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No need to panic about mutant coronavirus, NITI Aayog says

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The Commune
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Speaking about the mutant Coronavirus in the United Kingdom, Member, Health, NITI Aayog, Dr. V.K. Paul said, ‘ There is no need to panic. We are yet to spot such a virus in our country for which there are intensive efforts in the offing. This virus increases infectiousness but does not increase propensity for death or hospitalization or severity of the disease.’ He also mentioned that this will have no impact on the potential of emerging vaccines that are being developed in our country and other countries. He also emphasised that there are no changes in the current treatment guidelines. “Mutation is a very common behaviour in viruses. The current mutation says that 17 mutations have happened all at once. Its tendency to enter our cell has become higher. Transmissibility has increased with this mutation,” he added.

Dr. Paul informed about the steps taken in this regard. Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Bio Technology have started genomic sequencing of samples collected at their designated laboratories. “Genomic sequencing of viruses in the country is being done. No such mutation has been shown in the samples in the country. The mutation found here is insignificant”, he said. He also mentioned that the passengers who had returned from the UK are to be contacted; their clinical issues to be understood and tests to be conducted and their specimen will be subjected to genetic sequencing. In addition to this he pointed out that temporary travel restrictions have been imposed to and from UK.

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World Bank signs $500 million project to develop green, resilient and safe highways in India

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The Commune
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The Government of India and the World Bank on December 22 signed a $500 million project to build safe and green national highway corridors in the states of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The project will also enhance the capacity of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in mainstreaming safety and green technologies.

The Green National Highways Corridors Project will support MoRTH construct 783 km of highways in various geographies by integrating safe and green technology designs such as local and marginal materials, industrial byproducts, and other bioengineering solutions. The project will help reduce GHG emissions in the construction and maintenance of highways.

Dr C S Mohapatra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance stated that the Government of India is committed to environmentally sustainable development in its infrastructure projects. This project will set new standards in the construction of safe motorable roads. The selected stretches in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh will also help improve connectivity and promote economic development.

The agreement was signed by Dr Mohapatra on behalf of the Government of India and Ms Sumila Gulyani, Acting Country Director, India on behalf of the World Bank.

The ultimate objective of transport infrastructure is to provide seamless connectivity and reduce logistics costs. The Government of India has launched many investment programs in road sector infrastructure to strengthen and improve logistics performance. This project will also support analytics to map the freight volume and movement pattern on the National Highway network, identify constraints, and provide innovative logistics solutions.

Historically, the transport sector in India has offered limited employment opportunities for women. The project will support the ministry with an in-depth analysis of gender-related issues in the transport sector along with help in creating jobs for women by training women-led micro enterprises and women collectives to implement green technologies in the highway corridors.

“Connectivity for economic growth and connectivity for sustainable development are two important aspects of a country’s development trajectory. This operation brings these two priorities together in support of India’s growth strategy,” said Mr Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India. “This project will provide efficient transportation for road users in the four states, connect people with markets and services, promote efficient use of construction materials and water to reduce the depletion of scarce natural resources, and help lower GHG emissions,” he added.

The National Highways of India carry about 40 percent of road traffic. However, several sections of these highways have inadequate capacity, weak drainage structures and black spots prone to accidents. The project will strengthen and widen existing structures; construct new pavements, drainage facilities and bypasses; improve junctions; and introduce road safety features. It is imperative that the infrastructure investments are climate resilient. To this effect disaster risk assessment of about 5,000 km of the National Highway network will also be undertaken under the project along with support to ministry for mainstreaming climate resilience aspects in project design and implementation.

The $500 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a maturity of 18.5 years including a grace period of five years.

(Published from PIB)

“Take a vow that you won’t show enmity and inform IT dept until elections”, DMK General Secretary says to party functionaries

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The Commune
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"Central Govt Has Formed A Committee Full Of Brahmins To Rewrite Indian History, Time For DMK To Show Its Strength", Says DMK Min Durai murugan At DMK's 75th Anniversary Event disproportionate asset

In a comic yet unfortunate incident, DMK General Secretary Duraimurugan while addressing the party functionaries at the launch of the yet another campaign titled “Reject ADMK” asked party functionaries to now show enmity and inform Income Tax department atleast until the elections are done.

On December 20, the DMK under the leadership of M.K. Stalin kickstarted yet another campaign against the incumbent AIADMK government titled “Reject ADMK”.

While speaking at the event, Duraimurugan who is also the Katpadi MLA said “Promise on your mother, promise on your mother’s womb, promise on your father, promise on our leader Anna who raised us, promise on our leader [Karunanidhi], promise on the embodiment of ‘Thalaivar’ and ‘Anna’ our ‘Thalapathy’ [M.K. Stalin]… Take a vow that for the coming days, until elections are done, that you won’t show enmity among yourselves. That you won’t tip-off information about anyone. Let me go a step further.. There are some ungrateful people in the party who are informing the Income Tax department about us. Their hearts have become rotten and thankless. Thinking about it as a person who has grown in this party for 60 years pains me“.

The DMK is about to face series of challenges in the next few months as some of its leaders are involved in high profile scams for which investigations and court proceedings are on-going. The 2G spectrum corruption case that involves DMK ‘Deputy’ General Secretary and Nilgiris MP A. Raja along with Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi has been fast-tracked with the CBI filing an appeal. DMK MP Jagathrakshakan faces charges of land grab who has also invested more than ₹26,000 crores in an oil refinery in Hambantota, Sri Lanka.

 

India’s leopard population sees 60% rise

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The Commune
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Releasing the Status of Leopards report in New Delhi today, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said that increase in Tiger, Lion & Leopards numbers over the last few years is a testimony to the conservation efforts and of the fledgling wildlife & biodiversity of the country.

India now has 12,852 leopards as compared to the previous estimate of 7910 conducted 2014. More than 60% increase in population has been recorded. The States of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra recorded the highest leopard estimates at 3,421, 1,783 and 1,690 respectively.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister remarked that monitoring of the tiger in India has clearly shown its umbrella role in the ecosystem, which has shed light on other charismatic species like the Leopard.

India’s world record tiger survey also estimated the population of leopards and the tiger range was found home to 12,852 (12,172-13,535) leopards. They occur in prey rich protected areas as well as multi-use forests.A total of 5,240 adult individual leopards were identified in a total of 51,337 leopard photographs using pattern recognition software. Statistical analysis estimates the leopard population at – 12,800 leopards within the tiger’s range.

The leopardwas estimated across forested habitats in tiger range areas of the country but other leopard occupied areas such as non-forested habitats (coffee and tea plantations and other land uses from where leopards are known to occur), higher elevations in the Himalayas, arid landscapes and majority of North East landscape were not sampled and, therefore, the population estimation should be considered as minimum number of leopards in each of the landscapes.

Tiger has not only served as an umbrella species but even its monitoring has helped evaluate the status of other species, like the leopard. The National Tiger Conservation Authority-Wildlife Institute of India (NTCA-WII) shall be reporting on several other species shortly.

(Published from PIB)

Master’s mega vasool: School run by Actor Vijay’s uncle and ‘Master’ film producer Xavier Britto charge exorbitant fees, parents protest

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The Commune
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Parents of students belonging to St. Britto’s Academy engaged in a protest alleging that the school owned by the trust of actor Vijay’s ‘Master’ film producer Xavier Britto was charging extra.

Vijay’s latest movie Master’s producer Xavier Brito, who is also the actor’s uncle, is the Chairman of St. Britto’s Academy school located in Velachery, Chennai.

Parents alleged that the school was charging ₹67000 as fees for online classes for LKG students when the school did not even open this year.

Xavier Britto, who claims to be running the school with a service mindset through the SMR Educational Trust, is said to have charged this year’s tuition fees from parents as usual, while schools remain closed in view of the pandemic.

The school administration of Xavier Britto’s school has also allegedly collected money in the name of special fees from the parents of Class 10 and 12 students.

While affluent parents have paid the fees, those belonging to middle class who have seen lesser incomes and loss of jobs due to the pandemic have been struggling to pay and had stood before the administration explaining their plight.

But to their shock, the school administration had allegedly terminated the online classes for those students who did not pay the fees. This had enraged the parents who then stormed the school and sat in front of the school in protest over the administration’s apathy.

Realizing that the situation was worsening, the school administration informed the police. Police rushed in and took the parents inside to negotiate. Following this, the parents complained about the school collecting exorbitant fees.

A fourth grade student was charged tuition fees for 3 terms, special fees, other fees, money for notebooks, textbooks, uniforms totaling to ₹90000.

Later, two parents were called in for negotiations with the school administration. Following this, the protest by parents came to a temporary halt.

However, a spokesman of St. Britto’s Academy said that the parents had insulted the school administration by saying obscene things and that the protesters had not paid their tuition fees properly for several months despite being given a discount of up to 50% on tuition fees.

Xavier Britto whose school has been accused of harassing parents to put up with sky high fees also runs a multi-billion dollar business named Kerry Indev Logistics in Chennai and has around 85 separate luxury villas in a space of 30 acres on the East Coast Road (ECR), one of Chennai prime real estates.

Xavier Britto, the brother-in-law of SA Chandrasekhar (father of Actor Vijay). Xavier Britto is the producer of Actor Vijay’s upcoming film ‘Master’. He earlier served as a professor in Loyola College. It would do good to recall that Income Tax Officers had raided Xavier Britto’s offices for tax evasion. It is said that Xavier Britto is the benami of Actor Vijay.

His brother Father Xavier Alphonse, the former Director of Loyola Alumni Association, has been accused of harassing a woman staff of Loyola College. Read more about it here.

(With inputs from Polimer News)

Centre to constitute High Level Committee headed by HM to commemorate 125th birth anniversary of Netaji

By
The Commune
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The Government has decided to constitute a High Level Committee to commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.   This High Level Committee will decide on the activities for a one year long commemoration starting 23rd January, 2021.   The High Level Committee will be headed by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah.  The Commemoration is being held as a tribute and as a mark of gratitude to the colossal contribution Netaji made to India’s freedom struggle.

Speaking about Netaji Bose, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “India will always remain grateful to Subhas Chandra Bose for his bravery and indelible contribution to resisting colonialism. He was a stalwart who committed himself towards ensuring every Indian leads a life of dignity. Subhas Babu was also known for his intellectual prowess and organisational skills. We are committed to fulfilling his ideals and creating a strong India.”

The members of the High Level Commemoration Committee will include experts, historians, authors, family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as well as eminent persons associated with Azad Hind Fauj/INA. The Committee will also lend guidance to the commemoration activities in Delhi, Kolkata and  other places associated with Netaji and Azad Hind Fauj, both in India  as well as overseas.

In the recent past, Government of India has taken several steps towards preserving and conserving the precious heritage of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. A museum has been set up on Netaji at Red Fort, New Delhi, which was inaugurated by the  Prime Minister on 23.01.2019. A permanent exhibition and a Light and Sound show on Netaji has been planned to be set up at Kolkata in the historic Victoria Memorial building.

In 2015, Government of India decided to declassify the files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and make them accessible to public. The first lot of 33 files were declassified on 4 December 2015. Digital copies of 100 files relating to   Netaji were released by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 23rd January 2016 to meet the long-standing demand of the people.

During his visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2018, the Prime Minister  joined the programme to mark 75th anniversary of hoisting Tricolour by Netaji Bose. He paid tributes to Subhas Chandra Bose’s Provisional Government of Azad Hind, which administered the Islands during World War II. The Prime Minister renamed 3 islands in Andaman and Nicobar. The Ross Island was renamed as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep; the Neil Island as Shaheed Dweep; and the Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep.

(Published from PIB)

Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways identifies new routes for RO-RO, RO-PAX & Ferry Services

By
The Commune
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MoPSW has identified Domestic locations namely Hazira, Okha, Somnath Temple, DIU, PIPAVAV, Dahej, Mumbai/JNPT, Jamnagar, Kochi, Ghogha, Goa, Mundra and Mandvi and 6 International routes, connecting 4 international destinations namely Chattogram (Bangladesh), Seychelles (East Africa) Madagascar (East Africa) and Jaffna (Sri Lanka) from Indian major coastal port towns for the commencement of ferry services through inland waterways.

MoPSW, through Sagarmala Development Company Limited (SDCL), has allowed for the facilitation of companies to operate RO-RO, RO-PAX and Ferry services on various routes across the nation and provide the required support to make the project operational.

MOPSW has recently implemented one such ferry routes by deploying RoPAX vessel ferry service between Hazira and Ghogha. This ferry service has reduced the distance between Ghogha and Hazira from 370 Km to 90 Km and travel time from 10 to 12 hours to about 5 hours resulting in huge savings of fuel (approx. 9000 litres per day)

To replicate the success of the above business model, MoPSW is now encouraging the private operator to identify the routes, which offers potential to commence the RO-RO, RO-PAX ferry service based on the localized demand to promote the supplementary and sustainable mode of the transportation through coastal/inland water.

(Published from PIB)

MNM head actor Kamal Haasan refuses ‘poorna kumbham’ honours offered on behalf of Murugan Temple

By
The Commune
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Actor-politician Kamal Haasan who is on a state-wide campaign trail for the upcoming elections refused the ‘poornakumbham’ honours offered by Hindu priests on behalf of a Murugan Temple in Kanchipuram.

The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) head had visited Kanchipuram district on Monday (December 21). Reportedly, Sivachariyars (Saivite priests) belonging to the Kumarakottam Murugan Temple were arranged by one party cadre to welcome Kamal Haasan with a ‘poornakumbham’. It is to be noted that it was arranged not in front of the temple but in the middle of the road.

When Kamal Haasan arrived, he refused the honours offered by the priests in front of the public and media. In the video that is now getting viral, the priests can be seen trying to offer the ‘poornakumbham’. Another priest can be seen trying to chant the manthra/talk to Kamal Haasan but Kamal joins both his palms in refusal. He also did not allow the Sivachariyars to smear the vibhoodi (sacred ash) and vermilion (kum kum) on his forehead. He later, accepted the shawl out of courtesy.

This has caused stir among people with many calling out the actor for deliberately insulting Hindu traditions and disrespecting the Sivachariyars while some criticized the priests for giving ‘poornakumbam’ to the actor-politician.

According to sources, a member belonging to Kamal Haasan’s party and known to one of the Sivachariyars had approached to make arrangements for welcoming Kamal Haasan. Since, the person was known to the priest, he had obliged to the request. However, they did not expect that the actor-politician would refuse it.

In a similar incident in November, DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin who had gone to Kariyamanikkam Kailasanathar Temple in Trichy district refused the ‘poorna kumbham’ honour arranged by his party cadres.

Kamal Haasan, a self-proclaimed rationalist is well known for his targeted attack on Hindus both on and off screen. In many instances, the actor had openly acknowledged that he is not a Hindu and is a follower of Christ and admired the work of Christian missionaries. His elder brother Chandra Haasan had converted to Christianity and had done many Christian propaganda films that justified forced religious conversion.

PM Modi conferred with top US honour ‘Legion of Merit’ for his leadership and elevating India-US ties

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The Commune
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What Can India Expect from Donald Trump’s Second Term? trump india tariff pm modi

In a sign of the deepening ties between India and the United States (US), President Donald Trump has honoured Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, with the prestigious Legion of Merit award for his leadership role in the emergence of India as a global power and elevating the strategic partnership between two nations, reports Times of India.

The Legion of Merit award, is the highest degree of the Chief Commander, was conferred upon PM Modi by US’ National Security Advisor (NSA) Robert O-Brien. Meanwhile, the honour was received by Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu on PM Modi’s behalf.

Other than PM Modi, the US also bestowed the honour on Australian PM Scott Morrison and former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. The awards were received by the Australian and Japanese Ambassadors in Washington DC.

It should be noted that the honour is typically awarded to the Head of State or Government by the American President. With this, the US is the latest to join the list of nations which have conferred an award on PM Modi.

PM Modi has previously been honoured with the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud by Saudi Arabia in 2016, State Order of Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan in 2016, Grand Collar of the State of Palestine Award in 2018, Order of Zayed Award by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2019, Order of St Andrew by Russia in 2019 and the Order of the Distinguished Rule of Nishan Izzuddin by the Maldives in 2019.

‘Russia seeks cooperation and wider investment from India in energy sector’: Russian Ambassador to India Nikolai Kudashev

By
The Commune
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Russian ambassador to India, Nikolai Kudashev, told reporters on Monday that Russia wishes to expand its oil exports to India.

Russia is a leading player in the Indian energy market. Russia wants to supply crude oil and liquified natural gas to India on a “long-term basis” for a period of 20-25 years, said the Ambassador. He added that negotiations for this were “currently underway”.

Russia seeks to raise the level of cooperation with India in the energy sector by not only being an energy-supplier but also by attracting more Indian investment into the country’s oil sector. Ambassador Kudashev talked about “wider” Indian investment in the development of the Vostok Oil project in the Russian Arctic. The project is being undertaken by the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and private oil producer Neftegazholding. According to preliminary estimates, the project’s yearly crude production-level could reach as much as 100 million tons.

Earlier this year, Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan had expressed India’s interest in the massive Vostok Oil project. Oil giant Rosneft had also agreed to a deal in principle for Indian companies to join this venture.

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