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)
“Accomplished poet and writer” busted: Accused of extorting money from husband
A new twist has come to light in the controversial saga surrounding “accomplished writer-activist” Meena Kandasamy. Earlier, The Commune had published a report titled TNM’s eulogy on anti-Hindu bigot ‘Periyar’ ends as propaganda piece for DMK+, ‘poet’ quoted in article launches personal attack on those calling out fallacies. The report had pointed out how the anti-Brahmin and anti-Hindu rhetoric being peddled in The News Minute‘s article was actually full of Dravidian propaganda with no basis in reality.
It was then that Meena Kandasamy, in typical Periyarite fashion, went on a vitriolic rant against Brahmins, “Brahminism” and The Commune. Meena Kandasamy’s incitement of hatred against a particular Hindu community did not set well with several Twitter users. It must be noted here that Meena Kandasamy’s continued endorsement of “Periyar” is extremely dangerous, as there is ample evidence of EV Ramasamy’s hate for the Brahmin community and the Hindu community at large. In fact, in a speech in 1973, EV Ramasamy called for a genocide of Brahmins, saying that ‘all Brahmins must be killed and all temples and murtis destroyed’.
Meena Kandasamy soon got sucked into a maelstrom of her own making when she belittled and engaged in blusterous diatribes against those who critiqued and responded to her foul-mouthed outbursts.
In a latest development, noted journalist, documentary filmmaker and Men’s Rights activist Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj revealed in a series of tweets that in 2014, Meena Kandasamy filed a case against her former husband under IPC sections 498(A) and 506(ii). Section 498(A) of the Indian Penal Code is the dreaded “anti-dowry law”, which has been frequently misused and has been weaponized by a section of people especially those well-to-do. Data from the NCRB also shows that cases under 498(A) have acquittal rates of more than 80 percent and have the lowest conviction rate among all cases of crimes against women.
After filing a case against her former husband under section 498(A) in February of 2014, Meena Kandasamy has never appeared in The XVIII Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court at Saidapet, Chennai, for a period of more than six years! This is despite the fact that her case still in the evidentiary stage. The hearings were postponed by the Court every time and the first hearing of Meena Kandasamy’s case was in July 2014. Perhaps Meena Kandasamy, who currently “divides her time between Tamil Nadu and East London” according to a bio on her website, cannot find the time to appear in Court.
Deepika Bhardwaj has also alleged that Meena Kandasamy, in what can only be called extortion, demanded money from her husband to drop the case.
Furthermore, in her submissions to the Court through her lawyers, the ‘firebrand feminist’ follower of EVR has admitted that her parents promised to give her then-husband ₹50 lakhs, 100 sovereigns (about 800 grams) of gold, and household electrical appliances like refrigerator, washing machine, mixie, etc.
It is noteworthy that Meena Kandasamy, who often kicks up a fuss against “Brahminical patriarchy” on Twitter and in her seminars, has admitted to her father promising dowry to his son-in-law.
With Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj exposing this record of Meena Kandasamy, the ‘accomplished poet and writer’, who otherwise lectures on freedom of speech and expression has blocked the former on Twitter.