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Rihanna, Greta Thunberg earn the ire of Indians by tweeting in support of farmer protests

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The Commune
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Rihanna and Greta Thunberg tweet in support of the farmers protests

Pop star Rihanna on Tuesday tweeted about the farmers protests at Delhi’s borders, earning heavy criticism from Indian netizens on Twitter. Rihanna posted a CNN news report about the temporary internet shutdown around New Delhi and tweeted, “why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest”.

Rihanna ―who has earlier faced allegations of cocaine abuse when a video of her snorting a white substance at the Coachella music festival in 2015 had gone viral ― faced a lot of flak from Indians for her tweet.

Quote tweeting Rihanna’s tweet, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut lashed out with this tweet, “No one is talking about it because they are not farmers they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like USA. Sit down you fool, we are not selling our nation like you dummies.”

https://twitter.com/KanganaTeam/status/1356640083546406913

Former cricketer Pragyan Ojha too replied to the pop star, and said that Indians don’t need an outsider poking their nose into the nation’s internal matters.

Swedish radical ‘climate activist’ and teenager Greta Thunberg also tweeted in support of the protests on Wednesday, when she shared the same CNN news report that Rihanna had earlier shared and tweeted, “We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India”.

The 18 year-old Thunberg, who once said that politicians should be “put to the wall” and later had to apologise for it, has been panned by critics in the past for her ill-informed opinions on the nature of climate action.

On 26 January, Republic Day, the farmer-agitators had rioted across the national capital, damaging public property and severely injuring over a hundred policemen. They had also hoisted Sikh and Khalistani flags on top of the Red Fort.

Journalist Ashok Shrivastav, on Twitter, shared a heart-warming cartoon created by artist ArtKrafter, pointing out the pains suffered by policemen and their families by last week’s riots.

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Kolkata NGO launches online COVID memorial

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The Commune
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An online memorial – nationalcovidmemorial.in – was launched at the weekend by the Covid Care Network, a non-governmental organisation led by a team of doctors in the eastern city of Kolkata. CCN was founded by Abhijit Chowdhury, professor and head of the department of hepatology at the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research in Kolkata. This is an effort to pay homage to the lives lost due to this dreaded disease that has been wreaking havoc on the world.

Dr. Abhijit Chowdhury of CCN said, “A national COVID memorial is an initiative for Indians to keep alive the memories of their loved ones who succumbed to the disease. This is a place where everybody can join.” He added, “This memorial will restore some dignity of the people who died and were cremated without even their families being allowed to attend the funeral.”

Families who have lost a loved one due to the pandemic can simply upload the details of the deceased, along with their photo and death certificate and a tribute post will be posted on this website after verification of phone number.

The country’s Covid-19 tally rose to 1,07,66,245 on Tuesday with 8,635 fresh infections, according to a report in the Scroll. The pandemic has led to 1,54,486 fatalities in India in total. Ninety-four deaths occurred during the past 24 hours.

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Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu appointed to National Security Advisory Board

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The Commune
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The founder of Zoho Corporation, Padma Shri Sridhar Vembu, has been added to the newly reconstituted National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), as per reports by stratnewsglobal.

Vembu based at a village in Tamil Nadu, has been nominated to the NSAB that acts as an advisory body to the revamped and expanded National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) headed by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. He will be one of the exceptional talents drawn from the private sector advising the government on issues of national security. 

NSAB members normally have a two-year tenure and only a few members from the previous Board have been retained and apart from Vembu former ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan, Anshuman Tripathy from IIM Bangalore and Arun K. Singh, former ambassador to France and the United States have been added to the NSCS.

Tilak Devasher, a Pakistan specialist and former senior intelligence officer, Aloke Joshi, former Chairman of NTRO, Prof. K Kamakoti from IIT Madras, Lt Gen. Subrata Saha (Retd), former Deputy Chief of the Indian Army, Lt Gen SL Narasimhan, a China specialist and head of the MEA’s in-house think tank, Centre for Contemporary China Studies (CCCS), and Bimal Patel, who heads the Ahmedabad based Rashtriya Raksha University have been re-nominated to the NSAB.

NSAB Chairman, diplomat RK Raghavan, India’s former Ambassador to Russia, has ended his term and it is not clear who will head the newly reconstituted body. 

Each of the NSAB is an expert in their respective field and is assigned a particular study that is submitted to the NSCS for analysis and then implementation through various ministries.

NSA Ajit Doval who acts at the single-point adviser to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) across six verticals—defence, internal security, strategic (nuclear) matters, space, external affairs and intelligence—receives inputs and advice from the NSAB, the three deputy NSAs and a military adviser who handle different portfolios.

As of now Rajinder Khanna, former head of India’s foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), is deputy NSA looking after space, cyber technology. Former diplomat Pankaj Saran is in charge of strategic and maritime affairs. Former IPS officer Datta Padsalgikar handles the internal security portfolio while Lt Gen VG Khandare (Retd), who headed the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) before his retirement from the Army, is now the Military Adviser in the NSCS, heading the military wing that carries out assessments and analysis on the armed forces.

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12 kids in Maharashtra given sanitiser drops instead of polio drops

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The Commune
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In a shocking incident that happened in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal village, 12 children were given sanitizer drops by ASHA healthcare workers instead of the polio vaccine. This incident happened at the Bhanbora PHC (Primary Health Centre), where children aged 1-5 years had gathered for the polio vaccination programme.

All the children who were affected were below the age of 5. After one of the kids had complained of uneasiness, all the 12 kids who were administered with these drops were admitted at the Government Medical College at Yavatmal. Yavatmal’s Zilla Parishad CEO Shrikrishna Panchal said 12 children below 5 years of age were given sanitiser instead of polio drops. They were later reported to be of stable condition.

“Twelve children, under five years of age, were given hand sanitiser drops instead of polio vaccine in Yavatmal. They were admitted to the hospital and are doing fine now. A health worker, doctor and an ASHA worker will be suspended. An investigation is underway,” Panchal told ANI on Monday. Yavatmal Collector M D Singh visited the hospital and enquired about the condition of the children, the official said.

The polio vaccination drive was started this year by Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India by administering polio drops to children less than five years old at Rashtrapati Bhawan on January 30.

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Lady SI from Srikakulam carries corpse on her shoulder for 2km to perform final rites

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The Commune
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Kasibugga SI K. Sirisha, a female sub-inspector from Srikakulam has earned praise far and wide after she carried an unattended body for 2KM on her shoulders. She had seen this corpse on the outskirts of Adavi Kotturu village in Palasa municipality. After noticing that no one had taken any step to pay their last respects, she had then proceeded to gather a couple of passersby and carried the body through uneven roads and paddy fields.

She had then handed over the body to a charitable organization for performing last rites. This is not her first act of philanthropy, as she had also been donating a part of her salary for charity ever since she joined in service.

This act by Sirisha started trending on social media, and praise started pouring in for her from all directions. DGP Gautam Sawang lauded the woman Sub-Inspector for carrying the mortal remains of an unknown man in Srikakulam district for final rites. “Kasibugga lady Sub-Inspector Sirisha has carried an unidentified dead body which was found in the fields of Adivikotturu village in Palasa in Kasibugga municipality of Srikakulam,” said an official statement.

When asked about this, Sirisha had said, “I joined the police force to serve people and extend my services to the society. The dead deserve dignity too. I only did my duty.” Sirisha is a mother to a 12-year-old. The woman police officer said that it was her father’s dream to see one of his four daughters join the force.

Chinese criminals who sold saline water as COVID-19 vaccine arrested

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The Commune
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fake coronavirus vaccines

As the global community is fast rejecting the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China, there has been a further significant embarrassment to the Communist Party of China. A fake Covid-19 vaccine racket has been busted where bottled saline water was being sold as COVID-19 vaccine, ABC News has reported.

As per the report, 3,000 doses of this fake COVID-19 vaccine have been confiscated and 80 individuals have been arrested in police raids in the cities of Beijing, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces. It is believed that this racket has been going on since September of last year.

The accused have been “making huge profits by filling saline solution into injectors to process and make fake coronavirus vaccines and selling them at a higher price”, reports said.

China has been vaccinating its populace using vaccines developed by Sinovac and Sinopharm. However, due to its low efficacy rate of just over 50 per cent, trials of this vaccine were halted in Brazil due to an adverse effect. Also, another South American country Peru had already suspended the ongoing clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine made by Chinese drug giant Sinopharm after detecting neurological problems in one of its test volunteers.

It must also be noted that China also supplied faulty test kits for many countries along with sub-standard Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits and in that process made billions of dollars off of the misery of many nations.

At the same time, India has been lauded for its efforts to provide vaccines to almost all its neighbouring nations, showing magnanimity and generosity. India’s “Vaccine Maitri” programme is gaining momentum and as the world’s largest vaccine-maker, many nations have approached India to help procure supplies to immunise their respective populations from the Wuhan virus. 

India has already supplied to the COVID-19 vaccine to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Brazil and now will be extending help to South Africa with the indigenously developed vaccine made by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the Pune based National Institute of Virology.

‘Cave dwelling monk’ donates ₹ 1 crore for Ayodhya Ram Mandir

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The Commune
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Ram Mandir contributions

Swami Shankar Das aka ‘Fakkad Baba’ ― a monk who has been living in a cave for the last 50 years and more ― has made headlines after he donated ₹1 crore to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The 83 year-old monk had received contributions from other devotees that added up to the amount that he then donated.

“I’ve been living in a cave for over half a century. As a seer, I live on donations from the devotees visiting the cave. When I came to know about the VHP campaign, I decided to donate the amount for Ram Mandir for which we all have been dreaming for long,” said Swami Shankar Das while speaking to the media. Initially, Das wanted his donation to be anonymous but when the photograph was clicked with him holding the cheque, he was alright with the story becoming an inspiration for others to donate for the cause, according to Hindustan Times.

The VHP handed this over to the Jharkhand wing of RSS, who then thanked Swami Shankar Das and accepted the donation.

In Uttarakhand, donations of ₹5 crores have been collected so far. The country’s young and old alike are contributing to the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. A 10-year-old girl in Nainital donated ₹2,500 for the temple from her piggy bank savings.

Indian-American Bhavya Lal appointed as acting chief of staff for NASA

By
The Commune
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Feature Image Credits: The Indian Express

In another feather on the cap of Indian-Americans, Bhavya Lal has been appointed as its acting chief of staff for the United States (US)’s apex space research body National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),  reports Times of India.

As per a statement issued by NASA, Lal has previously served as a member of the research staff at the Institute of Defence Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) from 2005 to 2020 and has also led the analysis of space technology, strategy and policy for NASA, White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Space Council, the US’ Department of Defence and the intelligence community.

Lal is a highly accomplished academic and as per her updated bio in NASA, Lal “brings extensive experience in engineering and space technology, serving as a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) from 2005 to 2020. There, she led the analysis of space technology, strategy, and policy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and National Space Council, as well as federal space-oriented organizations, including NASA, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community.”

Lal was also a member of President Joseph Biden’s presidential transition agency review team for NASA and oversaw the space body’s transition to the new political administration from the previous one.

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Budget 2021: FM Sitharaman announces ₹14,788 crore for Bengaluru Metro

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The Commune
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Bengaluru Metro

The Modi government has announced several measures to improve urban infrastructure and public transport services in its efforts promote ‘Ease of Living’ in India’s silicon valley.

In her Budget speech yesterday (1 February), Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman laid emphasis on public transport in urban areas through expansion of metro rail networks and augmentation of city bus services.

For the traffic-congested city of Bengaluru, Sitharaman announced an extension of funds worth ₹14,788 crore to construct 58.19 km of metro rail in Bengaluru city. This comes under the Phase 2A and 2B plans of the Bengaluru metro rail.

Phase 2A is the proposed 18.23 km long elevated line to connect KR Puram and the Central Silk Board along the outer ring road (ORR), while Phase 2B purports to connect KR Puram to Bengaluru airport and spans a length of 37 km.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday released a statement, saying, “An amount of ₹14,778 crore has been announced for (the) Bengaluru Metro Project, 58 km of the new route can be constructed due to this provision. This is the biggest gift to Karnataka from our own Finance Minister.”

Union Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, “The support from the Government of India for building this sustainable mobility infrastructure will help the city in realising its economic potential. This line will help the IT & BT sector. In particular, it will improve multimodal mobility integration and act as a catalyst for mobility-oriented development.” Also, the all-important “Airport Line” has a June 2025 deadline, he added.

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd Managing Director Ajay Seth on Monday said that this was the first time a specific deadline ― March this year ― for the green signal to be given to this line of the metro rail.

ORR is among the densest corridors in the IT capital of India, with large IT Parks that house major companies such as Intel, AOL, Cisco and many more. Each year billions of dollars are wasted because employees reach their offices late, and the daily commute also adds to the physical stress of thousands of IT professionals.

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India and US to conduct important military exercise in Rajasthan to bolster counter-terrorism operations

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The Commune
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Feature Image Credits: ADGPI - Indian Army

India and the United States continue to strengthen bilateral partnership and engagement as the armies of the two nations will be holding important combat exercise in Rajasthan’s Mahajan Field Firing ranges from 8-21 February, reports Times of India.

Called “Yudh Abhyas”, it will be the first such engagement between India and the US since President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took over.

The US Army has sent a contingent that would include a brigade headquarters and a battalion group of around 250 soldiers from its Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Meanwhile, India will also be fielding an infantry brigade headquarters and a battalion group from the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Light Infantry.

The exercise is aimed to further the interoperability in counter-terrorism operations in semi-urban, semi-desert terrain, along with attack helicopters and infantry combat vehicles.

India will also be holding another important military exercise called “Vajra Prahar” land combat exercise between Indian and US special security forces in March. India for a long time has been working towards establishing a special forces command like the American Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

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