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Pakistan Senate passes bill making Arabic compulsory in schools

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The Commune
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To mend ties with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan Senate on Monday (1 February) unanimously passed the Compulsory Teaching of Arabic Language Bill, 2020.

Now it is mandatory for all educational institutions in the country – public and private to teach Arabic, Pakistan Today has reported.

The bill was tabled by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi and was passed in the upper house with the overwhelming support of its members.

The only voice of protest was Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani who said, “Arabic culture is not my culture. Indus Valley Civilisation is my culture”. However, despite his dissenting speech against the move, Rabbani decided not to vote against it.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said in order to become a good Muslim, learning Arabic is important and this step should have been taken 70-years-ago, and now will help address many issues faced by Pakistanis.

Under this bill, the Arabic language will be compulsorily taught from Classes 1 to 5 and students from classes 6 to 12 will learn Arabic grammar in all the schools coming under the Islamabad Capital Territory.

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‘Neither accurate nor responsible’: MEA issues statement on comments by foreign individuals and entities on farmers’ protests

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The Commune
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Mia Khalifa Greta Thunberg Rihanna farmer protests

Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has issued a press release in which it termed the recent comments by foreign individuals and entities as neither accurate nor responsible.

The statement from the MEA comes in the light of celebrity pop-singer Rihanna, radical climate ‘activist’ Greta Thunberg and porn star Mia Khalifa tweeting in support of the ‘farmers’ protests.

In the press release, the MEA said that the reformist legislations were passed by the Parliament of India after a full debate and discussion.

“These reforms give expanded market access and provided greater flexibility to farmers. They also pave the way for economically and ecologically sustainable farming.”, the press release said.

It also stated that only a very small section of the farmers have reservations with the laws for which the Government of India has initiated a series of talks with farmer representatives.

“Union Ministers have been part of the negotiations, and eleven rounds of talks have already been held. The Government has even offered to keep the laws on hold, an offer iterated by no less than the Prime Minister of India.”, the press release said.

“Yet, it is unfortunate to see vested interest groups trying to enforce their agenda on these protests, and derail them. This was egregiously witnessed on January 26, India’s Republic Day. A cherished national commemoration, the anniversary of the inauguration of the Constitution of India, was besmirched, and violence and vandalism took place in the Indian capital.”, the press release added stating that the police forces showed utmost restraint while handling these protests.

The MEA noted that certain vested interest groups  have tried to mobilise international support against India and added that the episode had led to Mahatma Gandhi’s statue being broken in parts of the world.

“We would like to emphasise that these protests must be seen in the context of India’s democratic ethos and polity, and the efforts of the Government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse. Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken. The temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments, especially when resorted to by celebrities and others, is neither accurate nor responsible. ” the press release concluded.

(With inputs from MEA press release)

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Porn star Mia Khalifa plows her way to support protesting ‘farmers’, creates sticky situation

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The Commune
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Mia Khalifa supporting farmer protests

After western pop-singer Rihanna, porn star Mia Khalifa has joined the international influencers who have extended their support to the protesting ‘farmers’ at Delhi’s borders.

Mia Khalifa tweeting a picture of a protesting Sikh ‘farmer’ wrote ““Paid actors,” huh? Quite the casting director, I hope they’re not overlooked during awards season. I stand with the farmers. #FarmersProtest”.

In another tweet Mia Khalifa sharing a picture of a woman holding a placard ‘Stop Killing Farmers’ wrote “What in the human rights violations is going on?! They cut the internet around New Delhi?! #FarmersProtest”. 

This has now led to a ‘sticky’ situation for the protesting ‘farmers’ and others who have been extending their solidarity as they find themselves not being able to openly recognize and acknowledge Mia Khalifa’s support.

Mia Khalifa is a Lebanese-American porn star and webcam model and holds the distinction of most viewed performer on adult website PornHub. She has also starred in porn films performing sexual acts wearing a hijab.

According to a few experts who monitor internet traffic, Mia Khalifa wants to get maximum hits in the coming days as India and Pakistan have the highest per capita of people watch porn.

Pop star Rihanna on Tuesday tweeted about the farmers protests at Delhi’s borders, earning heavy criticism from Indian netizens on Twitter. Rihanna posted a CNN news report about the temporary internet shutdown around New Delhi and tweeted, “why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest”.

Rihanna ―who has earlier faced allegations of cocaine abuse when a video of her snorting a white substance at the Coachella music festival in 2015 had gone viral ― faced a lot of flak from Indians for her tweet. It is pertinent to note that Rihanna follows Khalistani sympathizing Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh on Twitter.

Swedish radical ‘climate activist’ and teenager Greta Thunberg also tweeted in support of the protests on Wednesday, when she shared the same CNN news report that Rihanna had earlier shared and tweeted, “We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India”.

Jeff Bezos to step down as Amazon CEO later this year, Andy Jassy to take over

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The Commune
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Jeff Bezos Amazon Andy Jassy

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced that he will leave his post later this year and has named the company’s top cloud executive, Andy Jassy as his successor. Jassy, 53, is set to take the helm in the third quarter.

In his announcement on Tuesday, Bezos said that he will transition to executive chairman of Amazon’s board.

Bezos, who is now 57, founded Amazon in 1994. The company has since then morphed from an online bookstore into a mega-retailer with global reach, selling a slew of different products, from gadgets to groceries to online streaming. Amazon surpassed a $1 trillion market cap under Bezos’ leadership in January of last year. It is now worth more than $1.6 trillion.

Amazon had kept its succession plans quiet, though it was speculated that either Jassy or Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business, would be Bezos’ eventual successor. In August, Amazon announced Wilke will retire in 2021.

Jassy joined Amazon in 1997 and has led Amazon’s Web Services cloud team since its inception. AWS continues to drive much of Amazon’s profit.

“I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO,” Bezos said in a letter to employees. “In the Exec Chair role, I intend to focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives. Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have. He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence.”

Bezos said in his letter that he will stay engaged in important Amazon projects, but will also have more time to focus on the Bezos Earth Fund, his Blue Origin spaceship company, The Washington Post and the Amazon Day 1 Fund.

“As much as I still tap dance into the office, I’m excited about this transition,” Bezos said in the internal announcement. “Millions of customers depend on us for our services, and more than a million employees depend on us for their livelihoods. Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else.”

Shares of Amazon were up about 1% in extended trading Tuesday on the back of an earnings report, in which Amazon posted its first $100 billion quarter. AWS, under Jassy, reported 28% revenue growth for the fourth quarter. About 52% of Amazon’s operating income was attributed to AWS as of October 2020. The company’s stock has gained about 4% so far in 2021 and is up nearly 70% in the last 12 months.

Brian Olsavsky, Amazon CFO, said that the executive change was decided in consultation with Amazon’s board of directors. He said Bezos will remain very involved and have his fingerprints on lots of different parts of the company. Olsavsky said Jassy is a visionary leader who will bring his own skill set but that the company expects a lot of continuity with the transition.

Amazon has taken a lot of flak in recent months over anti-trust complaints in the EU and the US. In October, after a 16-month investigation into competitive practices at big tech companies including Amazon, the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust concluded that Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google enjoy monopoly power.

Soon after Bezos’ announcement, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said on Twitter that he has questions for Jassy.

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RaGa’s tweet of dictators’ names starting with M backfires

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The Commune
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Congress high command Rahul Gandhi has once again landed in hot soup after he faced heavy backlash over his tweet about how most dictators’ names started in M. The tweet read, “Why do so many dictators have names that begin with M?

Marcos
Mussolini
Milošević
Mubarak
Mobutu
Musharraf
Micombero”

This quickly became viral, as Twitterati tried to point out how problematic this was. One of the users pointed out that he had conveniently left out Mao Tse Dong, the Chinese communist dictator, and hinted at the possibility of the handle and the Congress party being run with some kind of communist backing. Another user went on to list prominent faces in the Congress like the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Rahul’s great-grandfather Motilal Nehru, and questioned whether they had a similar agenda.

Another Twitter user went as far as to point out that Mahatma Gandhi was, in fact, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and questioned RaGa as to whether he considered the ‘father of the nation’ to be a dictator.

Rahul Gandhi seems to have failed yet again in what was a poorly concealed attempt to attack PM Modi. Not considering the fact the Prime Minister’s name was, in truth, Narendra Modi, he has yet again become the favourite child of controversy and the butt of all jokes, and that too for all the wrong reasons.

Interestingly, it is to be noted that, he had conveniently left out Maino, which is the maiden name of his mother Sonia Gandhi, who was born as Antonia Maino. His maternal grandfather was a staunch loyal of the fascist regime and served as a foot soldier in Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s army. In fact, in a rare interview with Outlook in 1998, he had even confessed that he had an “unwavering loyalty to Mussolini and Italy’s ‘admirable’ fascist past”. Maino was not only unapologetic about his support for the fascist leader but he was immensely proud of fighting against the Russian Reds alongside Hitler’s Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in World War II.

Budget 2021: Govt proposes to build largest dedicated freight corridor

By
The Commune
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In an effort to decrease logistics cost and aid the domestic manufacturing industry, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget 2021 has announced three upcoming dedicated freight corridors (DFC), expected to be built with an investment of about ₹2.17 lakh crore, reports Moneycontrol.

On Monday (February 1) the Finance Minister announced the East Coast Freight Corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada, East-West Freight Corridor from Bhusawal to Kharagpur to Dankuni and North-South Freight Corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada.

The proposed 1,115 km long East Coast Corridor is expected to come at a capital cost of ₹40,344 crore at an average of ₹32.5 crore per km.

While the 1868 Km long East-West DFC is expected to cost around ₹86,805 crore at an average of ₹37.29 Crore per km, the North-South DFC covering 975 km is going to cost₹89579 crore at an average of ₹35.36 crore per km.

The proposed projects are to built in the Western and Eastern dedicated freight corridors, and are expected to be commissioned by June 2022. As part of the green initiative, the government also announced that 100 per cent electrification of broad gauge routes will be completed by December 2023.

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Islamists issue open threat to kill BJP TN leader Kalyanaraman for remarks on Prophet Mohammad

By
The Commune
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Islamists belonging to various Jamaats and radical fundamentalist organizations like Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) have issued threats to kill BJP Tamil Nadu leader R. Kalyanraman for his remarks on Prophet Mohammad.

Kalyanraman while speaking at a public meeting in Mettupalayam on January 31 had reportedly said that Hindus in Gujarat used to live in fear and hide under bunkers fearing attacks from Muslims while adding that this scenario had changed after 2002. He had also allegedly questioned the manhood of Prophet Mohammad, a remark that he had earlier made on his Facebook profile too, and went on to explain how the court granted him bail for the same. Back in February 2019, the Madras High Court while granting bail to Kalyanaraman had observed that expressing opinions on religious aspects based on an individual’s knowledge of the subject does not amount to blasphemy.

The public meeting by the BJP unit in Coimbatore was organized in response to SDPI’s provocative tractor rally held on January 26 in which one of the members had dressed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and portrayed him in a derogatory way.

On January 31, members belonging to Islamic fundamentalist organizations like SDPI who heard the statements made by Kalyanaraman arrived at the venue and threw stones and wooden logs at the BJP leaders and others who had assembled. A tense situation prevailed and around 500 policemen were reportedly deployed. Following this, Kalyanaraman along with two other leaders –  Jegannathan, BJP Coimbatore North District President and Satheesh Kumar, the party’s divisional secretary – were taken into custody.

Now, many radical Islamists belonging to fundamentalist organizations like PFI, SDPI and various Jamaats in Tamil Nadu have issued open threats to kill the BJP leader.

In a video that is being shared on social media, one of the person at a gathering of Muslims warns that this should be the last anyone speaks about Prophet Mohammad and that he is ready to kill the BJP leader.

“Whoever it may be.. this should be the first and last that anyone speaks of Prophet Mohammad.. I am ready to sacrifice my life.. I will kill Kalyanaraman” the man says.

Another man can be heard saying that anyone who makes remarks on Prophet Mohammad, that person’s tongue should be cut off.

Islamists belonging to various political parties have also issued death threats to Kalyanaraman. In another viral video, a man outside a Communist party building asks “how many of you are ready to kill Kalyanaraman?” to which the entire crowd raises its hands shouting slogans.

In another video a Muslim man says “That man… he had written about Prophet Mohammad and his wives derogatorily and is roaming alive. You know what our law [Muslim law] says? Those who speak like that should be killed.”

The man further ferociously adds “According to our Islamic law, we have the right to chop him into pieces” to which the entire crowd shouts “Allahu Akbar”.

Political parties like the Congress and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) are demanding that the BJP leader be slapped with the National Security Act (NSA). It is pertinent to note that none of the political parties in Tamil Nadu except the BJP and AIADMK came out in protest when Karuppar Koottam, a YouTube channel run by ‘Periyarists’ with links to the DMK, abused Hindu God Murugan and Kandha Sashti Kavasam.

BJP leader H. Raja and Indu Makkal Katchi founder leader Arjun Sampath have sought the release Kalyanaraman and others. H. Raja pointed out that no action has been taken against Vairamuthu or DMK’s ‘Tamilan’ Prasanna who had called abused ‘Aandaal’, one of the 12 Alwars.

Netizens are also lashing out at the double standards exhibited by political parties like the Congress, DK, DMK, Communist and VCK for staying silent when Hindus and Hindu Gods were abused while going out of their way to condemn the remarks against Prophet Mohammad.

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Rihanna, Greta Thunberg earn the ire of Indians by tweeting in support of farmer protests

By
The Commune
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Rihanna and Greta Thunberg tweet in support of the farmers protests

Pop star Rihanna on Tuesday tweeted about the farmers protests at Delhi’s borders, earning heavy criticism from Indian netizens on Twitter. Rihanna posted a CNN news report about the temporary internet shutdown around New Delhi and tweeted, “why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest”.

Rihanna ―who has earlier faced allegations of cocaine abuse when a video of her snorting a white substance at the Coachella music festival in 2015 had gone viral ― faced a lot of flak from Indians for her tweet.

Quote tweeting Rihanna’s tweet, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut lashed out with this tweet, “No one is talking about it because they are not farmers they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like USA. Sit down you fool, we are not selling our nation like you dummies.”

https://twitter.com/KanganaTeam/status/1356640083546406913

Former cricketer Pragyan Ojha too replied to the pop star, and said that Indians don’t need an outsider poking their nose into the nation’s internal matters.

Swedish radical ‘climate activist’ and teenager Greta Thunberg also tweeted in support of the protests on Wednesday, when she shared the same CNN news report that Rihanna had earlier shared and tweeted, “We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India”.

The 18 year-old Thunberg, who once said that politicians should be “put to the wall” and later had to apologise for it, has been panned by critics in the past for her ill-informed opinions on the nature of climate action.

On 26 January, Republic Day, the farmer-agitators had rioted across the national capital, damaging public property and severely injuring over a hundred policemen. They had also hoisted Sikh and Khalistani flags on top of the Red Fort.

Journalist Ashok Shrivastav, on Twitter, shared a heart-warming cartoon created by artist ArtKrafter, pointing out the pains suffered by policemen and their families by last week’s riots.

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Kolkata NGO launches online COVID memorial

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The Commune
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An online memorial – nationalcovidmemorial.in – was launched at the weekend by the Covid Care Network, a non-governmental organisation led by a team of doctors in the eastern city of Kolkata. CCN was founded by Abhijit Chowdhury, professor and head of the department of hepatology at the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research in Kolkata. This is an effort to pay homage to the lives lost due to this dreaded disease that has been wreaking havoc on the world.

Dr. Abhijit Chowdhury of CCN said, “A national COVID memorial is an initiative for Indians to keep alive the memories of their loved ones who succumbed to the disease. This is a place where everybody can join.” He added, “This memorial will restore some dignity of the people who died and were cremated without even their families being allowed to attend the funeral.”

Families who have lost a loved one due to the pandemic can simply upload the details of the deceased, along with their photo and death certificate and a tribute post will be posted on this website after verification of phone number.

The country’s Covid-19 tally rose to 1,07,66,245 on Tuesday with 8,635 fresh infections, according to a report in the Scroll. The pandemic has led to 1,54,486 fatalities in India in total. Ninety-four deaths occurred during the past 24 hours.

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Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu appointed to National Security Advisory Board

By
The Commune
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The founder of Zoho Corporation, Padma Shri Sridhar Vembu, has been added to the newly reconstituted National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), as per reports by stratnewsglobal.

Vembu based at a village in Tamil Nadu, has been nominated to the NSAB that acts as an advisory body to the revamped and expanded National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) headed by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. He will be one of the exceptional talents drawn from the private sector advising the government on issues of national security. 

NSAB members normally have a two-year tenure and only a few members from the previous Board have been retained and apart from Vembu former ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan, Anshuman Tripathy from IIM Bangalore and Arun K. Singh, former ambassador to France and the United States have been added to the NSCS.

Tilak Devasher, a Pakistan specialist and former senior intelligence officer, Aloke Joshi, former Chairman of NTRO, Prof. K Kamakoti from IIT Madras, Lt Gen. Subrata Saha (Retd), former Deputy Chief of the Indian Army, Lt Gen SL Narasimhan, a China specialist and head of the MEA’s in-house think tank, Centre for Contemporary China Studies (CCCS), and Bimal Patel, who heads the Ahmedabad based Rashtriya Raksha University have been re-nominated to the NSAB.

NSAB Chairman, diplomat RK Raghavan, India’s former Ambassador to Russia, has ended his term and it is not clear who will head the newly reconstituted body. 

Each of the NSAB is an expert in their respective field and is assigned a particular study that is submitted to the NSCS for analysis and then implementation through various ministries.

NSA Ajit Doval who acts at the single-point adviser to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) across six verticals—defence, internal security, strategic (nuclear) matters, space, external affairs and intelligence—receives inputs and advice from the NSAB, the three deputy NSAs and a military adviser who handle different portfolios.

As of now Rajinder Khanna, former head of India’s foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), is deputy NSA looking after space, cyber technology. Former diplomat Pankaj Saran is in charge of strategic and maritime affairs. Former IPS officer Datta Padsalgikar handles the internal security portfolio while Lt Gen VG Khandare (Retd), who headed the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) before his retirement from the Army, is now the Military Adviser in the NSCS, heading the military wing that carries out assessments and analysis on the armed forces.

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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.
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