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COVID Vaccination not mandatory: TN Health Secretary

By
The Commune
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Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Dr. J. Radhakrishnan has said that it is not mandatory for people to get vaccinated for COVID19 and only those who voluntarily come forward would be administered the vaccine.

The first batch of  5.56 lakh doses of Serum Institute’s Covishield corona virus vaccines are arriving in Tamil Nadu today from Pune. The vaccination will start from January 16th.

Dr. Radhakrishnan during speaking to the press said that in the first phase, 5,56,500 Covshield vaccines from Serum Institute and 20,000 COVAXIN vaccines from Bharat Biotech will arrive in Tamil Nadu. A person will be vaccinated twice at 30-day intervals. Vaccines are to be first administered to frontline workers like doctors, nurses, hygiene workers, etc. Guidelines from the Central Government are awaited for who will be administered Covishield and COVAXIN.

The vaccines have now arrived at the Chennai airport. From here, they will be taken to 10 locations in the state.

IMK’s efforts pay off: Christian cemetery built right in front of temple by local Church to be shifted

By
The Commune
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The Government of Tamil Nadu in response to a legal notice, has said that the Christian cemetery built right in front of the Manimoortheeswaram Uchishta Ganapathy Temple near Tirunelveli will be shifted to another place in order to avoid law and order problems.

The notice served by Legal Rights Observatory, an independent legal activism collective, to Tirunelveli City Police Commissioner Deepak Damoor and Deputy Commissioner (Law & Order) S. Saravanan, stated that the said plot of land belonging to the temple was illegally encroached by Sacred Heart Church, claiming title and ownership over the land.

It stated that despite the devotees requesting to clear the Christian groups from the place and register an FIR, no action was taken rather the National Security Act (NSA) was slapped against the devotees. It also pointed out that the police refused to even register a complaint against the encroachers citing the above reason.

“Thus it seems the Thachanellur police has given up general recourse in the event of any untoward incident and appears to have taken shelter under the National Security Act which is unlawful and illegal. It indicates the ulterior intention of police to support the illegal encroachers of temple land”, the legal notice date January 1, 2021 read.

The legal notice further added that it was a sad state of affairs where the harasser is allowed to play the victim card and has the magnitude to derail the process of law referring to the incident where Christian pastors accompanied by several members from Tamil Nadu political parties excluding BJP had met Tirunelveli District Collector Mrs. Shilpa Prabhakar Satish IAS to slap NSA against the members of the IMK.

The legal notice stated that invoking of the NSA without reasonable grounds called for legal action and had asked the respondents to respond within 7 days.

Now, the Government of Tamil Nadu has asked to arrange some other place for the grave yards to avoid law and order problems.

Speaking to The Commune, IMK founder leader Arjun Sampath called it a victory for the entire Hindu community in Tamil Nadu. “We welcome the decision taken by the Tamil Nadu Government and thank them for it. We hope it is implemented soon and the graveyards are cleared.”

Background

On the night of October 17, 9 cadres belonging to Indu Makkal Katchi demolished a few graves in the cemetery spanning around 2 acres built right in front of the Manimoortheeswaram Uchishta Ganapathy Temple.

Locals and temple devotees had protested against the coming up of the cemetery since the beginning.

In November 2019, Legal Rights Observatory, an non-profit legal activism organization working towards safeguarding Indian interest had filed a complaint with the Tirunelveli District Collector requesting for the removal of encroachment of Christian cemetery.  Responding to that complaint, the district administration had stated that the Christian cemetery is located on a private land. It added that section 145 has been imposed on the piece of land and burial rituals had been stopped due to the objections raised by the devotees and local people.

However, burial rituals kept continuing in a portion of the cemetery. Around 50 graves is said to have come up in that portion.

Repeated pleas by the locals and Hindu organizations to Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments department and district administration did not seem to have made any progress following which the IMK cadres committed the act and surrendered at the police station.

Following this, Christian pastors and the political parties had met the Tirunelveli District Collector Mrs. Shilpa Prabhakar Satish IAS  asking for charging the IMK members under the stringent National Security Act.

The eight IMK cadres were lodged at Nanguneri sub-jail. The NSA has been revoked for 7 of them and are out on bail while one more person still remains in jail.

Pope makes changes to Catholic laws: Women can now read the Gospel and serve at Mass but cannot become priests

By
The Commune
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In what one could perceive as progress, the Vicker of Christ, Pope Francis has made some changes in the laws of the Catholic Church.

As per the new law, women can now serve at Mass as readers and distributors of communion while reaffirming they cannot be priests, Vatican News reported.

Conservative clergy had blocked women from performing even such roles because it was considered as an invasion to old rituals.

However, this had been a common practice in many parts of the world, and now Pope Francis will amend the law that will now permit women can read the Gospel and serve on the altar as eucharistic ministers. 

The decree was issued from the Vatican on Monday (January 11),  however, women cannot still be ordained as priests, something that will still not be allowed.

The Vatican expressed that these lay roles, officially known as lector and acolyte, were “essentially distinct” from the ordained ministry of the priesthood.

Pope Francis has been under pressure to permit women to be deacons — ordained ministers who perform many of the same functions as priests, such as presiding at weddings, baptisms and funerals which is only reserved for men.

The new formulation of the canon issued by the cannon said, “Lay persons who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte.”

The specification “lay men” qualifying the laity and present in the Code until today’s modification, is, therefore, abolished.

TN mainstream media calls Ashwin as ‘Indian’ cricketer but Natarajan as ‘Tamil’ cricketer

By
The Commune
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Mainstream media in Tamil Nadu is known for peddling the Dravidian ideology that divides people on the basis of race based on which caste one belongs to. In their lens, anyone from the Brahmin community, doesn’t qualify to be a Tamil even if the person’s mother tongue is Tamil, as Brahmins are considered as ‘Aryans’ who migrated from far-off lands.

Coming against this backdrop, the Tamil Nadu mainstream media channels namely – Puthiya Thalaimurai and News 7 Tamil found themselves in a spot after netizens dug out its double standards in addressing two players – Ashwin Ravichandran and Natarajan, both of them being players from Tamil Nadu who speak Tamil.

Both these channels addressed Ashwin, a Brahmin, as an ‘Indian’ cricketer while Natarajan, a Vanniyar, was mentioned as ‘Tamil’ cricketer.

On January 1, News 7 Tamil had put out a news in its Twitter page saying “Tamil” player Natarajan has been selected to play in India vs Australia test series.

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However, it put out a tweet today in which addressed Ashwin as an “Indian” cricketer stating that the cricketer managed to play well despite 5 fielders encircling him.

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This lack of uniformity or rather the presence of heavy bias while describing players from specific community is the reason why their hypocrisy is being called out in social media.

Widowed woman in Telangana returns 2BHK house back to the government

By
The Commune
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Lakshmi, a widowed woman living with her only daughter in Siddipet, Telangana, has made the headlines after she returned the 2BHK house that was allotted to her by the government. She had said that her daughter and she were the only ones living in that house and that she was living alone after her daughter got married. She went on to say that a single person does not require that big a house, and requested the government to sanction it to someone who really needs it.

On listening to Lakshmi’s unusual request, Finance Minister T Harish Rao was pleasantly surprised and taken aback. “This is the first time an applicant is telling me such a thing,” he said and told Lakshmi to hand over the patta and keys to the District Collector on Friday. An event was scheduled at Narsapur X Roads on the ouskirts of Siddipet. Harish would hand out 2BHK house pattas to some beneficiaries.

“She is a poor widow who does not have a house of her own. Despite being eligible, she sacrificed her flat. I request others to emulate her truthfulness. If Lakshmi needs any government assistance in future, I assure her that I will be there for her,” assured the Finance Minister.

Lakshmi was then honoured by the District Collector with a shawl, who praised his good nature and assured her that the house would reach a deserving candidate.

Karnataka: Police catch thief who stole from three Hindu shrines; recover valuables worth ₹13.53 lakhs

By
The Commune
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On January 10, Suratkal police in Karnataka’s Mangaluru arrested a man accused of involvement in serial burglaries.

The accused, identified as Rajesh Naik, allegedly stole valuables from the daivasthana (shrine) of two houses in Chitrapura and Kulai, and also allegedly robbed the Ramanjaneya Bhajana Mandira in Goddekopla, Idya.

The police have recovered valuables worth ₹13.53 lakhs from the accused, including 47 grams of gold and 16 kilograms of silver. He has been remanded to judicial custody for fourteen days.

Naik originally hails from Toll Naka, Dharwad, Karnataka. He was living at Indrali, Manchi in the city.

India’s first Lithium reserve located in Karnataka’s Mandya

By
The Commune
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India joins the global lithium value chain after a lithium reserve was discovered in the igneous rocks found in Karnataka’s Mandya. According to reports released by Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), an arm of the Department of Atomic Energy, about 1200 tonnes of the mineral is said to be present in the said reserve.

Lithium is a vital resource that is necessary for lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), laptops and mobile phones. It is also used in medicine to treat schizophrenic disorders and other psychiatric disabilities.

Despite the fact that this is a relatively small reserve, it marks a significant milestone in the country’s need for domestically mining the silver-white metal by way of hard-rock extraction of the ore. There are also attempts going on to explore the potential of extracting lithium from the brine pools of Rajasthan and Gujarat and the mica belts of Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

It is to be noted that all of India’s Lithium requirements are currently met through imports. The country recently joined hands with an Argentinian firm to jointly prospect lithium in the South American nation which has 17 million tonnes of lithium metal reserves. The agreement was signed by India through a newly instituted state-owned company, Khanij Bidesh India Limited.

PM Modi paves way for free movement of skilled labour between India and Japan

By
The Commune
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As Japan is facing labour force shortage of 6.44 million people by 2030, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a memorandum of cooperation between India and Japan that would allow the movement of skilled workers between both Asian allies, reports The Economic Times.

This agreement would allow Indian workers a new status of residence under ‘Specified Skilled Worker’ by the Japanese government. It must also be noted that Tokyo, capital of Japan, alone will be short of 1.33 million workers.

“The idea is to enhance people-to-people contacts, foster mobility of workers and skilled professionals from India to Japan. Under this MOC, a joint working group will be set up to follow up the implementation of the memorandum of cooperation,” the cabinet statement said.

The Indian government has listed the 14 sectors that will benefit both nations from this agreement. They are nursing care, building cleaning, material processing, industrial machinery manufacturing, electric and electronic information related industry, construction, shipbuilding and ship-related industry, automobile maintenance, aviation, lodging, agriculture, fisheries, food and beverages manufacturing, and foodservice industry.

This will be a blessing for both nations as the skilled workers from India will help Japan meet its labour shortages, support the local economy and at the same boost India’s remittance economy.

According to the World Bank, India is the largest recipient of remittances followed by China, Mexico, the Philippines and Egypt.

The Modi government has plans to turn India into a leading supplier of skilled workers to the global market through its domestic skill training programmes like Skill India.

“Writer-activist” Meena Kandasamy targets ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar for wearing sacred thread, calls it ‘rarefied undergarment’

By
The Commune
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The “accomplished poet, writer and activist” Meena Kandasamy has once again courted controversy by making an undignified comment about cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar.

In December of 2020, Meena Kandasamy had gone on a hateful tirade against Brahmins on the social media platform Twitter, where she had called Brahmins ‘di*ks’. She had also invoked ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy Naicker, the anti-Brahmin Dravidian leader who had called for a genocide of all Brahmins, in her hateful rant and had gone on to  say that Naicker was ‘needed’.

Now, the “accomplished writer-activist” is doing more activism by targeting the beloved Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar over a photograph where he is wearing the sacred thread. In a tweet, the activist called the sacred thread a ‘rarefied undergarment’.

Image source: Twitter

In her tweet, Meena Kandasamy said, “Is this a real picture, isn’t the poonool (sacred thread) some sort of rarefied undergarment which you wear inside your clothes??” She was quote-tweeting another tweet where the Twitter user was derogatorily referring to the sacred thread as a ‘string bra’.

The picture had been posted by Sachin Tendulkar on his Instagram handle on August 22, 2020 to mark the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi .

Meena Kandasamy went after Sachin Tendulkar for a photo he shared on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi

Image source: Instagram

Earlier, it was revealed that the “poet and writer”, who has allowed herself to be portrayed as Dalit on several occasions is a non-Dalit allegedly masquerading as a Dalit. She had also allegedly tried to extort money from her ex-husband, in order to settle the pending legal cases she has lodged against him under sections 498A & 506(ii) of the IPC.

Shocking: Kerala Govt has a separate organization that promotes SC/STs to convert to Christianity

By
The Commune
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In 2019, the Kerala government issued a curious gazette notification which received a lot of attention on social media.

The Pinarayi Vijayan led Communist government in a clear case of appeasement, invited applications through “One Time Registration Scheme for Assistant Surgeon and Casualty Medical Officers with a caveat – the notification had a specific mention that only Scheduled Caste Converts to Christianity (SCCC) could apply.

In India, there is caste-based reservation however, there is no provision under the law which allows reservation under religion. By giving reservation to Hindu converts to Christianity, the Kerala government violated the law.

The decision to reserve seats for SCCC community was due to the failure of the Kerala government’s inability to fill the vacancy even after the third NCA notification, due to paucity of candidates from the SCCC category, or formally Hindus.

After the Kerala government issued the gazette notification, there was a protest on how a government can discriminate on the basis of religion and only allow converts to Christianity who can apply which also limits the loss of qualified individuals.

However, this should not come as a surprise because an entire department in Kerala has been dedicated to the ‘welfare’ of people who have left Hinduism to convert to Christianity which is called Kerala State Development Corporation for Christian Converts from Scheduled Castes and the Recommended Communities Ltd.

About KSDC for CC&RC

In its stated goal, the department, which is a government undertaking mentions:

Kerala State Development Corporation for Christian Converts and the Recommended Communities (KSDC for CC & RC) has been created with the aim of enhancing the social and financial needs of the scheduled castes converted to Christianity and the other Recommended communities to the scheduled castes from other backward communities(OBC) of Kerala.

The website notes that the company was formed in came into existence on 1980 ‘for those who have been converted from SC to Christianity and those recommended communities of the SC, with the objective of implementing various loan schemes to uplift their social, educational, economic and cultural developments’.

As per records from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), its balance sheet was last filed on 31 March 2014.

The directors of these companies are also present as directors in other government organizations like Kerala State Pottery Manufacturing Marketing and Welfare Development Corporation Limited, Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation Limited, etc. 

Schemes provided for SC/ST converts to Christianity

The Kerala government website could not be more clear that this department was created specifically for SC Hindus who convert to Christianity and one can easily view a host of schemes offered to them from Agricultural Land Purchase Scheme to Foreign Employment Scheme, Marriage Loans to Personal Loans etc.

There are 53 communities which includes Adi Dravidar, Adi Andhra, Adi Karnataka, Arunthathiyar, Chakkiliyan, Chandala, Kalladi, Kudumban, Kuravar, Malayan, Pallar, Paraiyar, Valluvan, listed under the heading ‘Converted Castes’ to which the various loan schemes are benefited.

The following Scheduled Tribes are listed as ‘Recommended Castes’ – Chakkamar, Chemman/Chemmar, Deevara/Deevaran, Kudumbi, Kusavan, Kulalan, Kumbharan, Velaan, Odan, Andhra Nair, Andhuru Nair, Madiga, Pulayan Vettuvan and Scheduled Caste Converted to Christianity. 

According to the their website of the Backward Classes Development Department of Kerala, people who became Christians after leaving Hinduism (SC Converts to Christianity) is a separate class recognized as a Backward Class and is given reservation in State Government Services. This reservation is in addition to the reservation given to Latin Catholics and Anglo Indians. The ‘SC Converts to Christianity’ is recognised in the State OBC list as well.

It is noteworthy to mention here that none of the regional managers of this organization have a Christian name. 

In 2010, the Kerala government waived off ₹159 crores that were given to the people belonging to the SCCC category and this decision was hailed by Archbishop Vattappara of the Anglican Church of India.

According to a report in The Hindu, “In his address at the inauguration of the loan waiver scheme, undertaken by the Kerala State Development Corporation for Christian Converts from Scheduled Castes and the Recommended Communities Ltd. here on Thursday, Mr. Balan said the current loan waiver scheme would write off ₹159 crore and this would benefit nearly one lakh people, mostly belonging to the poorest sections of the society, he said”.

In 2010 for individuals who left Hinduism to convert to Christianity, loans up to ₹25,000 maturing on 31 March 2006 were to be written off fully. 

The presence of this body under the Kerala government raises serious concerns as a government body, which is supposed to be secular in nature seems to be blatantly promoting Scheduled Caste Communities to convert to Christianity so that they can avail these benefits. 

Not just that, some of the posts in the different department of the state government are only filled by SCCC community members.

 

This is in direct violation of Article 16 of the Indian Constitution that states that no citizen shall be discriminated in matters of employment under the state, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them. 

None of the mainstream media or activists seem to have flagged this problematic organization under the government. It remains to be seen whether any action will be taken on this body which on the face of it seems unconstitutional. 

(With inputs from OpIndia) 

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