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Former Indian cricketer L. Sivaramakrishnan joins BJP

Former Indian cricketer and one of the respected popular cricket commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of BJP Tamil Nadu President Dr. L. Murugan and other senior leaders on Wednesday (December 30).

The right arm leg spinner popularly known as Siva is known for his test career. He started his first class career at the age of 16. He scored three centuries when Tamil Nadu won the Ranji trophy in 1987/88.

Siva made his Test debut at St. John’s at the age of 17 years and 118 days and was the youngest Indian Test cricketer till that point of time.

He was named as a players’ representative on the International Cricket Council’s cricket committee.

During the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, he gave his first commentary in Tamil which was broadcast by Star Sports Tamil.

Groom from Andhra asks wedding guests to donate blood as wedding gift

A groom from Andhra Pradesh asking his wedding guests to donate blood instead of getting them a wedding gift has recently made the headlines.

Daya Sagar hails from Pithapuram in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and works as a coordinator in a voluntary charity. He got married to Krishnaveni at a wedding hall in Pithapuram.

In the invitation given to relatives and friends inviting them for the wedding, Dayasagar had mentioned that everyone should attend their wedding and donate blood instead of gifts.

Dayasagar’s friends and relatives, who attended the wedding last night, donated blood and congratulated the bride and groom. Talking about this to the media, Daya Sagar said, “I work for a charity and I am committed to raising awareness about donation among the general public. Considering my wedding as an opportunity for it, I had asked friends and relatives who came to the wedding to donate blood instead of gifts.” He went on to say that he was happy that relatives, friends and relatives donated blood at the blood camp set up at the wedding hall.

The pictures of this novel wedding gift went viral online, and people from all over the internet oraised Dayasagar for his selflessness and sovially responsible gift giving policies.

Iconic French fashion designer Pierre Cardin dies at 98

Legendary designer Pierre Cardin, whose futuristic and stylish designs helped revolutionise fashion in the 1950s and 60s, has died at the age of 98. In the brands heyday in the 1970s and 80s, his products were sold at some 100,000 outlets worldwide, though that number dwindled dramatically in later decades.

A savvy businessman, Cardin used his fabulous wealth to snap up top-notch properties in Paris, including the Belle Epoque restaurant Maxims. He was inducted into the Fine Arts Academy in 1992.

Born into poverty in 1922 near Venice in northern Italy, his family emigrated to France when he was a small child. “Italian by birth, Pierre Cardin never forgot his origins while bringing unconditional love to France,” said his family. On the brands heyday in the 1970s and 80s, his products were sold at some 100,000 outlets worldwide, though that number dwindled dramatically in later decades.

A savvy businessman, Cardin used his fabulous wealth to snap up top-notch properties in Paris, including the Belle Epoque restaurant Maxims. He was inducted into the Fine Arts Academy in 1992. The French designer, who was known for his avant-garde designs, broke into the Parisian fashion scene in the 1960s and 1970s with thigh-high boots and dresses of heat-molded synthetics. From chic to risible, Cardin made sure he left an indelible mark in all his outings.

Army chief Gen MM Naravane becomes first senior Indian military commander to visit South Korea

After the successful visit by Indian Army Chief of Staff (COAS) Gen MM Naravane to Saudi Arabia, on Monday (December 28) the COAS held extensive talks with the top military brass of South Korea during a three-day visit.

This was also the first-ever visit by a head of the Indian Army to South Korea amid Gen Naravane’s visit to South Korea came in the midst of growing global concerns over China’s renewed military offensive in the South China Sea.

Just as Saudi Arabia is the most important Islamic nation in the Middle East, South Korea is the most important East Asian country after Japan and India is looking to further deepen strategic ties amid China’s military muscle-flexing in the region.

In Seoul, Gen Naravane held discussion with Minister of National Defence Suh Wook, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Won In Choul and Minister of Defence Acquisition Planning Administration Gang Eun Ho.

The talks were very specific and it was all about how to further strengthen strategic and defence cooperation between the countries. India and South Korea have already signed a naval logistics sharing pact and have formulated a road map for joint production and research for military systems during a high-level visit by defence minister Rajnath Singh to Seoul in 2019.

The graph of defence and security ties between India and South Korea have been on an upswing in the last ten years and South Korea also expedited the delivery of K-9 ‘Vajra’ self-propelled guns in India as tension with China started to escalate.

South Korea has become a major supplier of weapons platforms for India and now both nations looking at a huge opportunity to expand cooperation in the field of manufacturing equipment relating to aeronautics, shipbuilding, electronics and missile technologies.

Due to its geostrategic location and share border with a hostile neighbour North Korea, South Korea was forced to maintain a robust military and is considered one of the most professional forces in the world and also has a lot of operational experience as it frequently conducts military exercise with US troops in that region. 

The South Korean military is always on a very high level of readiness due to the unpredictability of North Korea which is quite similar to Pakistan which violates ceasefire at the Line of Actual Control on regular bases.

Military planners in New Delhi now plan to gain bilateral military cooperation and exchanges of ideas to further prepare our military in case of any sudden hostilities and ensure our level of readiness gives the enemy a moment of pause.

For South Korea, the major concern is increasing Chinese hegemony in the South China Sea and the security of sea lines of communication. India also has the same concern with regards to the growing influence of China in the Indian Ocean region.

As per some defence experts, this visit by the COAS to South Korea could lead to the Asian country to participate in major military exercises like the Malabar Naval exercise in the near future to further interoperability.  

Gen Naravane began his engagements by first visiting the country’s war memorial and national cemetery in Seoul where he paid tributes to the fallen heroes.

“During the first-ever visit of an Indian Army COAS to the Republic of Korea, General MM Naravane COAS interacted with Minister of National Defence, His Excellency Suh Wook and discussed issues of mutual interest and defence cooperation,” the Army said in a tweet.

The Army Chief will also visit the Korea Combat Training Centre in Gangwon province and Agency Defence Development (ADD) facility at Daejeon.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi the level of ‘strategic partnership’ has grown exponentailly after his visit to Seoul in 2015.

This is the third importnat visit by India’s COAS. Last month Naravane travelled to Nepal on a three-day visit that had significant diplomatic overtones which can now be seen at the ground level.

The Army Chief has also accompanied Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla when they travelled to Myanmar during which India decided to supply an attack submarine to the Myanmar Navy and further deepen military and defence ties.

Also, Indian and Vietnamese Navy on Sunday concluded the two-day passage exercise in the South China Sea called the “Passage Exercise or PASSEX. 

In the last few months, India has given more momentum to its look East policy to counter China and its string of pearls strategy.

This is what ‘Peak Brahminism’ and ‘Accomplishment’ looks like

It is understandable that after seeing various responses to tweets of one ‘writer-activist’ self-praising her credentials, you might be left wondering who this huge celebrity is. Calm down, it is perfectly normal because several others too, were scratching their heads wondering who this great personality was, leave alone her credentials.

She is apparently an ‘accomplished poet and writer’ but a warning before hand, you will be called a “sanghi sombu” if you point out errors or criticize the statements of her like how ‘neutral’ political commentator Sumanth Raman was called by this ‘international writer’ for pointing out factual errors in an article in which she was quoted.

Perhaps local readers like us must get accustomed to her ‘international style’ of rebuttal.

Of course, terms like ‘sanghi sombu’, ‘mama’ (a term to poke fun at his Brahmin Origins) and addressing in singular are easy-to-tweet rebuttals in a short time span and seem to be the celebrity’s style of answering. But, Sumanth Raman’s questions to the statements made in The News Minute article remain unanswered. Considering the highly busy schedule of the ‘writer-activist’ dividing her time between Chennai and London, it is doubtful whether it would get answered.

Another piece of warning – you may have several reasons for putting ‘writer-activist’ designation of this personality in quotes but beware, you might be called an upholder of peak Brahminism and might be referred to as a ‘Brahmin dick’ by this ‘accomplished writer’.

For long, this particular community has been demonized and victimized by the followers of a rabid demagogue named E.V. Ramasamy from whom they draw inspiration to spew venom against this community but not anymore. This rabid hatred and Nazism will be called out and be thrown back at them with force on their face.

“Find me a Brahmin woman who’s done a half of what I’ve done at 36. We can talk about my credentials later” was the challenge that was given out by this ‘accomplished writer’. As funny and bizarre it may sound, it is also essential that we empathize with this ‘writer-poet-activist’ because at times, basking too much in one’s own credentials can make a person lose touch with reality, which many people believe is the cause behind such a weird comical tweet. It is very unfortunate that despite Meena Kandasamy’s Tamil upbringing, she has not heard of the Tamil ‘Brahmin woman’ Vai.Mu.Kothainayaki who was only 25 years old  when she wrote and published a play “Indra Mohana” and took over as the editor of a magazine, way back in the year 1925. Vai.Mu.Kothainayaki, born in 1901, was a Tamil writer, Novelist, and journalist who was the first woman to occupy the editorial board of a Tamil Magazine. She wrote 115 books and published a monthly Tamil magazine, Jaganmohini. She was the first female writer in Tamil to write a detective novel. She excelled in various fields like public speaking, social service, music composition and fiction writing. She was a Freedom Fighter and was hailed as the “Queen of Fictions”. Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, who hailed from the Brahmin community was a very accomplished person in the Film Industry at a young age even before she entered politics and it is still not comprehensible as to how this celebrity ‘writer’ forgot an ex-CM from a ‘Dravidian party’ who was alive till 2016! The current Finance Minster of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, is a Tamil Brahmin woman.

There is a high chance that this “highly celebrated” poet must have had at least one glass of Pepsi in her lifetime, if not, at least as a matter of Current affairs be knowing Indra Nooyi, former chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo, who has been consistently ranked among the world’s 100 most powerful women. In 2014, she was ranked at number 13 on the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women and was ranked the 2nd most powerful woman on the Fortune list in 2015. In 2017, she was ranked the 2nd most powerful woman once more on the Forbes list of The 19 Most Powerful Women in Business. Indra Nooyi comes from a Tamil Brahmin Household. Not sure if Pepsi would become a Brahminical drink hereafter.

There is no doubt the ‘accomplished poet and writer’ passed her schooling, and definitely should have read a bit of history at school, and it is still an amusement to many as to how she forgot Jhansi Lakshmi Bai, a Brahmin woman who sacrificed her life fighting for the Motherland at a young age of 29. Either it has to do with poor history teaching at school or insomnia that one can forget Rani Lakshmi Bai. Perhaps, sacrificing live for this country is not considered an achievement by followers of a secessionist rabid demagogue.

Brahmin woman Sarojini Naidu, was an Indian Freedom fighter, poet, proponent of women emancipation and has several other credits to her name. She was dearly called as Nightingale of India and despite having done so much for the country; she was an embodiment of humility. It is a matter of amusement that the ‘accomplished writer’ doesn’t remember even Sarojini Naidu from her school textbooks!

India’s first female physician and first Indian woman to complete her studies in western medicine from United States was Anandibai Joshi, a Brahmin woman. Shakuntala Devi, internationally acclaimed mathematician, writer, speaker, Genius was born to family of Brahmin priests and has her feats recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. Not sure, if  the ‘accomplished poet and writer’ has a distaste for Mathematics that she does not know/ remember Shakuntala Devi, commonly known as Human Computer. Āvani Chaturvedi, India’s first woman fighter pilot was also a Brahmin woman.

Leave alone historical figures, there are several contemporary examples to destroy the challenge posed by ‘writer-activist’. From the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund Gita Gopinath, to the Chairperson of Infosys Foundation and a philanthropist, Sudha Murthy, there are various contemporary examples.

The real point of the matter is not about proving whether the ‘accomplished poet and writer’  has a poor hold over current affairs or has insomnia, because it makes less difference to people who are not her students or readers thankfully. The actual problem is the extreme hate spewed against particular community and fuelling of caste and communal tensions, all under the brigade of an Activist. The very fact that this ‘writer-poet’ wants to start a caste debate speaks volumes about her activism against caste. Degrading women of one community as losers is an indicator of what the writer’s ‘feminism’ emanating from E V Ramasamy’s philosophy looks like.

This reaction to her casteist and disgusting tweet is of her own making. – On December 25th she tweeted, “Sanghi trolls, come on, I am great at this game” and on 29th December she tweeted that she has made her account protected due to trolling after her challenge was taken head on by netizens making #Brahmin trend nationwide.

A piece of advice to the ‘accomplished poet and writer’ – think twice or thrice before throwing open a challenge and once you do, have the stomach to face it.

Arrogance and pride is a personal choice but not at the cost of demeaning someone else. There are several unsung women in the world who seek no laurels or credits for their service.

Delhi: Air Quality Commission calls for strict implementation of RFID system at 13 toll plazas

The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system has been set-up at thirteen toll plazas in Delhi to control vehicular air-pollution from commercial vehicles entering the capital. These thirteen toll plazas contribute to about 70% commercial vehicles’ entering into the national capital.

It had earlier been brought to the notice of the Commission for Air Quality Management for Delhi NCR and adjoining areas that RFID was not being fully implemented at these thirteen toll plazas in Delhi from August 14 of this year and that waiver was being given to commercial vehicles without such RFID tags or inadequate balance in the tags.

Considering the air pollution in Delhi and the fact that commercial vehicles are important contributors to vehicular air-pollution, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has been instructed to ensure RFID compliance at all the thirteen toll plazas with effect from January 1, 2021. Vehicles without RFID tags or inadequate balance in the tags will not be allowed entry at the toll plazas.

SDMC has also been directed to give adequate publicity and advance intimation to minimize inconvenience to the drivers of commercial vehicles entering Delhi.

(Published from PIB)

Income Tax Department conducts raids in Delhi

The Income Tax Department on Tuesday carried out search and seizure actions on a number of hawala operators engaged in the activity of routing and handling unaccounted cash in the Delhi region.

The search action has resulted in unearthing of incriminating evidences revealing various shell entities being used for raising bogus purchase/sale bills, and routing of unaccounted funds through several layers of bank accounts. Such shell entities are closed after two months, and new ones are formed.

Further, incriminating documents indicating the suppression of sales and bogus purchases in excess of ₹300 crore has been detected.

The search action has resulted in seizure of unaccounted cash of ₹14 crore and bullion worth ₹2 crore.

Further investigations are ongoing.

(Published from PIB)

Dry run for COVID-19 vaccination successfully conducted in four states

On December 29, the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare concluded a two-day dry run for activities entailed in Covid-19 vaccination in the four states of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat.

Backed with the experience of rolling out Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) and conducting nationwide multiple wide-range injectable vaccination campaigns such as the measles-rubella (MR) and adult Japanese Encephalitis (JE) campaign, the required steps are being undertaken to vaccinate priority population groups like healthcare workers, frontline workers and people aged above 50 years for Covid-19.

The dry run exercise is aimed at end-to-end testing of COVID-19 vaccination process and will include planning & preparations as per the Operational Guidelines: creation of facilities & users on Co-WIN application, session site creation & mapping of sites, Health Care Workers (HCW) data upload, receipt of vaccines and vaccine allocation by the district, session planning, deployment of vaccination team, logistics mobilization at session site, mock drill of conducting vaccination and reporting and review meetings at the block, district and state level. The objective of the dry run is also to undertake and confirm field implementation of the IT platform Co-WIN and guide the way forward prior to actual implementation.

District Collectors with engagement of district and block task force were made responsible for conducting the dry run. It was expected to provide insights on any gaps or bottle-necks during actual conduct of vaccination.

The two-day end-to-end dry run was undertaken in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, Rajkot and Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Ludhiana and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr) in Punjab, and Sonitpur and Nalbari districts in Assam.

Specific teams were formed for various tasks by the district administration and activities like uploading of dummy beneficiary’s data, session site creation, vaccine allocation, communication of vaccination details to vaccinators and beneficiaries, beneficiary mobilization were carried out.

Field feedback on the first day of dry run was also reviewed on December 29 through video-conferencing with State & District Programme officers by Joint Secretary (Public Health). All states expressed satisfaction in terms of the operational approach and also in the use of the IT platform to ensure transparency and effective monitoring of vaccination processes which are expected to cover a large number of people across the country. Additional suggestions on the IT platform were also noted for further enhancement of the Co-WIN platform.

Detailed insights and feedback so obtained will help enrich the operational guidelines and IT platform and will strengthen the Covid-19 vaccination roll out plan.

(Published from PIB)

India economy ‘most resilient’ in the subregion of South and South-West Asia: UN Report

Amid global economic crisies due to Covid-19, a report published by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) has stated that the Indian economy could prove to be the “most resilient” in the subregion of South and South-West Asia over the long term, reports Economic Times.

“India’s economy could prove the most resilient in the subregion over the long term. FDI inflows have been steadily increasing and positive, albeit lower, economic growth after the pandemic and India’s large market will continue to attract market-seeking investment,” the report said.

Titled “Foreign Direct Investment Trends And Outlook In Asia And The Pacific 2020/2021”, the report states that in the first three quarters of 2020, greenfield FDI inflows declined in South and South-West Asia by 43 per cent, however, India alone accounted for 77 per cent ($51 billion) of the total inflows (66 billion), up 20 per cent from the previous year.  

The report also noted that the outward FDI flow from the sub-region saw a modest increase in 2019, rising from $14.8 billion in the previous year to $15.1 billion which means a 10 per cent increase in outward FDI flow from India over 2018. 

“Turn challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic into opportunities”: Vice President tells youth

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday advised the youth of the country to turn the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic into opportunities.

Addressing the gathering after presenting certificates to the trainees at Swarna Bharat Trust, Vijayawada, the Vice President underlined that while the pandemic has impacted many sectors, it has also opened avenues in many others.

Noting that more than 65 percent of the population is under the age of 35, VP Naidu reiterated that if we could utilize these human resources, youth and women could become key partners in furthering our nation’s growth. With these great human resources, we can shape the future world, he added. In this regard, he recalled the various efforts of the State and Central governments to up-skill the youth and called for intensification of these programmes. Emphasising that skilling must be in tune with the 21st century needs, the Vice President called for private participation in this field.

Stressing that the GDP growth is not the sole indicator for a country’s progress, the Vice President said that people’s empowerment is the real progress. He also emphasised that we must invest and formulate policies with long-term benefits rather than focusing on short term gains. Talking about the ongoing pandemic, VP Naidu observed that health was much more important than wealth and that the pandemic has proved this once again. Noting that the death rate in India was far less compared to other countries, he called upon the people to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

While distributing the certificates to trainees on the completion of their courses, VP Naidu appreciated the students for having utilised the online learning tools well during the lockdown period. He also commended the efforts of the Swarna Bharat Trust for empowering women and youth through skill development programmes and helping the needy during the lockdown period. The event was attended by trainees and staff of Swarna Bharat Trust, Vijayawada.

(Published from PIB)