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More than 50,000 Ayushman Bharat Health & Wellness Centres operationalized across country

By
The Commune
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India has crossed a landmark milestone on the journey of universal healthcare with more than 50,000 (50,025) Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) now operational across the country.

The 50,025 operational AB-HWCs are now spread across 678 districts, and include 27,890 Sub Health Centres, 18,536 Primary Health Centres and 3,599 Urban Primary Health Centres.

Aiming at providing Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) services to the communities closer to their homes, an ambitious target of establishing 1.5 lakh AB-HWCs by December 2022 has been set.

With more than 50,000 being established, 1/3 of the target has now been met, the press release issued by the Press Information Bureau said. This has led to improved access to affordable primary healthcare services for more than 25 crore people.

Together, these AB-HWC have had over 28.10 crore footfalls of which over 53% are women.

Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan congratulated the States/UTs for their efforts in operationalizing the HWCs despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “This has been possible due to the joint efforts of the Center and the States/UTs in planning, monitoring at all levels, standardization of processes, the flexibility for adaptation provided to the States/UTs, and building on the health systems created thus far”, he stated.

The Minister specially thanked the frontline health workers, the Medical Officers, the Community Health Officers and ASHAs for their dedication to the cause of providing Comprehensive Primary Health Care services and for supporting millions of people with necessary services in these difficult times.

Ayushman Bharat was launched in 2018 with its twin pillars of Health & Wellness Centers (HWCs) and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) with bidirectional linkages between the two for providing the full range of services across the continuum of care. The first AB-HWC was launched by Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on the 14th of April 2018 at Jhangla in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh.

The Health & Wellness Centers provide CPHC services to people and sustain the efforts for provision of reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, adolescent and nutrition (RMNCHA+N) services and control of communicable diseases. They also focus on disease prevention, especially for chronic and non-communicable diseases, wellness through community engagement and creating awareness about health lifestyles, appropriate nutrition and physical activities such as Yoga. The HWC team consists of a trained Community Health Officer, one or two Health Workers and 5-8 ASHAs. This team has well defined tasks which intend to deliver public health functions and primary health care by bringing health-care services closer to the community.

Women’s Football League (WFL) in Saudi Arabia finally kicks off

By
The Commune
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The Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has finally allowed women football and on Tuesday (November 17) the first matches were played. However, the game was not broadcasted or televised.

The Saudi Sports for All Federation (SFA) said that through the WFL it was striving “to empower women and to encourage them to become active and to participate in sports at the community level”.

This development is seen as a step forward for women’s participation in sport and emancipation of women in Saudi Arabia. In 2018, under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman women were first allowed to watch football matches in stadiums in the kingdom that is home to the two most holy sites in Islam.

For decades, women in Saudi Arabia had been confined to there homes because Saudi Arabia is home to the Wahabi school of Islam. Under the strict Sunni Islam norms, many rights were denied to women such as the right to participate in sporting activities and driving.

Conservative Islamic clerics who advise the ruling Saud family had even warned that opening sports to women would lead to immorality.

The Women’s Football League (WFL) in Saudi Arabia was supposed to start in the month of March, however, due to Covid-19, it was postponed. On Tuesday,  seven matches were played in the capital Riyadh and the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

This week in November 2020, seems to be quite momentous as the oil-rich nation played host to the first international women’s golf tournament also.

Devotee offers ₹700 crores for renovation of Chottanikkara Devi Temple, also to build a 500-bed super specialty hospital

By
The Commune
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A Bangalore based gold merchant has offered ₹700 crore as ‘thanksgiving for the bountiful blessings’ he received from the deity of Kerala’s famous Chottanikkara Devi Temple.

Gaanasravan, along with his family members and top officials of the ‘Swamiji Group of Companies’, have offered to cover the sanctum sanctorum of the temple with gold plates and build a 500-bed super specialty hospital which will provide free treatment to all.

This will be the biggest hospital endowment to build a hospital that offers free treatment in South India.

“A 500-bed super speciality hospital will be established at Chottanikkara and offer free treatment to all irrespective of religion, caste or creed. We are planning to build 7 guest houses with 300 rooms each apart from a VIP guest house. An old age home with a capacity to accommodate 200 people will be established as part of the development. There will be an orphanage and an auditorium with seating capacity for 5,000 people. We will be developing Chottanikkara as an international pilgrimage centre on the lines of Tirupati,” he was quoted saying in a report by The New Indian Express.

The gold merchant will allocate ₹300 crores towards temple renovation and ₹400 crore will be spent on infrastructure development including the hospital, guest houses, auditorium, sewage treatment plant, water supply scheme and ring roads.

There will be two massive gopurams at the eastern and western entrance which will be built using laterite stones. The temple pond in front of the Keezhkavu temple will be renovated and a dining hall will be built for annadanam (free food distribution) at an expense of ₹3 crore.

Gaanasravan has also promised to help with widening the roads in the town and two ring roads will be developed to ease the traffic.

The work is to be executed by the construction wing of Gaanasravan’s company under the supervision of Cochin Devaswom Board (CDB). A joint account in the name of Swamiji Group and the CDB will be opened into which the entire amount for each phase of the work will be transferred.

The CDB will appoint a chief engineer to monitor the works, if needed. The company has agreed to pay ₹5 crore to the CDB after signing the MoU for preparatory work as per CDB member M K Sivarajan.

Gaanasravan was born in a family of musicians at a village around 80 km from Bengaluru. His Guru had told him to offer prayers at Chottanikkara temple five years ago, which is supposed to have changed his destiny. He was quoted saying that his gold business flourished and could extend trade across the globe after he visited the temple.

“I believe it is the blessings of Amma that brought me good fortune. So I decided to spend part of my earnings for the development of this temple,”  he told The New Indian Express.

“We have approached the Devaswom bench of the Kerala High Court for sanction and once the court gives the nod, we will start the work within a month. We expect to start the work in January 2021 and the project will be completed within six years,” he said.

Pakistan under intense pressure from Saudi and US to recognize the Jewish State of Israel

By
The Commune
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The government of Imran Khan Niazi is under intense pressure, presumably from Saudi Arabia towards establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.

Pakistan has never recognized the legitimacy of the Jewish state and is very vocal in its support towards the Palestinians and their cause.

In an interview given by Pakistan‘s Prime Minister Imran Khan he publicly admitted that Islamabad was being pressured by the US and Gulf countries especially Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and normalize relations.

https://twitter.com/LifeRacer_1/status/1327330663851307009

Khan said that the American ‘pressure’ was due to “Israel’s deep influence in the U.S. This [influence] was, in fact, extraordinary during President Trump’s stint at the office.

However, when the interviewer prodded Niazi if a “brotherly Muslim country” had been the driving force to push Pakistan to acknowledge Israel, Khan told him: “Leave this, let’s move on.”

Khan continued with his response stating “There are certain things that we cannot say, because our relations with them [the Muslim countries pressuring Pakistan] are good. We don’t want to upset them. Inshallah, let our country stand up on its feet, then ask me such questions.”

Niazi’s interview caused a massive uproar in Pakistan and every local publication pushed the story of Niazi’s revelation of the pressure being exerted by a powerful Arab nation on Pakistan to move closer to Israel.

To douse the fire, Pakistani government itself tweeted and the Foreign Ministry spokesman kept denying that Pakistan was under any U.S. pressure to recognise Israel, and calling media reports that directly quoted from the Khan interview a “fabrication.”

https://twitter.com/GovtofPakistan/status/1328630056407724033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1328630056407724033%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fworld-news%2F.premium-how-saudi-arabia-is-pressuring-pakistan-to-recognize-israel-1.9315768

 

DMK MLA Poongothai attempted suicide allegedly over Stalin’s men harassing her

By
The Commune
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DMK MLA Poongothai Aladi Aruna’s alleged suicide attempt has caused a jolt in the party with several senior leaders rushing to visit her in the hospital.

The DMK MLA from Alangudi constituency in Tenkasi, was admitted to a private hospital in Tirunelveli on Thursday morning under mysterious circumstances.

She is said to have taken a high dosage of sleeping pills allegedly over the harassment meted out to her during the booth committee meeting held in Tenkasi district.

Poongothai Aladi Aruna, has been one of the key figures of the DMK in Tirunelveli-Tenkasi region since the Karunanidhi era. She is close to the party’s women’s wing secretary and Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi as well as Rajathi Ammal (later former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s concubine).

But of late, Poongothai was not to be seen in many of the events in which Kanimozhi was a participant.

For the past few years, a cold war has been brewing between Poongothai and Siva Padmanabhan who was in charge of the integrated Tirunelveli west. His recent appointment as district in-charge of Tirunelveli south had upset Poongothai and her supporters. He is said to be a supporter of MK Stalin.

In light of this, Poongothai who had gone to participate in the DMK booth committee meeting held at Thirumalaiyappapuram near Kadayam in Tenkasi district was given an unwelcoming reception. She was not given a chair to sit on the dais. DMK Kadayam Union Secretary Kumar had a war of words with her stating that she neither participated in party meetings nor took part in joys and sorrows of DMK cadres of the region.

Later, Poongothai sat on the ground in protest, the video of which became viral. The DMK men present in the meeting had asked her if she was here to foment trouble. She fell at the feet of the men present there and asked them to go on with their meeting. Not able to bear the insult meted out to her, she left the meeting before it ended.

The next day, she was admitted to the hospital in an unconscious state. Media reports stated that she had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills due to the internal squabbles that had happened earlier.

Following this, Tirunelveli East District DMK Secretary Avudaiappan, former MLA
Mana M. Appavu and other officials visited the hospital and inquired about her health. Appavu had stated that reports about her attempt to suicide were not true and that Poongothai fell unconscious suddenly while doing exercise in the morning.

DMK Rajya Sabha MP R.S. Bharathi too visited the hospital to inquire about her health. He too dismissed reports of Poongothai attempting suicide due to the internal rift in the party. He said that she had a long-standing feud with one of her brothers who was present on the stage that day in the meeting and noted it as a ‘family dispute’.

Currently she is being treated in the ICU with her vitals remaining satisfactory.

(Inputs taken from The Hindu Tamil, Kathir News and The New Minute)

DMK’s internal brawl comes out in the open, party MLA allegedly attempts suicide

By
The Commune
-

Poongothai Aladi Aruna, the DMK MLA from Alangudi constituency in Tenkasi, was admitted to a private hospital in Tirunelveli on Thursday morning under mysterious circumstances.

According to a few media reports, she had consumed a high dosage of sleeping pills. In a bulletin issued by the hospital, it was stated that her vitals were satisfactory but is being treated in Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

On Wednesday, Poongothai Aladi Aruna reportedly had altercations with some cadres of the DMK during a booth committee meeting held in Kadayam.

The supporters of the union secretary of the Kadayam region had allegedly abused her following which Poongothai Aladi Aruna is said to have walked out.

Later she was called back inside but was insulted by the same group when they switched off the microphone while she was addressing.

It is said that she had resorted to the extreme step following this internal squabbles in the party.

Poongothai, a qualified gynaecologist  is the daughter of the late Aladi Aruna or Aladipatti V Arunachalam, who was the law minister in DMK’s regime during 1996-2001.

After her father was murdered in 2004, she was given the MLA ticket in 2006, and was the Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme Minister from 2006 to 2008. She quit in May 2008 after the release of a telephone conversation between her and Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption about a corruption case with regard to her relative was leaked. However,  she was made as the Minister of Information and Technology in February 2009.

Madhya Pradesh to set up a ‘Gau cabinet’ to protect cows

By
The Commune
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Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan government has decided to set up a ‘Gau cabinet’ for the conservation of cow and its progeny.

“A decision has been taken to establish a ‘cabinet’ for the protection and promotion of cattle in the state. Departments of Animal Husbandry, Forest, Panchayat and Rural Development, Revenue, Home and Farmers Welfare Department will be included in the Gau Cabinet,” Chouhan tweeted.

On “Gopashtami”, November 22, the first meeting of the ‘Gau cabinet’ will be held at 12 noon at the Cow Sanctuary in Agar Malwa district.

This decision comes in the wake of BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, led by Yogi Adityanath, who had approved a similar ordinance earlier this year to prevent cow slaughter in the state.

However, details of how the new Gau Cabinet in Madhya Pradesh will function and the responsibilities entrusted to is yet unknown.

It is also pertinent to note that Cow Sanctuary in Agar-Malwa district was India’s first cow sanctuary which was set up by the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government in September 2017.

CM Chouhan in 2018, had announced the formation of ‘Cow Ministry’ for the welfare of cows and his government’s commitment to the protection and well-being and had also announced a ‘Cow Express“-an emergency healthcare service on wheels for ailing cattle.

The proposed amendment in the ordinance passed by the UP cabinet included a penal provision of imprisonment ranging from one year to ten years for physical damage to the cow and fine from Rs one lakh to Rs three lakh in cases related to cow slaughter.

What goes around comes around: ‘Go Back Stalin’, ‘Japan Deputy CM’, ‘2G thieves’, ‘corrupt bandicoots’, ‘Moolapathiram’ adorn the walls of Nagapattinam

By
The Commune
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Recently, V. Senthil Balaji who is now with the DMK had put up ‘Go Back Modi’ graffitis on walls across Karur. This had become a major issue with Annamalai issuing a warning against the DMK to take off the graffitis.

In a public meeting organized by the BJP Tamil Nadu in Karur, the former IPS officer had said that the ‘Go Back Modi’ graffitis which have been put at the behest of DMK’s Senthil Balaji should be taken off by DMK members themselves before 24th November 2020. He warned that failing to do so will result in BJP cadres replacing them with ‘Anju Katchi Ammavasai’ (a sly dig at Senthil Balaji’s swinging between DMK and AIADMK 5 times) and ‘Sudalai Raja’ (a comical reference to DMK chief MK Stalin).

Following Annamalai’s warning, it was found that the ‘Go Back Modi’ graffitis in Karur had been erased.

Meanwhile in Nagapattinam, the DMK had not taken off the ‘Go Back Modi’ graffitis on the walls following which BJP cadres belonging to the district painted it with phrases critical of the DMK.

‘2G thieves’, ‘corrupt bandicoots’, ‘CCTV’, ‘₹200’, ‘Moolpathiram’ ‘Japan’s Deputy Chief Minister’, ‘Go Back Stalin’ have been painted in place of the ‘Go Back Modi’ graffiti.

These images have now gone viral on social media with many stating that the DMK is now getting a taste of its own medicine.

Kerala: Twenty years of persecution by CPI(M) forces Scheduled Caste woman to convert to Islam

By
The Commune
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In Kerala, a Scheduled Caste woman auto driver named Chithra Lekha hailing from Kannur district has announced that she would be converting to Islam due to alleged constant caste discrimination by the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Chitra Lekha made this startling announcement through a Facebook post on November 16. In her Facebook post she said that she was constantly targeted because of her caste by the ruling CPM party and had lost all hopes of getting justice from the government or the courts.

Chithra Lekha had earlier alleged that CPM workers subjected her to constant discrimination. She had survived a murder attack and her auto was set on fire which the party never condemned.

She wrote about her constant struggle against the CPM’s caste discrimination for the 20 years and said that in order to escape the persecution she was converting to Islam. 

She got so tired and disillusioned that she could not continue any longer and did not want to live under the fear of the CPM whom she called a hypocrite secular party.

Chithra Lekha was allotted some land and money for a house by the previous UDF government, however, the CPM government cancelled the land allotted to her and refused the allotted money. Her protest in front of the Collectorate office also fell on deaf ears and the government did not change its decision.

Pakistan’s deep state asset, LeT chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed sentenced to 10 years on charges of terrorism

By
The Commune
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A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced chief of Jamat-ud-Dawa and the banned Islamic terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba Hafiz Saeed to 10-year imprisonment in two more terror cases.

Hafiz Saeed was the terror mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack that led to the death of 166 civilians and security personnel. 

The court verdict comes just days before the 12th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. As per reports, Saeed is being held in the Lahore’s high-security Kot Lakhpat jail after he was sentenced to 11 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in February 2020 in two terror financing cases.

Hafiz Saeed is an UN-designated terrorist and the United Stated has even placed on $10 million bounty on him and the US Treasury Department had designated Saeed as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”. 

Pakistan has been on the FATF grey list for a long time and it is possible that the conviction of Saeed could reduce some of the pressure of Pakistan. However, many experts believe without the army approval such decisions are simply not possible. 

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