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Pinarayi Vijayan sidelines KK Shailaja to give his son-in-law, an accused in a riots case, the minister post

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The Commune
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The sidelining of KK Shailaja, the former Health Minister, in the newly formed cabinet in Kerala has caused a stir in Kerala’s political arena. What has caused disbelief amongst the Communist party supporters is the Chief Minister’s son-in-law getting a berth. The decision of the Communist Party to have all the other ministers in the cabinet, except Pinarayi Vijayan, as new faces has come as a surprise to everyone.

The new government in Kerala comprises a 21-member cabinet. Many new ministers have been elected in the new government headed by Chief Minister Binarayi Vijayan. Especially MV Govindan, K. Radhakrishnan, KN Balagopal, P. Rajeev, VN Vasan, Saji Serian, V. Sivankutty, Mohammad Riyaz, Dr R. Bindu, Veena George, V. Abdul Rahman. These new ministers are about to assume office on the 20th. The four parties that have only one MLA from each of the parties in the Left Alliance are to be given 30 months each in the cabinet.

Mohammad Riyaz is the son-in-law of Pinarayi who contested and won from the Beyopre constituency. He has been was given a cabinet berth by father-in-law and CM Pinarayi Vijayan.

Mohammed Riyaz, who is the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) chief, is known for his controversial past and has been accused of orchestrating violence in Kerala.

Riyaz was sent to judicial custody in March this year for orchestrating violence near the Air India office in Kozhikode to protest against the air tariff hike and reduction in the flight services by the national carrier.

Health Minister KK Sailaja, who was in the last cabinet, does not feature in the present cabinet. MP Rajesh has been elected Speaker. TP Ramakrishnan has been elected as the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly.

AN Shamshir, senior leader of the Marxist Communist Party, said, “Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will assume office for the second time on the 20th. He was the only one who was already in the cabinet. The other 11 are new to the cabinet. The cabinet is made up of a mix of young and old. The decision not to give Sailaja a ministerial post was taken on behalf of the party.”

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Congress Toolkit row: Business partner of RaGa, Sonia Faleiro promotes ‘Indian Strain’ and ‘Modi Strain’

By
The Commune
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As the “Toolkit” to defame India and the Modi Government allegedly prepared by the Congress party unravels, it has emerged that writer Sonia Faleiro who happens to be the daughter of former Member of Parliament and senior Congress leader, Eduardo Faleiro had coined and promoted the term, “Modi Strain”.

Sonia Falaro said, “The Modi variant has made its way to Bangladesh, East Africa & the UK, proving that like its namesake it also prefers foreign travel to staying at home,”.

In her tweet, she also said, “I have named the so called Indian variant the Modi variant in honour of the person most directly responsible for it & also because the PM likes to name things after himself,”.

https://twitter.com/soniafaleiro/status/1391320419651702786

As India fights back with its indigenously developed vaccine and the new drug 2-Deoxy-D-glucose developed by DRDO, many took to social media to lash out at the Congress party saying that under the rudderless leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the party is doing everything to undermine the spirit of Indians, build a poor image of India abroad by supporting narratives and to bring aspersion on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In the toolkit, it was specifically mentioned to refer to the virus strain as the “the Modi strain” and “Use the phrase Indian strain whenever talking of the new mutant. Social media volunteers may call it ‘Modi strain’,” point 6 e) of the toolkit had advised.

However, after doing some close scrutiny, it turns out that Sonia Falaro who is married to Ulrik McKnight is a close business associate of Rahul Gandhi and a partner in Backops, the consulting firm Gandhi had founded in 2003. Rahul Gandhi had declared that he owned 83% of the shares in Backops when he filed his nomination during the 2004 General Election.

As the Congress party claims that this toolkit is fake, it cannot counter that people who have a very close connection to Rahul Gandhi are connected to it.

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Kejriwal gets a slap in the face from Singapore Govt, tweet about ‘Singapore Variant’ receives strong condemnation

By
The Commune
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In a major embarrassment for the Aam Aadmi Party and its chief Arvind Kejriwal, the Singapore Government has expressed strong objections to the tweet put out by Arvind Kejriwal in which he claimed that there is a new variant of the corona virus doing the rounds in Singapore and calling it a ‘Singapore variant’.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal  on May 18 put out a tweet saying that a new form of Corona has come to Singapore and is said to be extremely dangerous for children which could come as a third wave in India.

To this, the Singapore Embassy had reacted stating that there is no truth in the new COVID strain in Singapore.

Following this embarrassment, Kejriwal has got another whip from the Singapore Government itself. The Spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that the Singapore Government called in India’s High Commissioner today to convey strong objection to the Delhi CM’s tweet.

 

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Disruption in oxygen plant at Sterlite rectified, Vedanta issues statement

By
The Commune
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The Sterlite plant in Thoothukudi started the production and supply of oxygen, from Wednesday (12 May), bringing relief to doctors and patients in  7 to 8 districts of south Tamil Nadu.

In the first phase of producing and supplying oxygen to hospitals in Tamil Nadu, about 5 tonnes of oxygen produced from Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper Plant in Thoothukudi was brought to the Government Hospital at Thoothukudi on Thursday.

But a small defect was detected in the oxygen plant due to several months of not being in function. This had disrupted supply of oxygen for a few days.

However, Vedanta has issued a statement on May 19 that the disruption in the oxygen plant has been rectified, and have now restarted production.

The oxygen generated is being stored at onsite facilities and will be distributed as per the directions of the State government and concerned nodal officers.

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Youngsters from Ranipet invent low-cost oxygen concentrators

By
The Commune
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Naresh and Anish Mathew reside in the Arakkonam Kurinjinagar residential area of ​​Ranipettai district. Among them, Anish Mathew is working as an engineer in Bangalore. The two have been earning praise for their invention of low-cost oxygen concentrators which has been provided it to the District Collector to meet the oxygen requirement.

The demand for oxygen in hospitals across the state has been increasing every day. Considering the difficulty faced by the patients, Anish Mathew decided to invent an oxygen concentrator with low cost domestic products to reduce the high cost of importing oxygen-producing machines from abroad.

They have developed a machine capable of separating 21 per cent of the oxygen in the air using a chemical called zeolite and compressing it with a compressor. This machine is said cost ₹40,000.

Anish and Naresh met District Collector Gladson Pushparaj in person and explained the operation of the machine, asking for permission to test their machine and make it available for public use to meet the oxygen needs of lesser patients, which costs ₹1 to 2 lakh.

Following this, the District Collector assured that appropriate action would be taken to bring it to the use of the people and appreciated the initiative of the youth.

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Kids from Thirukurungudi conduct special prayers for the world to return to normalcy

By
The Commune
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With the second wave of the Wuhan virus pandemic ravaging the country, lives and livelihoods have been affected like never seen before. In light of this situation, kids from the Thirukurungudi village conducted a 11-day pooja for the world to heal from the pandemic.

Many in the village of Thirukurungudi have also been affected by the Wuhan virus with the number of cases in their village steadily increasing. The kids residing in the street where the Thirukungudi temple is located decided to conduct a 11-day pooja for people to be healthy and return to normalcy.

They performed the morning and evening poojas and made special offerings to the deity. They placed the Perumal deity on the chariot and took it around the streets of the village. The kids had adhered to COVID protocols of wearing masks and social distancing.

On the 11th day of the pooja, the theerthavari was held. The elders of the village appreciated and blessed the children for their act.

(With inputs from Dinamalar)

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Ration shop official from Mayiladuthurai cycles 56 kms to work amidst lockdown

By
The Commune
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Owing to the COVID lockdown restrictions, the police who are stationed at the border of each district is only letting those that have an e-pass and essential workers pass through. Strict rules are being followed to ensure that no one is crossing unauthorised and are being thoroughly checked.

In light of this, Ganapati, a ration worker from Mayiladuthurai cycling 56 KM every day to make sure that his services are not hindered by the lockdown has got attention. Since there are no other modes of transport, the efforts and dedicated spirit of the worker are being lauded.

It is worth mentioning that Ganapati has vision impairment and despite this, he cycles to work to ensure that the government’s schemes reaches people.

Speaking about this, Ganapati said, “ever since the imposition of the lockdown, people have been suffering to manage their livelihoods. So, this incentive will be of great use to them. I wanted to do my part to help people get out of this plight. Hence, I thought of cycling back and forth, though it is a difficult task to do.”

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COVID-19 second wave: Isha adopts 43 villages for relief work, reaches around 2 lakh villagers

By
The Commune
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Intensifying its ongoing pandemic relief activities in the community, Isha Outreach announced that it is now working in 43 villages around the Isha Yoga Center to mitigate the deadly impact of the second wave of the COVID pandemic. Around 2 lakh villagers in 17 Panchayats are reportedly being covered in the outreach.

Isha volunteers have been working on ground to support vulnerable rural communities who are severely hit by the loss of livelihoods. The outreach also supports doctors, nurses, healthcare workers and frontline non-healthcare workers such as the Police. The effort is part of the Isha COVID Action plan that has been ongoing since last April.

The relief activities include:

  1. A daily serving of a herbal health drink to 1.2 lakh people to improve their immunity.
  2. Disseminating two simple but powerful Yogic practices to 1.5 lakh people to enhance their immunity and increase oxygen level in the system. The processes – ‘Simha Kriya’ and ‘Sashtanga’ –have been specially designed by Sadhguru to counter the deadly effect of the virus on the respiratory system.
  3. Awareness building activities focused on prevention and vaccination.
  4. Distribution of protective gear and sanitizers to 2,500 frontline workers.
  5. Supporting sanitization of 7 Government Hospitals every day.
  6. Transport and logistics support to reach patients to treatment centres and hospitals.
  7. All necessary help is provided to corona patients and people in the containment zones wherever required.

Last year, Sadhguru offered the premises of the Yoga Center to the government of Tamil Nadu in the event of a breakout of the virus in the region. Premises of all Isha Vidhya schools in nine districts of the state have also been offered to the government as COVID care centers.

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‘Know-it-all’ Sumanth Raman does it again, stokes fear about DRDO’s 2-DG drug by questioning its efficacy

By
The Commune
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‘Dr’. Sumanth Raman, who participates in television news debates and is known for offering opinions on everything under the sun has questioned the efficacy of the 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

Sumanth, who had earlier tried to stoke fears about made-in-India vaccine COVAXIN has now called the DRDO developed drug ‘unproven stuff’.

This is not the first time that Sumanth Raman has resorted to fear mongering about vaccines. In April, when Tamil actor Vivekh passed away due to cardiac arrest, Sumanth Raman tried to stoke fears over corona vaccination linking the actor suffering a heart attack with him getting vaccinated for COVID.

This narrative was also peddled by the Tamil media as a result of which many in the state have been hesitant of taking the vaccine.

Before that, he had questioned the efficacy of COVAXIN and resorted to fear mongering about the vaccine saying that its ‘phase 3 trials’ haven’t been out.

The drug has been developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) lab, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, in collaboration with Hyderabad based pharmaceutical major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. The drug can be used to treat moderate and severe cases of Wuhan virus.

It has been cleared by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use in the treatment of Covid-19 patients earlier last week.

DRDO in a statement had earlier said that during the clinical trial, the drug helped in faster recovery of hospitalized patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence.

During the 2-DG trials, the drug showed faster symptomatic cure than Standard of Care (SoC) for patients on various endpoints in the efficacy trends.

Many on social media lashed out at Sumanth Raman saying that he is peddling unwarranted fear about the drug.

https://twitter.com/AskPradeepG/status/1394177648864030721

https://twitter.com/AmmU_MaanU/status/1394276979126398977

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‘Toolkit’ allegedly prepared by Congress reveals nefarious plans to defame India

By
The Commune
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sonia rahul gandhi national herald congress india

As India is fighting the Wuhan Virus together, screenshots of what is being alleged as a “toolkit” of the Congress party were exposed by various BJP leaders on Tuesday (18 May).

The Congress party led by the Gandhi family according to this toolkit has adopted various underhanded techniques to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP led central government during a time of great difficultly.

The document titled ‘Cornering Narendra Modi & Covid Mismanagement’ begins by highlighting how the ‘Kumbh mela’ is to be used to malign the Hindu festival while calling Eid as a ‘happy gathering’.  The “toolkit” suggests politicizing the congregation by repeatedly labeling it as a ‘super spreader’.

The toolkit created alleged by the AICC states “Use the phrase Indian Strain whenever talking of new mutant. Social Media volunteers can call it Modi Strain,“.

It also gives instructions to ‘dismantle the image of Modi’ by ‘targeting Gujarat’ and by using ‘dramatic pictures of dead bodies and cremation’.   

It also says how international media can be used to attack PM Modi and also using ‘liberal intellectuals’ to attack PM CARES’.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has attributed this “toolkit” to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Research Department.

However, Congress has denied any involvement and has called the “toolkit” dated May 2021 a “forgery”. It has said that it will file FIRs against BJP president J P Nadda and spokesperson Sambit Patra.

The Chairman of the AICC Research Department Rajeev Gowda called the “toolkit” is fake and in a tweet said, “BJP is propagating a fake “toolkit” on “COVID-19 mismanagement” and attributing it to AICC Research Department. We are filing an FIR for forgery against J P Nadda and Sambit Patra. When our country is devastated by COVID, instead of providing relief, BJP shamelessly concocts forgeries,”.

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra in a tweet said, “Disgusting to say the least ..Rahul Gandhi wanting to use this opportunity of Pandemic to destroy the image of PM Modi. Congress workers instructed to call the mutant strain as “Modi strain” No stone left unturned to scar the name of India with the help of Foreign Journalists!!”.

 

The toolkit has the Congress symbol (watermark) on the top right corner of each shared page, and has instruction to use dramatic photographs of funerals and dead bodies as made famous by left journalist Barkha Dutt and Rana Ayub and says that such journalists can be facilitated by the local Congress cadre.

One of the screenshots shared by Patra states that it is important to work with “friendly journalists” to malign the BJP on social media and all effort must be made to amplify requests for Covid related help and response should only be made if the Indian Youth Congress’ handle is tagged.

The toolkit also contains instructions for journalists and social media influencers who should give top priority.

Also, on crosshairs in this toolkit is the systematic criticism of the Central Vista Project which incidentally the Congress party had proposed in 2012.

The term “toolkit” became famous after environmental activists Greta Thunberg on social media released a set of instructions on how to agitate and protests against the government during the height of the farmer’s protests which many experts believe led to the second wave of the Wuhan virus in Delhi and other parts of India. 

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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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