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Dream11 wins the sponsorship rights for IPL 2020

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
-

Dream11, the fantasy gaming startup based on cricket, has bagged the sponsorship rights for the Indian Premier League 2020. It has outbid other major bidders for the cash-rich league purely on the basis of the volume of the sponsorship money it had to offer to the BCCI, according to various media reports.

The competitors included giants like the Tata Group, as well as EdTech startups like Byju’s and Unacademy. Dream11 offered to pay Rs 222 crore which was relatively higher than the sponsorship fees offered by other bidders for the 13th season of the IPL. For the sponsorship rights, Unacademy offered to pay Rs 210 crore, while Tata offered Rs 180 crore and Byju’s could offer only Rs 125 crore to the BCCI.

Notably, the Tatas had apparently wanted some “barter deal” in return for the IPL 2020 rights fee and the BCCI did not agree. If the Tata Group had bagged the IPL title rights, it would have been a first for them in cricket.

Vivo, a fully-funded Chinese firm, was initially the sponsor for this tournament and had withdrawn after calls for boycotting Chinese products grew louder, following the Galwan Valley Clash. The Indian government banned several Chinese apps, prompting the withdrawal. This caused a void in sponsorship, leading to the auction.

Supreme Court reserves verdict on conducting end sem exams for final year students

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard the pleas against the UGC guidelines to conduct final year exams by September 30 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and reserved its judgement. There have been multiple hearings preceding this in the case. The latest hearing, which was on August 14, had pushed the issuing of the verdict to Tuesday (18-08-2020).

The bench was the same one that presided over the PM-Cares Fund case, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, with the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing the Centre.

The UGC has till now maintained that the final-year exams are to be conducted in order to issue the degree certificate. Following this, the governments of Maharashtra and New Delhi appealed to the Supreme Court and had refused to conduct the college final-year exams due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases. Senior Advocate Arvind Datar made submissions for the State of Maharashtra. He referred to the UGC Act and said that while UGC can lay down the standards, it couldn’t compel for exams to be held. He also noted that when the Disaster Management Act was invoked, it couldn’t be diluted and right to life preceded above everything else.

There were also questions  raised about conducting exams without classes taking place for months, hostels which are now acting quarantine centres, and the commuting problems students would face as many would need to use public transport. Supreme Court then reserved its judgement and asked the counsels to submit a note on their submission in three days’ time.

Zee5 and Abhay 2 makers face ire for placing Khudiram Bose’s photo next to criminals

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Video streaming platform Zee5 has faced major backlash after their new series Abhay 2 featured the photo of legendary freedom fighter Khudiram Bose on a criminal board. This series stars Kunal Khemu, and the sketch of Khudiram Bose had been placed next to criminals during one of the scenes shot inside a police station.

Netizens were quick to blast the makers of the web series for disrespecting the revolutionary figure Khudiram Bose as they portrayed him as a criminal. In the second episode of the newly released season, the social media users have alleged that the picture of the freedom fighter was seen alongside photographs of other criminals in a police station.

Zee5 immediately apologised for the blunder and wrote on Twitter, “The producers, show & the platform, have no intent whatsoever to offend any community or hurt anybody’s sentiments. Keeping in mind the feedback received and with utmost respect to our audience, we have blurred the image (inadvertently) used in one of the scenes of Abhay2.”

Khudiram Bose was a revolutionary Bengali freedom fighter who faced the gallows at 18 years of age for bombing the carriage of a British General and his family. He was one of the youngest martyrs of the Indian Independence Movement.

“Gunjan Saxena was not the first woman to be sent to Kargil, I was” : Srividya Rajan

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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In an open letter to the Outlook, Namrita Chandi, a retired Wing Commander, accused Netflix and Dharma Productions of peddling lies to the world. The letter read, “Srividya Rajan was the first lady pilot who flew to Kargil – not Gunjan Saxena. Though I am certain that Srividya has no complaints about the credit being taken away from her.” It further included how the movie Gunjan Saxena: the Kargil Girl had been twisting facts and showing male Indian Air force officers in poor light.

She also refuted the portrayal of prejudice against women as shown in the movie saying that she had never faced abuse or maltreatment and that in all of 15 years of service, the officers had even stood guard outside the changing rooms, as they have been lack of facilities in certain regions. She added that male pilots had flown more extensively and faced more hardships and yet had never sought any publicity.

Srividya Rajan herself took to Facebook upon seeing the movie and expressed her shock over the misdirection. She wrote, “Both of us were posted to Udhampur in 1996 but in the movie, it was shown that she was the only lady pilot posted at the unit. Since the two of us were the first lady pilots to be posted to that helicopter unit, we were sceptical about our acceptance in the male-dominated niche area of flying.”

She added, saying, “I was the first woman pilot to be sent along with the male counterparts in the first detachment of our unit which was deployed at Srinagar. After a few days of operation, Gunjan Saxena came to Srinagar with the next set of crew. We actively participated in all operations given to us which included casualty evacuation, supply drop, communication sorties, SAR (search and rescue).”

₹3.6 crore commission went to Swapna Suresh from Kerala flood relief project : ED

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
-

Swapna Suresh, the primary accused of the gold smuggling case in Kerala, had received a ₹3.68 crore commission from the Vadakanchery Life Mission Project, along with a few other top brass of the Consulate, the Enforcement Directorate informed.  It was also  said that an Egyptian citizen has also received this commission.

They had agreed to give the construction work to a contractor for a commission amounting to 20% of the project cost. The commission amount was fixed in a meeting between the company representatives and the accused persons at a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram. The Vadakkanchery Life Mission Project is aimed at building flats for the Kerala flood victims at a cost of ₹18 crores.

Swapna had also received ₹70 lakh in 2019 as a commission from the company that had acquired the contract for visa stamping at the consulate. She had also received $1000 commission for every kilogram of gold smuggled. This is in addition to $1000 commission for handing over the smuggled gold to the Consulate. Swapna and her accomplices also received ₹50,000 as additional remuneration for every successful smuggling bid.

Life Mission and Red Crescent had signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) for this project, which was handed over to the Enforcement Directorate on Monday.

Source: Janam TV

Bajwa in Saudi Arabia to mend ties after Imran Khan govt challenged its authority over OIC

By
Balaji Subramanian
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After the outburst of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who gave an ultimatum to Saudi Arabia, the titular head of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) to stop dilly-dallying on the Kashmir issue, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has made a beeline to calm the waters.

Also part of the entourage is the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), General Faiz Hameed.

Bajwa who many consider as the last word when it comes to Pakistan’s national security and foreign policy arrived in Saudi Arabia amid tensions as Riyadh has threatened the financial lifeline to Islamabad.

The visit has been touted as “primarily military-affairs oriented”, Pakistan’s army spokesman said. However, everyone knows that Bajwa is there to mend the ties after Qureshi issued an ultimatum and tried to undermine the Saudi hegemony over OIC.

Under the guise of “military to military ties including training exchanges,” Bajwa is trying to fix the relationship with the Saudis who gave Pakistan a $3bn loan and $3.2bn oil credit facility to help its balance of payments crisis in late 2018.

But for a long time, the Saudis have been asking Pakistan to dial down on the Kashmir issue with India but things got out of hand when Qureshi said, “I am once again respectfully telling OIC that a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers is our expectation. If you cannot convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris,”.

Qureshi’s remarks made Riyadh angry and Pakistan was forced to pay back $1bn prematurely and is demanding another $1bn of the loan. Imran Khan when he was playing chauffeur to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman thought that the Saudis will not ask for the money back, but his presumptions got the better of him.

Also, Riyadh is not heeding to Pakistani requests to extend the $3.2bn oil credit facility.

This statement was seen as a direct threat because, in the last year, Pakistan has moved quite closer to Turkey as Pakistans effort to raise the Kashmir issue at the OIC forum has not received any support.

The Saudis did not take kindly when Prime Minister Imran Khan tried to be part of a Turkey led non-Arab countries forum. However, he pulled back at the last moment at the insistence of Riyadh, which saw as a direct challenge its leadership of the OIC.

It must be noted that more 25 lakh Pakistani citizens are working in Saudi Arabia and send hundreds of millions of dollars in much-needed remittance every year.

Bad time for Prashant Bhushan: SC refuses to direct PM-CARES proceeds to NDRF

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea filed by Prashant Bhushan’s Centre for Public Interest Litigation, that sought the transfer of funds from the PM-CARES scheme for COVID-19 relief to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). This verdict ruled by the Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy, and MR Shah said that the contributions in the case of PM-CARES fund were by means of voluntary contributions and that this does not stop any donations that are to be made in the name of the NDRF. The Bench noted that these were two different schemes, and the former, in particular, was charitable, and so, there was no need for them to be transferred. The SC also said that the Centre is free to transfer these funds whenever necessary.

The affidavit filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs had said: “It is submitted there exists a fund stipulated under the section of the DMA (Disaster Management Act) which is called NDR Fund. However, the mere existence of a statutory fund would not prohibit the creation of a different fund like PM CARES Fund which provides for voluntary donations.”

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who had appeared in a matter related to the National Disaster Management Plan, pointed out that as the PM-CARES provides for CSR benefits, many corporates would not have the incentive to donate to NDRF. He also argued for PM-CARES fund to atleast be audited by the Central Auditor General (CAG) which now being done by a private party.  This was defended by Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General from the Centre, who said that there was no knowledge about a forthcoming biological disaster at the time of formation of the NDRF, thereby making Sibal’s argument ineffective. He also called Mr. Sibal’s arguments factually wrong.

This verdict was given to the hearing following a PIL filed on June 17, seeking the drawing up of a National plan under the NDRF. It also sought to divert funds from the PM-CARES fund to the NDRF, under the argument that the COVID-19 pandemic was a national disaster, questioning the existence of a separate fund dedicated to the pandemic.

‘Up we go’: Pinarayi’s PR curve flattens, corona cases rise

By
The Commune
-

“We kept on moving.. moving moving.. showed no signs of slowing down.. up, up, up we go!”

Last month, a music video titled ‘Up We Go’ was released as the ‘Kerala Anthem’ as a tribute to the much hyped “Kerala Model”. In the video, Kerala Chief Minister Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan is shown leading the way with Comrade ‘Coronavirus Slayer’ KK Shailaja behind him and others like Congress MP Shashi Tharoor following them.

The Kerala Anthem | Official Music Video | Up We Go | A tribute to the Crisis Management Warriors - YouTube

The video showed how KK Shailaja and the Pinarayi government in Kerala has been leading the fight against the Wuhan Virus flashing pictures of articles from the Al Jazeera, Huff Post, The Guardian, etc.

KK Shailaja was elevated to the status of a Messiah by a few media houses both inside and outside the country. In May 2020, BBC interviewed KK Shailaja on Kerala’s success story in containing the Chinese virus.

In this interview, the ‘corona slayer’ made several factually incorrect statements while responding to a question about number of COVID19 deaths and even called the Goa state, a Union Territory.

She belittled the efforts of other states like Goa in the interview saying that it had no hospitals to which Goa CM Dr. Pramod Sawant gave a strongly worded response in a series of tweets. He mentioned that Goa has outstanding healthcare facilities with Goa Medical College being one of the oldest and finest medical colleges in Asia, where for decades, large numbers of non-Goan patients from neighbouring states were getting treatment and also corrected Minister Shailaja that Goa is a full-fledged state and not a Union Territory.

After floating in the air amidst the hollow adulations, the ‘rock star’ Health Minister has finally landed coming to the grips of reality. Over the past few days, the Kerala Model has been seeing a spike in the number of Wuhan virus cases. Yesterday, the state saw 1725 fresh cases of the Wuhan virus. Kerala has hit more than 46,000 cases overtaking Madhya Pradesh which has more than 45,000 cases. It is to be noted that Kerala has a much lower population (3.5 Crores) than Madhya Pradesh (8.5 Crores).

On top of this, the ‘rock star’ Health Minister KK Shailaja has said that she expects the cases to rise at a pace of 10,000-20,000 per day.

However, the PR agents of Pinarayi who were glorifying Comrades Pinarayi and KK Shailaja and the so called success of the ‘left politics’ and “Kerala Model” have gone on mute.

The lines from the music video ‘Up We Go’ – “We kept on moving.. moving moving.. showed no signs of slowing down.. up, up, up we go!”  – and the picture of Comrades leading the way has now gained an ironical twist.

When a DMK Panchayat President from Thoothukudi asked for the reopening of Sterlite Copper

By
The Commune
-

Anburaj, the Panchayat President belonging to DMK party from Thoothukudi district, wrote to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami requesting to take action for the reopening of Sterlite Copper factory at Thoothukudi.

In the letter dated 14th July 2020, the Rajavinkovil Panchayat President wrote to the CM saying that the villagers of his panchayat gave up agriculture a long time back and that their lives were dependent on the industries surrounding the region.

Rajavinkovil Panchayat President letter to CM Palaniswami

He stated that the people of his panchayat earned their livelihood through the direct and indirect jobs generated by industries. He added that Sterlite Copper had become ‘an integral part of the people of his villages by staying with them through their thick and thin’.

He said that their lives and livelihoods had been hit hard due to the closure of Sterlite Copper Plant in Thoothukudi.

The letter said that people of the villages had to do odd jobs to sustain themselves and with the coming coronavirus, they have been left in lurch without any work.

Mr. Anburaj in his letter further stated that when Sterlite Copper factory was functional, they had provided free healthcare, drinking water facilities, education and tree planting activities in their villages.

‘Environmental activist’ Nityanand Jayaraman, evangelist Mohan C. Lazarus, Fathima Babu and Samarendra Das of the London based Foil Vedanta group spearheaded the protests against Sterlite Copper.

Nityanand Jayaraman
Evangelist Mohan C Lazarus
Fathima Babu
Samarendra Das

The protests were supported by DMK and other opposition parties.

It is to be noted that it was the DMK government that had given a go ahead for the expansion of Sterlite Copper at Thoothukudi

https://twitter.com/badboybala_63/status/1215637711324794881

The Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi was shut down in May 2018 following widespread violence in Thoothukudi that led to the loss of 13 lives.

Sterlite has an  an annual production capacity of 4 lakh tonnes per annum, accounted for 40% of the country’s total copper production. Since its closure, the domestic production and exports of refined copper declined drastically from 378,555 tonnes in 2017-18 to 47,917 tonnes in 2018-19. Other small scale industries dependent on the factory lost business. Jobs that were directly and indirectly dependent on the factory evaporated. Since then, there has been demand from the residents of Thoothukudi and those affected for the reopening of the plant.

Sterlite Copper Plant at Thoothukudi to remain closed

By
The Commune
-

The Madras High Court on Tuesday (August 18) dismissed the plea filed by Vedanta that challenged the closure of the Sterlite Copper Plant at Thoothukudi.

The petitions filed by Vedanta Sterlite Copper challenging the Tamil Nadu government’s order to shut down the plant was dismissed by the bench comprising Justices TS Sivagnanam and V Bhavani Subbaroyan.

The Court refused declined to accede to the request made by Vedanta’s counsel to maintain status quo for a few weeks.

Justice Sivagnanam orally observed that whatever is the status quo now is going to prevail. He also informed that the judgement which was reserved on January 8, would have been out by March 12 if not for the pandemic.

The dictation of the judgement was done over phone, Justice Sivagnanam told.

He also mentioned that he got the idea from Justice Chandrachud.

In essence, the Sterlite Plant at Thoothukudi will continue to remain closed. Vedanta might now appeal the Madras High Court judgement in the Supreme Court.

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TheCommune
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