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Swapna Suresh moves HC for bail in Kerala gold smuggling case

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The Commune
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Swapna Suresh, the main accused in the ‘diplomatic gold smuggling’ case, has filed a bail application with the Kerala High Court in response to the National Investigation Agency’s FIR against her.

Swapna, the main accused in the case before the NIA special court in Ernakulam, is charged under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA. Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Ziyad Rahman A. A will hear the matter on Tuesday.

She has claimed that the charges leveled against her do not constitute an offense under the UAPA and that the charge sheet lacks sufficient evidence to link her to the alleged gold smuggling. Swapna Suresh filed a bail petition in the High Court after her plea for bail before a special court hearing was denied twice.

Swapna had been detained for smuggling gold through diplomatic channels as well as illegally smuggling large quantities of gold from foreign countries. She was accused of engaging in the criminal conspiracy with the aim and knowledge that it may endanger the nation’s economic security. In her plea, she has rejected all of the charges and claimed her innocence.

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DMK heavyweights upset as Stalin hands government posts to allies

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The Commune
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In terms of government appointments, Chief Minister MK Stalin appears to be sympathetic to his party’s allies, as seen by the recent nomination of senior Congress politician Peter Alphonse to head the Tamil Nadu Minority Commission.

There are around 30 positions vacant in various public entities in the State, therefore the government is likely to make additional appointments. While Stalin’s approach is well received by the DMK’s allies, a portion of the party’s members is enraged because their chances have been harmed.

The Newindianexpress, which interviewed Congressmen, said in its article, “Peter Alphonse’s appointment won’t be the last. We expect more Congressmen to get similar posts. Even in the previous DMK regime, the then Chief Minister Karunanidhi appointed Congressmen to the State Planning Commission and the Library Authority Committee. The head of the Palm Products Development Board was also from the Congress.”

Other allies of DMK, such as the MDMK, have indicated that their members expect similar government jobs and that some of their supporters may be appointed vice-chancellors of universities.

On the other hand, a group of DMK heavyweights, who expected government posting, are dissatisfied. A DMK leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he welcomes the nomination of Pon Kumar of the Tamil Nadu Peasants and Workers Party as head of the Tamil Nadu Construction Employees Welfare Board, according to the Newindianexpress. “He was an ally but was not allocated a seat in the polls and he campaigned for the party well. But Congress already got 25 seats. So why to give them such posts?” he said.

Another DMK leader stated that there are DMK men who have worked for the party for years and should be rewarded. “The allies may abandon us in the next elections,” the leader said. As additional selections are announced in the coming days, the DMK may be able to bargain with its partners in the next local body elections.

(with inputs from NewIndianExpress)

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DMK office bearer charges usurious rent in Erode vegetable market, angry traders take to streets to protest

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The Commune
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The DMK office bearer, who leased the Erode Netaji vegetable market, has hiked entry fees and daily rent manifold, causing Erode vegetable traders to demonstrate on the streets.

There are allegations that DMK cadres charge an exorbitant rates in the Nethaji market in Erode district, which has 800 shops and operates from VOC park.

The merchants of the Nethaji Market, who were affected by the hike in rent, protested by throwing vegetables on the street, causing a stir in the area. The merchants allegedly received death threats from DMK cadres, when they questioned DMK cadres charging an excessive fee that is far more than the amount set by the government.

Local traders alleged that the DMK cadres were charging one rupee for a bundle of curry leaves and ten rupees for a bundle of cauliflower. They also charge 5 rupees for a tomato box and 10 rupees for a bike token, both of which were previously not charged.

Traders alleged that DMK Agriculture wing State Joint Secretary Kurinji N Sivakumar and leaseholder Arun Prasad are to blame for the increase in Erode vegetable market rent.

Traders called off the demonstration after receiving assurances from police who arrived on the scene after the protest that they would take action against the DMK’s office-bearer.

(with inputs from NewsJ)

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“It won’t be of our prestige to conduct talks with TN”: K’taka Congress head DK Shivakumar on Mekedatu

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The Commune
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Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D.K. Shivakumar told reporters on Monday (July 5) that Chief Minister Yediyurappa should not conduct any talks with his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin on the Mekedatu dam issue.

Speaking to reporters in Mangalore, the Congress leader said “It won’t be of our prestige for our state Chief Minister Yediyurappa to go for peace talks with the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in the matter of Mekadatu”.

“No matter what government comes to power in Tamil Nadu, they will come together in their state affairs. Therefore, Chief Minister Yediyurappa must also protect the interests of our state. The Mekedatu Dam project should be called for tender immediately and work should start. The Supreme Court has also said the same.” he said.

He asked what was the need for conducting talks with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister about starting the Mekedatu project and added that the project was of great importance to Bengaluru city. He said that the plan was drafted during the Congress regime and that it has got the requisite environmental clearance.

“It is our plan. Going for talks won’t be of prestige to our state”, the Congress leader said.

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Ministry of Tourism signs MOU with Yatra.com to strengthen hospitality and tourism industry

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The Commune
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Ministry of Tourism, Government of India to strengthen the Hospitality & Tourism Industry signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Yatra on 02nd July 2021. The event was organized under the arrangement between Ministry of Tourism and Quality Council of India (QCI) for implementing measures for strengthening the Indian Hospitality & Tourism Industry.

The primary objective of this MoU is to provide extensive visibility to accommodation units, which have self-certified themselves on SAATHI (System for Assessment, Awareness & Training for the Hospitality Industry) on the OTA platform. The MoU also outlines both parties to encourage Units to register on NIDHI and thereby on SAATHI and encourage local tourism Industry with appropriate safeguards for curbing spread of COVID-19. The idea is also to gather more information on accommodation units in order to gain actionable insights & designing evidence based & targeted policy measures and to promote safe, honourable and sustainable tourism.

The Ministry of Tourism & Yatra will endeavour to take necessary steps to encourage and promote strategic and technical co-operation in the Indian hospitality & tourism sector for overall benefit in the identified areas through the MoU. It is expected that in the future more OTAs will come forward for signing such MOUs in order to strengthen the Hospitality & Tourism Industry of India.

Signing of MOU was done in the presence of Rakesh Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism Sanjay Singh, Deputy Director General (H&R), Ministry of Tourism; Dr. A Raj, Senior Director, QCI; Mr. Aditya Gupta, Senior Vice President, Yatra and Mr. Akshay Mehta, General Manager, Yatra.

(Published from PIB)

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Excess irrigation over northern India shifting monsoons towards northwest risking agriculture

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The Commune
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Climate researchers have discovered that excess irrigation over northern India shifts the September monsoon rainfall towards the north-western part of the subcontinent increases widespread weather extremes over Central India. These meteorological hazards expose the vulnerable farmers and their crops to risks of failure.

The study which establishes that monsoon precipitation is sensitive to the choice of irrigation practices in South Asia can help plan agricultural practices in this region.

South Asia is one of the most heavily irrigated regions of the world, largely using groundwater, and its major summer crop is paddy which is cultivated in water flooded fields. Hence it was pertinent to study how such practices can influence the monsoons which form the fulcrum of this agro-based economy.

Subimal Ghosh, Professor in Department of Civil Engineering and Convener at Interdisciplinary Programme in Climate Studies (IDPCS), a Centre of Excellence at IIT Bombay supported by the Department of Science and Technology and his climate group, investigated the impact of agricultural water use on the Indian Summer Monsoon using a climate model.

The research published in the journal ‘Geophysical Research Letters’ recently showed that monsoon precipitation is sensitive to the choice of irrigation practices in South Asia. In another study, Prof. Subhankar Karmakar from IDPCS, IIT Bombay, and his research group identified for the first time that risks for rice and wheat have increased in the recent decade, with wheat at a two-fold higher magnitude than rice. The study followed the Assessment Report 5 of IPCC definition to quantify ‘Risk’ and has been published in ‘Environmental Research Letters.’

Increasing crop risk is predominantly driven by the decreasing number of farmers, and the wheat risk is also attributed to increasing minimum temperatures during the crop growing season. This study provided compelling evidence indicating that the hydro-climatic hazards related to precipitation extremes and drought are specifically alarmingly increasing the crops risk as compared to temperature extremes.

Another finding obtained from this study was extreme rainfall in recent decades in Central India has been increasing, and this is also caused by an increase in irrigation and consequent increase in evapotranspiration (the sum of evaporation from the land surface plus transpiration from plants)

 

India offers CoWIN platform as a digital public good to the world

By
The Commune
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed the CoWin Global Conclave as India offered CoWIN platform as a digital public good to the world to combat COVID19.

The Prime Minister began with conveying his condolences for all the lives lost to the pandemic, in all the countries. The Prime Minister remarked that there is no parallel to such a pandemic in hundred years and no nation, however powerful, can solve a challenge like this in isolation. “The biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic is that for humanity and the human cause, we have to work together and move ahead together. We have to learn from each other and guide each other about our best practices” said the Prime Minister.

Underlining India’s Commitment for sharing experiences, expertise and resources with the global community, the Prime Minister also expressed India’s eagerness to learn from global practices. Emphasizing the importance of technology in the fight against pandemic PM Modi said that software is one area in which there are no resource constraints. That’s why India made its Covid tracking and tracing App open source as soon as it was technically feasible. He pointed out that with nearly 200 million users, the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app is a readily available package for developers. Having been used in India, the Prime Minister told the global audience, you can be sure that it has been tested in the real world for speed and scale.

The Prime Minister said that given the importance of vaccination, India decided to adopt a completely digital approach while planning its vaccination strategy. This helps people in proving that they have been vaccinated, expediting the normalcy in the post pandemic globalized world. A safe, secure and trustworthy proof helps people to establish when, where and by whom they have been vaccinated. Digital approach also helps in tracking the usage of vaccination and minimizes the wastage.

In line with India’s philosophy of considering the whole world as one family, the Prime Minister said, Covid vaccination platform CoWin is being prepared to be made open source. Soon, it will be available to any and all countries.

PM Modi stressed that today’s Conclave is the first step to introduce this platform to the global audience. The Prime Minister informed that through CoWin, India has administered 350 million doses of Covid vaccines, including 9 million people in one day, few days ago. Furthermore, vaccinated people do not need to carry around fragile pieces of paper to prove anything. It is all available in digital format. The Prime Minister also highlighted the customizability to the software as per the local requirements of the interested countries. The Prime Minister concluded with the hope that guided by the approach of ‘One Earth, One Health’, humanity will certainly overcome this pandemic.

(Published from PIB)

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Notorious Christian pastor with Maoist links and accused of instigating Bhima Khoregaon riots dies at 84

By
The Commune
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Father Stanislaus Lourduswamy popularly known as Stan Swamy died in a hospital in Mumbai on Monday (July 5) ahead of his bail hearing. He was put on ventilator support after his health deteriorated on Sunday.

Doctors had informed the Bombay High Court that Stan Swamy breathed his last at 1:30 PM. The Bombay High Court had on July 3 said that Stan Swamy can stay in the hospital till July 6.

Stan Swamy was arrested on October 28, 2020 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after his involvement in the Bhima Khoregaon clashes was unearthed. He was earlier arrested in June 2018 in Ranchi on similar accusations

The Bhima Khoregaon – Elgar Parishad case refers to the inflammatory and seditious speeches made by left wing ‘intellectuals’ and ‘activists’ to create unrest which led to violent clashes.

It was found that he and his co-accused were members of frontal organizations working on behalf of the banned CPI (Maoists). He was slapped with the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act which imposes stringent bars on the grant of bail.

Swamy, who claims to be suffering from several ailments, including Parkinson’s disease, had moved the Bombay High Court earlier this year through his advocate Mihir Desai, seeking medical treatment and interim bail on health grounds. Last month, the NIA had filed an affidavit before the HC opposing Swamy’s bail plea. It had said there did not exist a “conclusive proof” of his medical ailments. The NIA alleged that Swamy was a Maoist, who had hatched a conspiracy to create unrest in the country.

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Modi Govt engages in quiet and tactful diplomacy, seeks international approval for Covaxin

By
The Commune
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As Bharat Biotech, the indigenous manufacturers of Covaxin the anti-Covid 19 vaccine put out data that proves its very high efficacy rate, the Central government is reportedly engaged in quiet diplomacy to assist in getting international approval.

As of now, Covaxin has already been approved by around 15 countries around the world, and more approvals for the vaccine by several countries are in motion during July-August.

The Indian government has been spearheading quiet diplomacy and has advised Bharat Biotech to prepare for navigating the complex world of geo-economics transparently and through submission of data at global institutions and various world capitals.

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech India Ltd recently gave the results of the Phase-3 trial of Covaxin that involved nearly 25,800 volunteers spanning 25 hospitals across India with a 93.4 per cent effectiveness against severe COVID-19 disease.

Bharat Biotech has applied for regulatory approvals in more than 50 countries and emergency use listing with WHO Geneva.

“Bharat Biotech has now received approvals from more than 15 countries, with approvals from several additional countries to be received during July-August 2021. Now that results from Phase-III final analysis have been published, more countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America have come forward to grant EUAs for Covaxin,” the person quoted a person familiar with the development.

“During such a devastating pandemic it is morally and ethically reprehensible that countries place arbitrary and unilateral restrictions on travel. It is extremely important that countries mutually accept regulatory systems and medicinal products to encourage a quicker return to normalcy and restoration of lives and livelihoods. During the early days of the pandemic, several categories of medicines manufactured in India were accepted by countries worldwide, a similar note of reciprocity is the need of the hour,” pointed out a source.

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Edappadi Palaniswami slams DMK govt for filing false cases to suppress freedom of expression

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The Commune
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AIADMK Gen Sec Edappadi Palaniswani Demands DMK Govt End 'Cruel' Use Of Students For Agricultural Survey. stalin anna university sexual assault case eps delimitation

On Sunday, Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami slammed the DMK government for allegedly filing fake charges against AIADMK’s IT wing cadres.

“A case has been 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,” he stated in a press release.

Warning DMK that the AIADMK will not sit idle if the police resort to arm twisting methods, he said,” In addition, about 120 AIADMK cadre have been threatened with having their social media posts removed. We will have to resort to legal action if the administration and police do not halt this excess.”

He said that police harassment is being perpetrated against party officials and cadres, especially IT cell office bearers, and he urged the chief minister to intervene quickly and put an end to the harassment.

He added that criticism is inevitable in a democracy and that the DMK must accept that the government will face harsh criticism from the opposition. He also cautioned that resorting to police cases against critics will be fiercely opposed.

Meanwhile, the AIADMK is planning a massive IT campaign to expose the government’s failures on the issue of Covid management, as well as faults in its policies. The group also intends to make public the identities of police officers who are threatening party members and the ministers who are responsible for such activities.

Since assuming power, the DMK has suppressed freedom of expression by filing false charges against cadres of opposition parties who actively criticize the DMK government.

A few days back, BJP IT wing office-bearer Saravana Kumar from Dindigul was arrested for allegedly criticizing the DMK government and later released following a protest by BJP cadres in front of the police station.

It is worth noting that, even before DMK came to power, DMK MP from Dharmapuri Dr. Senthilkumar threatened to put popular YouTuber Maridhas and political commentator Kishore K Swamy behind bars once the party comes to power.

On January 2, the DMK MP took a jibe at Maridhas who following Rajinikanth’s announcement to quit politics, issued a statement saying that he was taking a sabbatical as he felt ‘tired’ and needed some rest and peace to sort out further scheme of things. In response to this, Senthilkumar said “You are already saying ‘you are tired’, ‘you need rest’. How fair is it? The game has not even begun. It is from now that ‘special’ legal incidents are about to start”.

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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.
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