.5% each.

Apart from rationalizing import duties on palm oil, sunflower oil and soyabean oil, futures trading in mustard oil on NCDEX has been suspended and stock limits on oils and oilseeds have been imposed. Despite international commodity prices being high, interventions made by Central Government along with State Governments’ pro active involvement have led to reduction in prices of edible oils. Edible oil prices are higher than a year ago period but from October onwards there is a declining trend. Further, the government is taking steps to improve the production of secondary edible oils, especially rice bran oil to reduce the import dependence.

The department is regularly interacting with the oil industry associations and leading market players and has convinced them to reduce the MRP which will translate to passing on the benefit of duty reduction to end consumers.  As per the trend from 167 price collection centers, edible oil prices have declined quite significantly in the range of Rs 5 and 20 per kg in the major retail markets across the country. Major edible Oil players including Adani Willmar and Ruchi Industries have cut prices by Rs. 15 -20 Per Ltr.  The other players that have reduced the prices of edible oils are Gemini Edibles & Fats India, Hyderabad, Modi Naturals, Delhi, Gokul Re-foils and Solvent, Vijay Solvex, Gokul Agro Resources and N.K. Proteins.

The latest step taken by the Government for controlling the prices of various oils is with respect to Soya meal. Stock limit on Soya Meal which is a major source of protein and constitutes almost 30% in Livestock Feed has been imposed with effect from 23rd December, 2021 till June 2022 by including it in the Schedule to Essential Commodities Act, 1955. This will cool down the prices and improve supply. The Govt has also suspended futures trading in all essential commodities for a period of one year, upto December 2022.

The Govt. has also initiated certain long term & medium term plans to attain self-sufficiency in edible oils. Recently, the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a special focus on the North east region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been launched. Due to the heavy dependence on imports for edible oils, it was important to make efforts for increasing the domestic production of edible oils in which increasing area and productivity of oil palm plays an important part.

Overall, the reduction in import duty and other steps like imposition of stock limits to curb hoarding etc. has helped cool down domestic prices of all edible oils and granted much required relief to the consumers.

(Published from PIB)

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Son of old man who exposed lizard in DMK govt’s Pongal package self-immolates and dies

By
The Commune
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The DMK govt’s Pongal gift package has been a subject of controversy and complaint ever since its distribution was started a few days ago. Across the state, many have complained that the quality of products are very substandard and that some edibles even have worms in them. One such complaint came from an old man from Thiruthani, identified as Nandan, who sent photos of dead lizards found in the Tamarind packets from the Pongal package.

It was earlier reported that the State Government had filed a non-bailable case on the old man who raised the complaint, for allegedly ‘defaming’ the government. Many netizens had raised the question whether pointing out the mistakes of the government itself becomes a non-bailable offence. Now, it has been reported that Nandan’s son has attempted suicide because of the case slapped against his father.

Nandan is the 15th Deputy Secretary of the AIADMK and the district secretary of the Human Rights Commission. Kuppusami (36), son of Nandan, runs a private company in Villivakkam, Chennai.

Babu alias Kuppusami, had attempted to suicide by pouring Kerosene on himself and setting himself on fire. At a very critical condition, he was admitted to the Thiruthani government hospital and later shifted to the Kilpauk Medical College government Hospital, Chennai.

According to a report by News 18 Tamil Nadu, Kuppusamy succumbed to his injuries on January 12.

Opposition leader Edappadi K Palaniswami had lashed out at the DMK government yesterday saying the government should take responsibility for providing quality treatment for Kuppusami, in order to recoup him back to life. He also said that the case slapped against Nandan should be quashed, and that a non-bailable case should be slapped against the administrators who approved substandard quality products for the Pongal package.

BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai too condemned the DMK government for slapping cases against people who are critical of the government and expressed grievance over the loss of Kuppusami’s life.

 

According to a report by News 18 Tamil Nadu, Kuppusamy succumbed to his injuries

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This pushcart feeds Chennai’s ailing, hungry and needy

By
The Commune
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With cases of Omicron on the rise, the Tamil Nadu government imposed fresh restrictions with a total lockdown on Sundays. While things may be easy for the well-to-do to order food from restaurant or cook at their own homes, it is not so for the city’s poor and homeless. It is a struggle to pass the day with even just one meal as a total lockdown means there is no income for the day. Even a porridge/gruel becomes a luxury for them.

Just outside Rajiv Gandhi Government hospital, that is right opposite the Chennai Central railway station is a pushcart that serves this humble gruel to hundreds. Men and women from different corners including travelers coming or leaving the city fill their stomach with this gruel. This pushcart is operated by the Barter trust.

On Sunday, nearly 500 persons had collected their meal from the cart, in less than an hour. Many collected in vessels that they had bought with them. Those who didn’t have a vessel, were given one.

“Our snack shop is just a short walk away from the General hospital… We’ve often seen attenders of poor patients and those with severe illness request for gruel at hotels and in shops like ours.. they never used to get it as its not part of the hotel menu… most patients need it as they are intubated and can’t have solid food… In fact, it was to cater to them that we started providing gruel right outside the hospital” K. Rajeev the owner of the pushcart, was quoted in a reported by WION.

With unplanned lockdown hitting on the stomachs of the city’s poor and needy, the pushcart supplied breakfast (Pongal, vada), lunch (gruel, variety rice, sweet) and dinner (idiyappam and coconut milk) to people who were seen forming serpentine queues outside the shop. Travelers travelling to and from the city also made use of the service with restaurants closed down due to the lockdown.

Even the Government hospital canteen was also closed on that day. It was this pushcart that had served meals to over a 1000 people. Rajeev was quoted saying that there are many patients and their relatives at the Government hospital who can’t afford to travel back to their homes just for food. “How can we let them go hungry?” Rajeev asked.

Rajeev shells out nearly ₹7000 per day to prepare the meals and distributes them through his volunteers.

In a month, contributions come from good Samaritans on the occasion of birthdays, death anniversaries etc. On the remaining days, the costs are borne by Rajeev himself.

Recently, BJP Tamil Nadu President K. Annamalai honoured Rajeev with Good Governance Bharat Ratna A B Vajpayee Award commemorating the late former Prime Minister’s 97th birth anniversary.

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Did you know? Alleged ‘economist’ Jeyaranjan appointed to State Development Policy by DMK Govt had accused the party of massive corruption

By
The Commune
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Alleged ‘economist’ J. Jeyaranjan, who was appointed to the Tamil Nadu State Development Policy Council formed by the MK Stalin-led DMK government when it came to power in May 2021, had written a paper in 2019 in which he accused the DMK of massive corruption engaged in illegal sand mining and mafia.

Details of the essay written by Jeyaranjan and the insinuations made by him on the DMK and its leaders have been brought to light in a blog that goes by the name ‘Othisaivu‘.

The essay written by Jeyaranjan titled “Sand and the politics of plunder in Tamil Nadu, India” is part of a book named ” The Wild East: Criminal Political Economies in South Asia, edited by Barbara Harriss and White & Lucia Michelutti and published by the University College, London Press in 2019.

In the essay, Jeyaranjan deals with the ‘sand mafia’ in Tamil Nadu and details the nexus between the politicians-bureaucrats-sand-mafia and how the money is routed to fund election expenses.

Jeyaranjan has taken on all Dravidian parties from 1980 and has accused the DMK and its leaders of monstrous corruption.

Jeyaranjan observes that corruption has come to be understood as a by-product of Dravidian politics and uses the phrase ‘Pork Barrel Transfers’ which refers to the spending of taxpayers money by a politician to buy votes in the ensuing elections.

He also mentions about the infamous ‘Thirumangalam Formula’ (distribution of money to voters in the constituency) saying that it gained notoriety during the 2009 by-election that happened under DMK regime. He mentions that around ₹3000-5000 were given by the ruling DMK then to win the elections.

 

Source: Othisaivu

Jeyaranjan states in no uncertain terms that during by-elections each cabinet minister is given charge of 10,000 voters to ensure that they all vote for the current ruling party. He also says, ‘may be 20 Ministers’ would be deputed to do the deed of payment/bribing of ₹5000/- to each voter, while mentioning about the politics of the state.

He also mentions about how ‘sand’ became an important source of cash for the politicians from Dravidian parties and adds that they formed cartel cutting across party lines to bid low and win contracts for sand mining. He says that sand had become the perennial source of funds for the Dravidian political parties.

Source: Othisaivu

He also mentions that a major portion of the income earned through sand went to the ruling party chief. It is noteworthy to mention that  the ‘ruling party chief’ during 1996 to 2001 was M. Karunanidhi, father of the current CM of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin.

Source: Othisaivu

Jeyaranjan mentions the various ways by which all laws were flouted so that the sand mafia goons  ₹50 Crores, with just an ‘investment’ of ₹1 lakh.

K Ramaswamy was the sand lifting contractor who made huge money and it was the Public Works Department under the erstwhile DMK Govt that gave lease. A judgement to a law suit filed noted that awarding of the contract was borne out of ‘corrupt motive’ and ‘corrupt obligation.’

Jeyaranjan also had published a ‘rate card’ for the kickbacks that was paid by the sand lifting contractor for a given quarry in a given area.

– Local village Councillors: ₹10, 000/- per month

– Local village Panchayat President: ₹100, 000/- per month

– Local member of legislative assembly (MLA): ₹5, 00, 000/- per month

Jeyaranjan also notes that the following are included for monthly ‘payments’ – Union secretaries of the main Ruling party and the Opposition party, officials of ‘all departments concerned’, District Collectors, District Superintendents of Police, all relevant officers further down the line and local representatives of the ‘press’.

However, the most important point that Jeyaranjan drives home is that the chief of the ruling party of Tamil Nadu loots ₹10 crore per day through sand mafia. In effect, he directly accuses the late DMK patriarch Karunanidhi and his son MK Stalin, who is now his colleague in the Tamil Nadu State Development Policy Council, of massive corruption.

(This article is based on inputs from Othisaivu)

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TN: DMK Govt demolishes 20-yr-old Anjaneya temple in Mudichur

By
The Commune
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15 days ago, a Anjaneya temple in Varadharajapuram, Mudichur, in the Kancheepuram district, was ordered to be demolished by the District Revenue Officer Paneerselvam, as per the orders of the ruling DMK government. The order came from the High Court because of the alleged accusation that the temple was built on a water body. However, the managing staff of the temple said that Amudha IAS had cleared the temple saying that it was not built on any water body. Back then, this attempt was temporarily stopped by locals and women who are managing the temple.

Yesterday, the temple, which is almost 20 years old, has been demolished, in spite of heavy opposition from local residents and devotees. The Public Works Department and the Revenue Department, tried to demolish the temple with a JCB machine yesterday, but were initially stopped by devotees. The Police then arrested all the protesting devotees and held them in a Private wedding hall. The destruction was then carried out. This demolition has hurt the sentiments of many Hindus in the area. Ever since the DMK formed the government in May last year, so many temple in and around Tamil Nadu have been demolished, without giving the temple staff enough time to save the temple.

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Alleged ‘actor’ Siddharth justifies lewd sexual innuendo hurled at ace shuttler Saina, NCW takes cognizance

By
The Commune
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Controversial alleged ‘actor’ Siddharth who quite often hits the new for the wrong reasons finds himself in soup after he made a highly disrespectful and derogatory tweet against Olympic Medalist Saina Nehwal.

Siddharth stooped to a new low by posting a derogatory tweet laden with lewd sexual references against the Olympic Medalist badminton player who is also a member of the BJP.

Saina had put out a tweet condemning the security lapse that happened to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Punjab last week.

Reacting to this, Siddharth posted an abusive tweet targeting her for expressing support to the Prime Minister and coming down heavy on the Punjab administration.

Image

This triggered a social media storm following which the National Commission for Women has taken cognizance of the matter.

Since, Siddharth is a resident of Tamil Nadu, the NCW has written to the DGP of Tamil Nadu too.

Despite several women leaders and activists calling out Siddharth for his tweet, the actor has put another tweet justifying his remark.

https://twitter.com/Actor_Siddharth/status/1480449534190702594

This is not the first time Siddharth has indulged in cyber-bullying and online harassment.

Earlier in September 2021, the controversial actor unleashed abuses on a netizen who had questioned him.

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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.
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