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After Sweden, Islamists hit streets of Norway

By
The Commune
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Following the riots that broke out in Sweden after a member of ‘Stram Kurs’ group burnt a copy of the Quran, violence erupted at an Anti-Islam rally held by the Stop Islamization of Norway (SIAN) group where Islamists attacked the police and SIAN members. They vandalized the police vans and damaged other public property.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, a frenzied mob can be seen hitting the police vehicles and chasing them. They also damage the chairs and tables of an eatery in the way. One of the attackers can be seen breaking the police van with a chair and another rioter breaks the rear view mirror of the vehicle.

https://twitter.com/Nikal_love_da/status/1300004028475039744

The violence in Norway comes against the backdrop of riots in Sweden where angry Muslim mobs hit the streets chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and unleashed violence. They pelted stones at police, set tyres on fire and damaged public property. This was done in response to an anti-Muslim rally where protestors burnt a copy of the Quran following the arrest of Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish anti-immigration party Hard Line. Paludan was supposed to participate in the rally and had earlier urged his supporter to burn the Quran. However, he was arrested and denied entry into the country. In his Facebook post, he said “Sent back and banned from Sweden for two years. However, rapists and murderers are always welcome!”

After complaints, Puducherry Health Minister Krishna Rao cleans toilet in COVID19 hospital

By
The Commune
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COVID19 infections have been on the rise in Puducherry and a large number of patients are being treated at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College Hospital, which operates as COVID19 hospital.

Complaints arose that the treatment area was unsanitary and that the toilets in particular were not being cleaned.

Following this, Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao went to the hospital for a surprise examination. Wearing protective wear, he listened to the grievances of the patients who were being treated at the hospital and also surveyed the bathrooms and toilets. Upon seeing the stains in the toilets, he asked for a cleaning brush and liquid and immediately started cleaning the toilet himself.

With 75 patients in this ward and a shortage of hygiene workers, the toilets had become unhygienic and unfit for use. He later said that government hopes to have sufficient manpower in place with 458 workers that includes doctors, nurses and hygiene workers being engaged on contract basis.

After 4 long years, Madras HC begins hearing on Loyola College sexual harassment case

By
The Commune
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The Madras High Court on August 28, commenced hearing on the Loyola College sexual harassment case in which the former Director of Loyola Alumni Association, Father Xavier Alphonse, had sexually harassed and abused an employee of the college.

Mary Rajasekharan, the petitioner in the case was appointed as an administrator in college in July 2010. She was abruptly terminated from her services after she complained of financial irregularities and sexual harassment by Father Xavier Alphonse.

She had filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court in February 2016 for taking action against Father Xavier Alphonse and also challenging her abrupt termination of services by Loyola College. The case was listed before a single bench and an order was issued to Father Xavier Alphonse and the Loyola College to respond within four weeks.

However, the Loyola College had failed to respond and the case gathered dust for four years at the court.

Justice Michael Saldanha had on July 21, 2020 wrote to the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court expressing his dismay over the case remaining stagnant for years and observed that it reflects very seriously on the judiciary.

On Friday (August 28), Justice N. Sathish Kumar presided over the hearing and inquired if the defendants (Loyola College and Father Xavier Alphonse) had filed their responses, or if he should pass an order. The defendants submitted that they had filed their response. In their response, they had denied all the allegations levelled against them by Mary. Mary who appeared for herself hit out at Father Xavier Alphonse and the Loyola administration left, right and centre. She expressed her trauma in detail tracing her entire legal battle.

Speaking about this to The Commune, the President of the All India Christian Forum (AICF) Savio Rodrigues said that it was disheartening to see an institution considered to be of repute taking the Indian judicial system for a ride. He said that they had not even followed the elemental process of forming an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) as mandated by the UGC guidelines and other statutes like the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and Vishaka Guidelines given by the Supreme Court. He also said that Mary was dissuaded by the college management from filing a police complaint citing that ‘it could affect the image of the college’.

“Why are they denying the allegations after four years? Why couldn’t they form an ICC when Mary had initially reported of sexual harassment?”, Savio asked.

Mr. Savio also said that the Vatican’s response in this regard has also been lackadaisical as pleas from Mary’s side fell on deaf ears with no concrete action taken. However, he has expressed hope that “justice will prevail at the end”.

Mr. Savio and his team at the AICF has been providing legal support to Mary.

 

The next hearing has been posted to September 18.

Click here to know more about the case.

Usha Padhee becomes first woman DG of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Usha Padhee, who is the joint secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, became the first woman to become the Director-General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Society. She took to Twitter to share the news, saying, “At last, a Smt. in the incumbency list of Director General, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security!”.

She has also become the third IAS officer to have been appointed to this post. She hails from Odisha. Notably, her husband, Arvind Padhee, is also a senior IAS officer, and the Joint Secretary at Chemicals & Fertilisers Ministry. She has also been handling the government flagship scheme for regional connectivity – UDAN. Padhee, a 1996-batch IAS officer, was sent on central deputation on July 17, 2015. Her Central Deputation tenure is scheduled to end on July 16, 2022. In May this year, Padhee’s central deputation was extended by two years.

IPS officers are usually chosen as the head of the aviation security panel. Her position was preceded by IPS officer Rakesh Asthana, who is now posted as the Director-General in the Border Security Force.

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security is the regulator for Civil Aviation in India. It was created as a cell in the DGCA in 1987 and has developed as an organisation that works to implement International Security standards.

Turkey stages naval exercises in the Mediterranean amidst tensions with Greece

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Turkey conducted military exercises in the Mediterranean on Saturday which is expected to last for 2 weeks amidst heightened tensions between the former and Greece. Maritime border disputes, as well as gas drilling rights, have been causing trouble between the two countries as the neighbours have reignited this age-old rivalry by staging naval drills.

In a message on NAVTEX, the international maritime navigational telex system, Turkey said it would carry out “shooting exercises” from Saturday until September 11 in a zone off the southern Turkish town of Anamur, north of the island of Cyprus.

In the wake of this, Germany has intervened and has sought Turkey to withdraw its forces from the Mediterranean so as to diffuse the tension between the two countries. Germany’s Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, who is trying to mediate between the two countries, said the precondition for talks was an end to military manoeuvres. “For sure the parties will not sit down at the table when warships are facing each other in the eastern Mediterranean,” he said.

He added that the EU had “lost leverage over Turkey” since a botched military coup against the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in July 2016 accelerated a sharp downturn in relations. The EU strongly criticised Erdoğan’s crackdown against state employees and the media in the aftermath of the coup. Meanwhile, on paper Turkey remains an EU candidate country, but talks on accession and reform of its customs union with the bloc are in the deep freeze.

World’s oldest married couple from Ecuador makes it to the Guinness Book of World Records

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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A couple from Ecuador has made it to the Guinness Book of World records for having been married the longest. The centenarian couple became the oldest couple in the world and have been together for 80 years.

Julio Mora had married his lady love Waldramina Quinteros, after leaving his parents who had disapproved of their marriage in 1940. While he was born in 1910, she was born on October 16, 1915. They married on February 7, 1941, in the first church built by the Spanish in Quito: La Iglesia de El Belen. The most surprising part of this couple is the fact that both of them are in good health and sane.  They have four surviving children, 11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild.

They credit their long-lasting relationship to the love and respect that they have held towards each other since their very first meeting. Asked what makes a long-lasting union, the couple said: ‘Family unity under the rules of love, mutual respect, honest work, and proper education based on family values are the keys to healthy coexistence.’

Guinness World Records recognised the feat in mid-August. Their marriage is not the longest ever recorded – that milestone belongs to Herbert Fisher and his wife Zelmyra who were married for 86 years and 290 days until Herbert’s death in 2011.

 

Thousands protest asking Mauritian government officials to resign over dead dolphins due to oil spill

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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This photo taken and provided by Eric Villars shows oil leaking from the MV Wakashio, a bulk carrier ship that recently ran aground off the southeast coast of Mauritius, Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. Anxious residents of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius are stuffing fabric sacks with sugar cane leaves to create makeshift oil spill barriers as tons of fuel leak from a grounded ship. The government has declared an environmental emergency and France says it is sending help from its nearby Reunion island. (Eric Villars via AP)

Thousands of people in Mauritius took to the streets, as nearly 40 dead dolphins were washed up on the shore following the massive oil spill from a tanker. They held placards, and protested, calling for the Mauritius government to resign after this humongous mishap. They have also been demanding a thorough investigation of this issue.

These dolphins had presumably been affected by the toxic oil spill that was caused by a Japanese ship in Mauritian waters. Mysteriously, preliminary investigations have revealed no trace of oil, but have identified wounds on the bodies of these dolphins. However, the protesters are not satisfied with these reports and have demanded a further probe into the issue.

A local environmental group Eco-Sud, which took part in Saturday’s protest, said in a statement on Friday that representatives from civil society should be present during the autopsies and called for a second opinion from independent specialists.

Following this, there has been an investigation initiated on two different angles. Firstly, the local police are to look into the responsibility of the company whose ship had caused the disaster, along with the crew and the other members on board. The second will be by a senior Shipping Ministry official to study the whole incident that happened during the hit.

Metros to reopen in Unlock 4.0

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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The Government of India has announced guidelines for Unlock 4.0 which is to be in place until September 30. This is the fourth stage of relaxation that the government has been posting in lieu of the coronavirus lockdown.

Under Unlock 4.0, metro trains will be allowed to function, along with a lift on the ban of inter and intrastate movement of people and goods. Cinema halls, schools and colleges to remain closed till September 30. It is to be noted that this is not applicable for containment zones.

After extensive consultation with States and UTs, it has been decided that Schools, colleges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September 2020. Online/distance learning shall continue to be permitted and shall be encouraged. However, up to 50% of teaching and non-teaching staff can be called to educational institutions for work. Social/ academic/ sports/ entertainment/ cultural/ religious/ political functions and other congregations will be permitted with a ceiling of 100 persons, with effect from September 21.

State and Union Territory Governments are not to impose any local lockdown restrictions without prior consultation with Central Government except in the case of containment zones.  The Ministry of Health Administration is to monitor the effective implementation of National Directives. Social distancing and mask mandates are still to remain in place.

Asia’s first double lung transplant performed on COVID patient by Chennai doctors

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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A group of Indian doctors from Chennai performed Asia’s first double lung transplant on a COVID patient on Saturday. This feat has been applauded by experts all over the world. Surgeons belonging to the MGM Health facility in Chennai performed this surgery and now offer new hope for COVID-19 patients who sustain severe lung damage due to the viral disease.

Dr KR Balakrishnan, Chairperson and Director of Cardiac Sciences and Director of the Heart and Lung Transplant Program at MGM Healthcare, led the transplant along with a team of specialists including Dr Suresh Rao, Dr Srinath, and Dr Apar Jindal.

This patient had been in the hospital since June 8 and had been put on ventilator support since June 20. His vitals had started dropping despite being in ventilator support and was airlifted to Chennai from Ghaziabad on July 20. Since his lung condition worsened despite having been in maximum ventilatory support care, he had been on ECMO since July 25 for about a month.

Doctors then decided to do an organ transplant, since his survival without it was questionable. They performed the surgery after finding a suitable donor on August 27. The donor was a 34-year-old man who had been declared brain dead at the Apollo Gleneagles Global Hospital after suffering an intracerebral haemorrhage on Thursday. The other organs of this donor like the heart, kidneys and eyes had gone to other different recipients in Chennai. It has been reported that both lungs are now in proper working condition.

Indian Chess Champion Koneru Hampy defeats Polish opponent to reach the final round of the Chess Olympiad

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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World no.2 Chess Champion Koneru Hampy, who hails from Vijayawada, beat her Polish opponent Monika Socko to move into the finals of the online Chess Olympiad on Saturday. She played black pieces against Monika, meaning that she had four minutes to play, which is a minute lesser than the latter. Ideally, she had to draw to win. Humpy did more than what was required, winning the Catalan game in 73 moves; she checkmated Socko, promoting her pawn to have two queens.

It wasn’t an easy win, since she had lost in the previous round, and had the score at 2-4. But she bounced right back from it and defeated her Polish counterpart in the Armageddon round, which is the tie-breaker. This launched her into the finals after she had a crushing win at 4.5-1.5 points respectively.  This win is especially significant since today is the National Day for Sports, and also because her other Indian counterparts had lost the first round as well.

The second semifinal is to take place on Sunday, where India is all set to play against Russia and the United States. Hampy has been crowned the queen of Indian Chess for quite some time now, and true to her reputation, she has successfully entered the second semifinal, along with Harika, Vishwanathan Anand, and Captain Vidit Gujarati.

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand came into his own with a much-needed win over Jan-Krzystof Duda in 78 moves in the second round after losing to his opponent in the first round. Sadly, the chess childhood prodigy Pragnanandha lost to Igor Janik.

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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.
Contact us: thecommune.news@gmail.com
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