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#BlackLivesMatter movement reignited as Instagram censors black model’s photo

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Instagram took down a picture of an African American model called Nyome Nicholas-Williams, sparking widespread outrage, as netizens broke out in support of the model. The #IWantToSeeNyome hashtag became viral and garnered more than a million reshares.

A dreamy split-second candid picture of Nicholas-Williams bathed under natural light, her eyes closed and arms wrapped around her breasts had been captured by photographer Alexandra Cameron. The response on Instagram was ecstatic: “stunning … beautiful … this should be in a gallery!”. But within hours, Instagram had deleted the photo and Nicholas-Williams had been warned her account could be shut down. “Millions of pictures of very naked, skinny white women can be found on Instagram every day,” said Nicholas-Williams. “But a fat black woman celebrating her body is banned? It was shocking to me. I feel like I’m being silenced.”

Following this, hundreds of users shared the censored photograph with the hashtag #IWantToSeeNyome on Instagram and various other social media platforms, along with accusations over Instagram’s disconnect between its positive statements over Black Lives Matter and the apparent unfair targeting of its black content creators.

The platform, with over a billion users and 15,000 people working around the world to review posts and look for banned material, has been repeatedly accused of discriminating against black people.

Ex gratia announced for those killed in Vijayawada hotel fire which was used as COVID facility

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Ex-gratia of ₹50 lakh has been announced to the families of victims of the Vijayawada fire accident. 10 were killed and several were injured in a fire at a hotel in Vijayawada on Sunday. Notably, this had been used as a COVID facility by a private hospital. The reason is suspected to be short-circuiting.

Health Minister, Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas said, “This is a very unfortunate incident. The Chief Minister has ordered to take appropriate measures, he has ordered the ministers to visit the spot.”

“There were 43 people in the hotel, of whom 30 were COVID patients. 10 of them have lost their lives while remaining 20 have been shifted. They are safe and stable. We will review the situation at the collector’s office. Later we will give more details,” Srinivas added.

Ramesh Hospitals in Vijayawada had leased out the Swarna Palace Hotel on Eluru road to serve as a COVID-19 care facility. Around 50 patients had been admitted here, and as many as 30 patients and 15 medical and hotel staff had been present in the hotel at the time of the fire. Since the patients were already infected by coronavirus, the thick smoke that arose due to the fire further aggravated their conditions, leading to death.

Prime Minister Modi expressed his condolences over this incident and spoke with the state’s CM Jagan Mohan Reddy to do the needful.

Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal tests positive for coronavirus

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, who had recently endorsed an indigenous papad brand, that claimed to boost immunity,tested positive for coronavirus. His vitals were reported to be stable and he is said to be receiving treatment at AIIMS.

“After developing symptoms of COVID-19 I had undergone testing and was found positive in the second report. On the advice of doctors, I got admitted to AIIMS and I request all those who came in contact with me to take care of their health,” he had said.

He is a Junior Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Heavy Industries, and Public Enterprises from Bikaner, and recently made headlines after he endorsed a papad brand, called Bhabhiji Papad, claiming it fought coronavirus. In the video, Meghwal spoke about a brand called ‘Bhabhi Ji papad’ and said that it helps “develop antibodies” to fight against the virus. He had also wished the brand’s owner Sunil Bhansali on the launch of the product, saying he hopes the venture will be “successful” under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative launched by the central government.

However, the video was not released on the minister’s official social media handle and was originally circulated on WhatsApp. Notably, another MP from Rajasthan and Union Minister Kailash Chaudhary has also tested positive for coronavirus.

N-100 mask that filters 99.97% air manufactured by Indian company

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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N-100 mask has been manufactured by an Indian company named Excel 3D Advanced Technologies. They claim that this mask filters 99.97% air and have applied for a patent. They have made it under the Make in India drive, and have named it as XD100. This has been manufactured by Mumbai based Sameet Raut, and his London-based partners Dr Rahul Gore and his associates. It had taken them four months to design and develop this mask and was tested by DRDO. They had also sent it to the US for NIOSH approval.

“There is a USA based firm which sells N-100 mask in India. This firm manufactures the mask in China and they are costlier. We focused on the best quality by using the highest standard medical materials with a long life which will result in affordability. We provide 5 filters with this reusable mask,” he added.

This is the first Indian company to manufacture this mask. There are only 9 companies all over the world that make such masks. So far, N95 masks have been mass-produced in India, but this is claimed to be safer as it filters 99.97% of 3-micron particles in the air.

Furthermore, this is washable, and its filtration capacity does not reduce with every wash. Its filter is also replaceable. It is expected that, in the post COVID era, it can be used by those working in the chemical, pharmaceutical and cement industry. This comes at a time where the government has issued an advisory saying that the usage of masks with an exhalation valve is to be avoided.

₹17,100 crores to 8.55 crore farmers released, ₹1 lakh crore worth financing facility under Agri Infra Fund launched by PM Modi

By
The Commune
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (August 9) launched ₹1 lakh crore worth financing facility under Agriculture Infrastructure Fund for agricultural start-ups, entrepreneurs, farmer groups through video conferencing.

Through the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund, the government aims to provide medium to long to debt financing to create infrastructure for post-harvest management like cold storage chains, ripening chambers, warehouses, packaging units, e-marketing points, and also nurture farm assets through interest subvention and financial support.

₹1 lakh crore will be sanctioned under this fund in partnership with different lending institutions to agri entrepreneurs, start-ups and farmer society groups. 11 of the 12 public sector banks have already signed MoU with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Beneficiaries will be receiving credit guarantee upto ₹2 crores and interest subvention of 3%

The Union Cabinet had approved this fund as part of the ₹20 lakh crore Atmanirbhar Package last month.

Prime Minister Modi also released the sixth instalment of ₹17,100 crores to more than 8.55 crore farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme that was launched in 2018. The PM-KISAN scheme provides ₹6000 in three equal instalments to marginal and small farmers through DBT.

Oscar winning Spotlight movie fame SNAP Network extends support to Loyola College sexual harassment survivor

By
The Commune
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Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) that found a mention in the Academy Award winning film Spotlight, has extended its support to the All India Christian Forum (AICF) that is helping Mary get justice in the Loyola College sexual harassment case.

In a message to the founder of AICF Mr. Savio Rodrigues, who also runs the goachronicle.com, Mr. Tim Lennon, President of the SNAP Network said “Mary, a faculty member of Loyola College, seeks justice in the courts yet is blocked by inaction. We call on the court to provide a path to justice for her.”

Mary, a senior faculty member of Loyola College, Chennai was sexually harassed by Father Xavier Alphonse, the former principal of Loyola College who was also the former Director for Loyola College Alumni Association.

SNAP Network is an independent, peer network of survivors of institutional sexual abuse. It is the oldest, largest and the most active support group for women and men wounded by religious and institutional authorities (priests, ministers, bishops, deacons, nuns, coaches, teachers, and others.

Mary had revealed in her petition to the Madras High Court that the Loyola College administration had warned her against approaching the Tamil Nadu police to file a sexual harassment complaint against Father Xavier Alphonse.

In her petition Mary said that she was continuously harassed by Rev. Fr. Xavier Alphonse over telephone as well as in person at the college campus and that wheever she brought it to the attention of the college authorities she was dissuaded from pursuing any action against Father Xavier Alphonse stating that it will impact the college’s reputation. The authorities had informed Mary that action was being taken on the Father by transferring him to another location.

In addition to this, not a not a single Internal Complaints Committee was setup by the Loyola College as mandated by the Sexual Harassment Act.

Mr. Rodrigues also noted that the Loyola College administration and alumni have remained mute on this case despite the fact that the sexual harassment survivor is known to most of the senior members. He has been helping the survivor get justice by offering legal support through AICF.

Source: Goa Chronicle

Cafe-cum-gym opened in Muzaffarnagar for cops on duty

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Cops on duty in Muzaffarnagar will now be able to take some time off from their rigorous duty as the police department opened a unique cafe-cum-gym. This cafe is to serve healthy food options like poha, dalia, fresh fruit juices, smoothies, and food cooked in olive oil. It also has a gym attached to it, that is open for usage by police personnel.

This cafe is also set to deliver food orders to various places in the city and will be open until 9 PM throughout the week. This centrally air-conditioned cafe was opened to cops on Friday and offers affordable meals at reasonable prices. This is a sugar-free cafe and will use jaggery as a sweetener.

This initiative is the brainchild of Muzaffarnagar’s SSP Abhishek Yadav, a fitness freak. He has been working on this project for the last six months. “Policemen need to follow a highly exhaustive schedule of duty that seldom gives them the opportunity to avail of a proper diet. Cases of hypertension, diabetes and stress are common among the UP police force. This facility is aimed at alleviating such health problems. Improper diet and lack of awareness for a healthy lifestyle were also the reasons behind opening such a unique cafe,” the SSP said.

“This unique concept will be upgraded once we start getting more feedback. It may be then introduced to other police stations as well,” the SSP added.

 

Amazon and Narayana Murthy’s family enterprise Catamaran Ventures help SMB go digital

By
The Commune
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Prione Business Services, a joint venture between Amazon and Catamaran Ventures, the family enterprise of Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy is helping small and medium businesses (SMBs) go digital by helping them with strategies and creating an ecosystem of SMBs.

Prione Business Services was started in 2014 with Catamaran Ventures holding a 76% majority stake. It is also the logistics partner of Amazon India and owns Cloudtail, the single largest seller on Amazon India.

The start-up headquartered in Bengaluru envisions making India self-reliant by promoting local manufacturing and Indian brands.

Recently, it had helped a Jaipur based business named Benavji that was hurt by the pandemic and lockdown to clock more than ₹50 lakh in monthly revenue. Benavji had invested in plant and machinery to scale up its baby clothing business but the Wuhan virus pandemic hurt its capex. Prione came to the rescue that strategized its business by making them produce masks and gloves.

Prione claims to have served in 150 cities in the last 5 years and has seen ₹10,000 crore in consolidated turnovers (Prione + Cloudtail).

The startup has an authorised capital of ₹ 550 crore. As per the details available from the Registrar of Companies, it had a revenue of ₹ 7,245 crore in FY 2018, and ₹ 9,039 crore in FY 2019. The profits in FY 2019 were ₹ 9,039 crore 38 crore.

Prione trains the SMBs on digital marketing, analysing consumer behaviour, warehousing, packaging and cataloguing. It also trains smaller shops on technology through Amazon’s Local Shops programme. It has enabled 3 million sellers to transact digitally.

Sandeep Varagunti, the Managing Director of Prione is planning to on-board 40,000 SMBs by this year end and help them sell their products on Amazon.

“In the last decade, the advent of ecommerce has helped new-age brands. Consumer durables, healthcare, and consumables are going to keep growing, and SMBs will revive the economy. However, the road to recovery is a good 12 or 24 months away. But SMBs need to go digital. They are crucial to India’s economic recovery. Indian SMBs are an alternative for imports from China, and our SMBs can participate in the global supply chain. Local consumption is the key, and from this year, Prione will help SMBs go global,” Mr. Sandeep was quoted saying in an article by YourStory.

Source: YourStory

BMS asks govt take measures to protect labour intensive sectors

By
The Commune
-

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an affiliate to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday urged Central Group of Ministers (GoM) to protect labour incentive sectors from layoffs and job losses.

According to the press release by BMS, the organization presented their suggestions on different measures for employment generation before the GoM.

The Centre has formed a Group of Ministers on employment and skill development under the chairmanship of Union Minister for Social Justice Thavar Chand Gehlot.

The BMS suggested protecting labour intensive sectors like agriculture, handloom, beedi, plantations etc.

The BMS has also asked to recognize community-based professions as employment avenues and identify districts provides mass employment with the help of local resources and talents.

Defence sector set to become Atmanirbhar: Import embargo on 101 defence items

By
The Commune
-

The Ministry of Defence announced on Sunday (August 9) that it will introduce import embargo on 101 items to boost indigenisation of defence production.

Under this, 101 weapons and platforms will be progressively banned from December 2020 to December 2025 in a bid to become self-reliant in defence production.

This negative list of 101 items also includes wheeled armoured fighting vehicles.

This is meant to serve as an opportunity to the Indian defence manufacturing sector to come up with indigenous products using their own design and development capabilities or adopting the technologies designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told that this list has been made after several rounds of discussion to assess the current and future capabilities with all relevant stakeholders – Armed Forces, public sector, private industries, DRDO, Ordnance Factory Board and other defence PSUs.

Indian is one of the top defence importers in the world. In 2020, it was the second largest defence importer after Saudi Arabia making up 9.2% of global arms import.

This import embargo will be a shot in the arm for the domestic defence manufacturing industry along with the revised defence procurement and export promotion policy.

Check the list of 101 items here.

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