After coming down heavy on the Kerala Government for unleashing a witch-hunt on former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, the Supreme Court had directed the formation of a three-member committee under retired SC judge D K Jain to probe if there was a conspiracy among the then police officials to falsely implicate the top ISRO space scientist.
Now the committee will have its first sitting in the state capital on 14 and 15 December.
In 2018, then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice D Y Chandrachud decided to appoint a committee under judge Jain to inquire into the role of officials of the Kerala police in the arrest of Narayanan.
While the Centre appointed a top official — D K Prasad, the Pinarayi Vijayan government appointed former Additional Chief Secretary V S Senthil.
Reacting to the news Narayanan said “I do not know if I will be contacted as their job is to find out if there was any conspiracy and it’s not just the three former Kerala police officials, as there are others also. Maybe the committee was doing the groundwork to help them go forward in their probe, I do not know,”.
It all started in 1994 when Narayanan was arrested on charges of espionage along with fellow scientist D Sasi Kumaran, two Maldivian women and a businessman.
The CBI cleared Narayanan in 1995, however, he has been fighting a legal battle against the then top police official Siby Mathews who later reached the rank of the Director-General of Police, S Vijayan, and KK Joshua, who probed the case and implicated Narayanan. Another police officer T.P. Senkumar, a former state police chief who was tipped to probe spy charges involving Narayanan had called the Nambi Narayanan a ‘below average scientist’.
When the ISRO spy case came to light, there was a massive factional feud in the Congress party between senior leaders, the late K Karunakaran and the A K Antony who later became India’s Defence Minister.
DMK President M.K. Stalin who was participating in a party programme organized to deliver relief aid in Kolathur, fainted after feeling giddy and was later taken to a hospital.
The party had initially denied it to be false and asked people to not believe in rumours. However, the DMK chief who had later met the press in Kolathur, said that he had felt mild dizziness and fatigue. He said that doctors ran a ECG and a blood pressure test and that he was fine now.
After Pakistani troops initiated unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC), the Indian Army retaliatory action has led to the death of five Pakistani soldiers and three injured in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, Defence sources said.
“Pakistan initiated unprovoked firing and shelling targeting civilian facilities in Mankote sector of the LoC in Poonch district on Thursday. The damage was caused to civilian properties due to indiscriminate targeting of civilian facilities by the Pakistan army. This necessitated befitting retaliatory action by the Indian army in which five Pakistani soldiers were killed and three injured. Several of their bunkers have also been destroyed”, sources said.
The two sides exchanged fire that lasted for 2 hours after Pakistan again violated the bilateral ceasefire agreement signed by the two countries in 1999.
As per data, 30 civilians have been killed and over 100 injured in over 3200 ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the LoC since January 2020.
The middlemen of Punjab and the farmers bonded/instigated by them along with the opposition political parties called for a nation wide bandh on December 8. The bandh received lukewarm response with only the region surrounding the protest witnessing difficulty in movement of goods and people.
The bandh however turned out to be a damp squib in the southern states especially in states like Tamil Nadu where the state government had enacted farm laws modelled along the Centre’s laws even before the the latter enacted.
However, Muslim Jamaaths in Tamil Nadu like the Lalpet Muslim Jamaath in Cuddalore district asked the Muslim shopowners of the region to down their shutters to condemn the Centre’s farm laws.
மத்திய அரசாங்கத்திற்கு எதிராக ஒன்றும் அறியாத அப்பாவி முஸ்லிம் மக்களை தூண்டிவிடும் ஜமாத்துகள் pic.twitter.com/KnzUO8tJDz
Muslim Jamaaths in Tamil Nadu often interfere with political affairs and exercise significant control over the voting franchise of Muslims.
They had earlier tried to replicate Shaheenbagh-style protests in Chennai’s Washermanpet area against the CAA 2019.
The Lalpet Muslim Jamaath has been making news for quite some time. Earlier, it tried to instill panic by asking Muslims to take away their deposits and savings from banks.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had raided the residences of Sheikh Dawood, Mohammed Riyaz, Sadhik, Mubharis Ahmad, Rizwan and Hameed Akbar in Muthupet, Ramanathapuram, Keelakarai, Devipattinam, Lalpet, Salem and Chidambaram in connection with a case filed against eight people for allegedly supporting Islamic State (IS).
Persecution Relief and its head Shibu Thomas who were recently exposed for indulging in anti-India activities find themselves in trouble again, this time over another organization named ‘Abundant Life Society’.
Abundant Life Society, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based out of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh has been found to be running illegal children homes. Mr. Shibu Thomas, who is reportedly an Indian-origin US citizen is the president of this NGO.
According to its official website, ‘Abundant Life Society’, provides shelter, nutrition and education to abandoned children at its facilities in Bhopal.
The NGO is also in partnership with Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (MPTDC) for various education-related programmes.
However, Abundant Life Society, an FCRA registered NGO receives funds from Persecution Relief, a US-registered charitable organization (EIN: 47-4628497) which is also run by Shibu Thomas who remains its only President and CEO.
Persecution Relief, an organization claiming to help ‘persecuted’ Christians in India has been working clandestinely and carrying out anti-national activities.
This organization has been gathering details about crimes across the country where the victims are Christians, collating them, and preparing periodical reports which are then shared with various lobbying organizations in the USA and evangelist organizations across the world. They primarily collect data of skirmishes between Christian missionaries who go for proselytization in villages and the locals there, in an attempt to make a case for alleged ‘persecution’ of Christians in India.
Persecution Relief works with several other organizations like the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA), the members of which justify forced religious conversions. FIACONA, is involved in lobbying against India with U.S lawmakers, Church organizations and the USCIRF to press sanctions against India.
Persecution Relief, in its Annual Report for the year 2019 termed rules set by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to protect the rights of children as ‘a persecution against the Christians in India’.
In page 94 of the report, Persecution Relief came up with this recommendation to the state and central government:
We request the Ministry of Women & Child Development to instruct Child Welfare Committee (CWC), not to harass Christian Institutions and Orphanages maliciously across India. In 2019, we have recorded many instances of false cases booked under POCSO, of whom several are still in jail. Children were evacuated in the middle of the night against the wishes of their parents, with little compassion or understanding.
It is to be noted that there already exists provisions in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and its guideline for non-reporting the incidents of sexual harassment against Children and even for false reporting.
Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF) which has brought the matter to light states that through this, ‘Abundant Life Society’ is intentionally demotivating the children who are facing sexual harassment and restricting them from reporting such incidents of sexual harassment.
“If they have any particular incidents in which false cases were filed under POCSO Act, they should have come up with all details.” LRPF in its complaint noted.
Also, in page number 116 of their report, Persecution Relief admitted states that “Christian schools, Children Homes and Orphanages are being attacked by Hindu extremists in India”. It went on to state that if any incident occurs in any part of India, it immediately comes to the notice of the NCPCR and gets covered by media followed by action of law enforcement agencies and added that ‘Attacking against Child Homes in India’ is a false allegation and it should be investigated.
Speaking to The Commune, Working President of LRPF A.S. Santhosh said “Since ‘Abundant Life Society’ is partnering with the Government of Madhya Pradesh and receiving foreign donations from the US registered NGO Persecution Relief, we are very much worried about the legal norms they are following in this procedure and also the security of the children at homes and shelters being maintained by ‘Abundant Life Society’ headed by the notorious person like Shibu Thomas.”
The LRPF has now written to the NCPCR to initiate an enquiry into the matter of Children Homes run by ‘Abundant Life Society’ and the condition of children of those homes.
To read about the expose story of Persecution Relief, click here.
Ministry of AYUSH and AIIMS have decided to initiate work on setting up a Department of Integrative Medicine at AIIMS. This was decided in a joint visit and review by Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH and Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS of the Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research (CIMR) at AIIMS, New Delhi. The CIMR receives notable support through the Centre of Excellence Scheme of the Ministry of AYUSH.
Dr. Gautam Sharma, Head, CIMR and senior officers of AYUSH Ministry were also present during the visit. The cutting edge research activities being held by CIMR in the Yoga and Ayurveda disciplines were reviewed and the research outcomes were seen to be impressive. Ministry of AYUSH and AIIMS decided to extend the duration of the research collaboration at CIMR and also to extend the scope of collaborative activities.
Considering the research work, other activities and accomplishments of CIMR, it was felt that setting up a dedicated OPD and IPD beds for CIMR could be the next steps in the growth and development of CIMR. Both Secretary AYUSH and Director AIIMS agreed that considering the increased interest of patients at AIIMS in the CIMR and the growing body of research work of the Centre it could be feasible to further develop it into a standalone Department for Integrative Medicine at AIIMS in the short-term future. This may be developed with dedicated faculty and staff to make it into a permanent Department at AIIMS.
Secretary AYUSH assured that the Ministry of AYUSH will strive to continue its support to CIMR till the dedicated Department is developed. The notable research outcomes of CIMR and the encouraging results of the new initiatives in COVID 19 research through integrative research point towards an integrative approach being the need of the hour and towards the significant public health benefits it can lead to.
It was decided that CIMR, AIIMS may develop an integrated protocol with Ayurveda and Yoga for study on Post COVID treatment. The Ministry of AYUSH could collaborate in the same through the Extra Mural Research Scheme.
The progress in establishing the Integrated AYUSH cancer care facilities at the National Cancer Institute at Jhajjar, Haryana was also reviewed. It was decided to follow it up and expedite the process for early establishment and functioning of the center.
The team of senior functionaries visited CIMR and also attended a presentation on COVID 19 research works at the CIMR. Secretary AYUSH and Director AIIMS complemented the CIMR staff for developing it as a state of the art research unit and producing high quality treatment and research outcomes.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval for Atmanirbhar Bharat RojgarYojana (ABRY) to boost employment in formal sector and incentivize creation of new employment opportunities during the Covid recovery phase under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package 3.0.
Cabinet has approved an expenditure of ₹1,584 crore for the current financial year and ₹22,810 crore for the entire Scheme period i.e. 2020-2023.
Government of India will provide subsidy for two years in respect of new employees engaged on or after 1st October, 2020 and upto 30th June, 2021.
Government of India will pay both 12% employees’ contribution and 12% employers’ contribution i.e. 24% of wages towards EPF in respect of new employees in establishments employing upto 1000 employees for two years,
The Central government will pay only employees’ share of EPF contribution i.e. 12% of wages in respect of new employees in establishments employing more than 1000 employee for two years.
An employee drawing monthly wage of less than ₹15000/- who was not working in any establishment registered with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) before 1st October, 2020 and did not have a Universal Account Number or EPF Member account number prior to 1stOctober 2020 will be eligible for the benefit,
Any EPF member possessing Universal Account Number (UAN) drawing monthly wage of less than ₹15000/- who made exit from employment during Covid pandemic from 01.03.2020 to 30.09.2020 and did not join employment in any EPF covered establishment up to 30.09.2020 will also be eligible to avail benefit,
EPFO will credit the contribution in Aadhaar seeded account of members in electronic manner.
EPFO shall develop a software for the scheme and also develop a procedure which is transparent and accountable at their end.
EPFO shall work out modality to ensure that there is no overlapping of benefits provided under ABRY with any other scheme implemented by EPFO.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for Provision of Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity between Mainland (Kochi) and Lakshadweep Islands (KLI Project).
The Project envisages provision of a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) between Kochi and 11 Islands of Lakshadweep viz. Kavaratti, Kalpeni, Agati, Amini, Androth, Minicoy, Bangaram, Bitra, Chetlat, Kiltan&Kadmat.
The estimated cost of implementation is about ₹1072 crore including operational expenses for 5 years. The Project would be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund.
The present approval for Provision of Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity will vastly improve telecommunication facility in the Lakshadweep Islands by providing large bandwidth.
The submarine connectivity project will have vital role for delivery of e-Governance services at the doorstep of citizens, potential development of fisheries, coconut based industries and high-value tourism, educational development in term of tele-education and in health care in terms of telemedicine facilities. It will help in establishment of numerous businesses, augment e-commerce activities and provide adequate support to educational institutes for knowledge sharing.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has been nominated as Project Execution Agency and Telecommunications Consultant India Ltd. (TCIL) as the Technical Consultant of the Project to assist Universal Service Obligation Fund, Department of Telecommunications. The ownership of the asset under the project will rest with USOF, the funding agency, under DoT. The project is targeted to be completed by May 2023.
A new species of Indian Muraingrasses known for their ecological and economic importance, such as fodder, have been spotted by scientists in Goa in the Western Ghats, one of the four global biodiversity hotspots of India. The species has adapted to survive harsh conditions, low nutrient availability, and blossoms every monsoon.
Globally 85 species are known from Ischaemum, of which 61 species are exclusively found in India. The Western Ghats have 40 species with the highest concentration of the genus.
Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, has been exploring the biodiversity of the Western Ghats for last few decades.
A team led by Dr. Mandar Datar and Dr.Ritesh Kumar Choudhary from ARI has been working on relationships among different groups of plants and their evolutionary development (plant taxonomy and phylogeny) of Indian Muraingrasses (Genus Ischaemum) to document the diversity and report novel species. The team discovered a novel species named Ischaemumjanarthanamiifrom plateaus of Western Ghats of Goa, and a research paper describing this species was published recently in Annales BotaniciFennici, a Finland based journal.
During their explorations on lateritic outcrops (habitats where portions of freely exposed bedrocks protrude above the soil level due to natural reasons) of Goa, the ARI team collected an interesting specimen of the species. Careful observations and critical morphological studies identified the species as a novel one. The species was named Ischaemumjanarthanamiiin honour of Prof. M. K. Janarthanam, Professor of Botany, Goa University, for his contribution to the Indian grass taxonomy and documentation of the floristic diversity of Goa state.
The first collection of this new species was made in the 2017 monsoon. The population was kept under observation for the next two years to confirm the consistency of its characters. Morphological and molecular data of the species were used to confirm the novelty of the species.
Ischaemumjanarthanamii grows on low altitude lateritic plateaus in the outskirts of Bhagwan Mahavir National Park, Goa. The vegetation is exposed to extreme climatic conditions like desiccation in drier months and soils with low nutrient availability. However, withstanding these, the species has adapted to survive harsh conditions and blossom every monsoon.
BSNL, in partnership with Skylotech India, announced today a breakthrough in satellite-based NB-IoT (Narrow Band-Internet of Things), in pursuance of the Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision of a truly Digital India starting with fishermen, farmers, construction, mining andlogistics enterprises. With this solution, India will now have access to a ubiquitous fabric of connectivity for millions of yet unconnected machines, sensors and industrial IoT devices.
This new ‘Made in India’ Solution, which is indigenously developed by Skylo, will connect with BSNLs satellite- ground infrastructure and provide PAN-India coverage, including Indian seas. The coverage will be so vast that it will not leave any dark patch within the boundary of India, from Kashmir & Ladakh to Kanyakumari, and from Gujarat to the North East, including the Indian seas.
“The solution is in line with BSNLs vision to leverage technology to provide affordable and innovative telecom services and products across customers segments”.He further added:Skylo would also help provide critical data for the logistics sector to enable effective distribution of COVID-19vaccine in 2021and will be a big contributor in service to the nation.” P.K.Purwar, CMD, BSNL was quoted saying in the press release.
Parthsarathi Trivedi, CEO and Co-founder, Skylo, said: For centuries, industries, including agriculture, railways and fisheries, have been operating offline, and havenot had the opportunity to take full advantage of the latest advancements in AI&IoT until today.This is theworlds first satellite-based NB-IoT network and I am proud to launch this capabilityin India first to transform lives and our domestic industries”.
Shri VivekBanzal, Director (CFA), BSNL Board, said, Successful POCs have already been conducted by BSNL and Skylo in India and we will soon approach various user groups before the New Year 2021 begins.
This breakthrough announcement is very timely because it comes during the ongoing Indian Mobile Congress 2020. This new technology supports the Department of Telecom and NITI Aayogs plan of bringing indigenous IoT connectivity to India’s core sectors. Examples of where this technology has already been tested successfully include, Indian Railways, fishing vessels, and enabling connected vehicles across India.
A small, smart, incredibly rugged box, the Skylo ‘User Terminal’ interfaces with sensors and transmits data to the Skylo Network and into peoples hands. The accompanying Data Platform provides an immersive, visual, experience for industry-specific applications on mobile or desktop. Itgives users the ability to take immediate and appropriate action, no matter where they are. This new digital machine connectivity layer will serve as a complement to smartphone-centric mobile & Wi-Fi networks, and covers India’s full geography to bring online new applications for the first time.
