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The foundation stone will be laid at exactly 12:44 – 12:45 PM, other details inside

By
The Commune
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The groundbreaking ceremony for the Ram Temple, which Hindus around the world are eagerly awaiting, is set to take place today. Minute by minute details of the of the historic Bhoomi Poojan event has been released.

Arriving in Lucknow at exactly 10:35 AM, Prime Minister Modi will then land by helicopter at 11:30 AM on the helipad set up at Saket College. From there the Prime Minister will be going to Hanumankari Hanuman Temple and spend 7 minutes there.

It is said that he will reach the Ram Janmabhoomi at noon and worship at the makeshift Rama temple there.

At around 12:15 pm, the Prime Minister will plant a ‘Parijat’ sapling at the site of Ram Janambhoomi. At 12:30 PM, he will start the Bhoomi Poojan with a prayer to Lord Ganesha. He will then worship the main silver idol of Lord Rama followed by worshipping other avatars of Lord Vishnu. An idol of the Koorma avatar (turtle) will be laid as the first foundation stone to symbolize the Koorma avatar bearing the Meru hill.

It is said that the statue of Lord Rama will be placed directly on top of this sharp statue.

At exactly between 12:44 PM and 12:45 PM, the Panchaloka lotus flower, made of five metals and studded with Navratna stones, will be placed on top of this Koorma avatar idol. This is the main ritual of the Bhoomi Poojan called Pratishthapayami.

PM Modi will then meet Swami Nrityagopal Das and other members of the Ram Janmabhoomi trust at 1:10 PM.

By 2:04 pm, PM Modi will reach the helipad and will fly back to Lucknow and from there to Delhi at around 2:20 pm.

India on the lookout for light tank to counter China in Ladakh

By
The Commune
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To counter the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aggression following its attack on Indian soldiers, the Indian Defence Ministry is seeking to acquire a light mountain-friendly battle tank capable of operating better near the country’s northern borders.

At present China has placed large numbers its Type-15 tanks which many consider as the most capable for such a terrain. To overcome this challenge faced by our troops who are stationed in perhaps the most inhospitable environment, MoD is prioritising acquiring weapons systems with PLA in mind.

While we have heavy armour tanks like the Russian T-72 and the T-90 to counter Pakistan in our Western border, these tanks are very heavy and are not suited to combat in the extreme conditions of the mountainous northern border regions.

India at present does not have any weapons system to counter the Chinese Type 15 tank in the Western Theatre Command. There is a need for air-transportable tanks that can be landed or airdropped at forward locations

At the moment the only viable option that India seems to have is to acquire the Russian air-transportable Sprut SDM1 light tank that has commonalities with the T72 and T90s operated by India.

Massive explosion rocks Beirut

By
The Commune
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Multiple explosion rocked the capital city of Lebanon on Tuesday injuring hundreds of Lebanese. The explosion is said to have occurred in a warehouse in Beirut Port.

There is no confirmation on what caused the explosion but some accounts on twitter suggest that the fireworks and other chemicals caught fire leading to the massive explosions.

The number of people who have died is not yet clear but the impact of the explosion has been felt for several kilometers.

The explosions also have happened with Lebanon awaiting the verdict on the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri, killed in a huge truck bomb attack. The judgement is to come out on Friday.

Hariri, a Sunni billionaire was killed in a suicide bombing by four members allegedly from the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist group Hezbollah who are on trial in absentia at the court in the Netherlands.

Added to this, Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti resigned citing risk of being part of a ‘failed state’.

Here are some footages of the incident.

https://twitter.com/BaruchSandhaus/status/1290674498069581824

https://twitter.com/BaruchSandhaus/status/1290676420520419332

Veteran BJP leader and the man who led the Rath Yatra, LK Advani speaks on the eve of Bhoomi Poojan

By
The Commune
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Lal Krishna Advani, the man who led the Rath Yatra and dedicated himself to the cause of building a temple for Lord Ram at the Ram Janmabhoomi shared his thoughts on the eve of Bhoomi Poojan.

In a televised address, the veteran BJP leader said “I feel humbled that during Ram Janmabhoomi movement, destiny made me perform a pivotal duty in the form of Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya in 1990 which helped galvanise aspirations, energies & passions of its countless participants”.

He said that significant dreams take a long time to fruition but is all worth the wait when it comes to fruition.

“One such dream, close to my heart is getting fulfilled”, Mr. Advani said.

“PM is laying foundation of #RamMandir. It’s a historic & emotional day not only for me but all Indians.” Mr. Advani added.

He said that Lord Ram occupies an esteemed place in India’s cultural and civilizational heritage who is an embodiment of grace, dignity and decorum. ” It is my belief that this temple will inspire all Indians to imbibe his virtues”, he said.

“It is also my belief that Ram Mandir will represent India as a strong, prosperous, peaceful and harmonious nation with justice for all and exclusion of none so that we can truly usher in Ram Rajya, the epitome of good governance”, the veteran BJP leader mentioned in his address.

The Ram Mandir’s Bhoomi Poojan in Ayodhya is scheduled to happen on August 5th, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to lay the foundation stone. Over 150 attendees have been invited for this event.

 

AIADMK leaders tear into Junior Stalin for peddling fake news

By
The Commune
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On August 3, son of DMK chief MK Stalin, party’s youth wing secretary and ‘actor’ Udhayanidhi Stalin tweeted that Tamil Nadu tops with respect to the number of doctors who died due to COVID19.

However, it turns out that the information shared by Udhayanidhi Stalin was fake and possibly a photoshopped/forged one.

Dr. Raja of the Indian Medical Association (IMA)’s Tamil Nadu chapter has categorically rejected the claims made by Udhayanidhi Stalin saying that they never gave any such information and that the claims made in the viral report are false.

Following this, leaders belonging to the AIADMK came down heavily on Udhayanidhi Stalin for resorting to fear mongering and ‘politics over death’ in times of the pandemic.

Health Minister Dr. C. Vijayabaskar condemned Udhayanidhi Stalin for his attempt to fear monger by spreading fake news.

Secretary of the AIADMK IT Wing Aspire Swaminathan, in a series of tweets blasted Udhayanidhi and the history of lies peddled by the party on different issues.

“Those who won Parliament elections by lying everywhere and lying on anything are now making false propaganda? Is Udhay seeing political gains in death?”, Mr. Swaminathan said. He also reminded him of IT ACT 67 and Section 500 of the IPC 500.

Senior leader and AIADMK spokesperson came down heavily on both Junior and Senior Stalin saying “The father (MK Stalin) counts ’86+9=107′ while the his dear son (Udhayanidhi Stalin) gets slapped on his face by spreading false news that 43 doctors died of corona virus. And their party headquarters is named ‘Arivalayam’!”

AIADMK Spokesperson Kovai Sathyan said “The father issues statement that there was corruption in procurement of rapid test kits which was not bought by the people, today the novice in politics is upholding the legacy of talking lies by spreading false news about doctors dying due to corona. Don’t you have any shame in doing politics during a pandemic?”

It is punishable offence under sections 500, 505(1) of the IPC, section 67 and 66D of the IT act and under section 54 of Disaster Management Act 2005 to spread falsehood, disinformation and rumours about corona virus.

 

 

Nirmala Seetharaman assures immediate action against banks denying loans to SMEs

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has advised banks not to refuse to provide emergency loans to small, medium and micro-enterprises (SME) under the emergency credit guarantee scheme to ease the pressure on firms facing liquidity crunch.

“Banks cannot refuse credit to MSMEs covered under emergency credit facility. If refused, such instances must be reported. I will look into it,” she said.

As on July 23, 2020, the total amount allowed under the 100 per cent emergency credit guarantee scheme in public sector banks and private banks was ₹ 1,30,491.79 crore. Of this, ₹ 82,065.01 crore has already been disbursed. Small, medium and micro enterprises have suffered a sharp decline due to the curfew. In order to repair them, the central government had announced that it would provide a loan of ₹ 3 lakh crore without any collateral till October.

The Finance Minister also said that the Ministry of Finance was in  talks with the Reserve Bank to further extend the repayment period for loans obtained from banks and to restructure loans.

Agarbatti production to boost India’s Atmanirbhar initiative

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Union Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari has approved a unique employment generation program proposed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). Named the “Khadi Agarbati Atmanirbhar Mission” (KAAM), the project aims to create employment for unemployed and non-resident workers of different states in various parts of the country, while at the same time significantly increasing domestic Agarbatti production.

The project was submitted to the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises for approval last month and is set to be launched soon. When the project is fully implemented, thousands of jobs will be created in the Agarbatti industry.

KAAM will be implemented in the public-private partnership model. The KVIC will provide a subsidy of 25% on the cost of the machinery, and the remaining 75% of the price will be collected from the artisans in easy instalments every month. The business partner will provide the raw material for the artisans to make the Agarbatti and pay them based on the work. Each automatic Agarbatti making machine produces about 80 kg Agarbatti per day, which provides direct employment to 4 persons. A powder mixing machine is to be provided in a package of 5 Agarbatti making machines, which will employ two persons.

Under the KAAM scheme, wages of the artisans would be provided by the business partners on a weekly basis directly in their accounts through DBT only. The supply of raw material to the artisans, logistics, quality control and marketing of the final product will be the sole responsibility of the business partner.

The ownership of the machines will automatically be transferred to the artisans after recovery of the 75% cost. For this, a two-party agreement will be signed between KVIC and the Private Agarbatti manufacturer.

The announcement of KAAM scheme comes in the wake of the Central government’s decisions to restrict the import of Raw Agarbatti and increase the import duty on Bamboo sticks.

At present, the total daily consumption of Agarbatti in the country is approximately 1490 MT per day. However, currently, India produces just 760 MT of Agarbatti daily.

Meet the woman who had been fasting for 27 years for the Ram Mandir to be built

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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In 1992, Urmila Chaturvedi, a resident of Jabalpur, decided to fast without eating until the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya began. Urmila, 81, lives in the Vijay Nagar area of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. She vowed to eat only milk and fruits until the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya began in 1992 when the controversial structure of the Babri Masjid was demolished, and riots broke out in the country.

First, in November 2019, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of Ram Lalla Virajman and ordered the Government of India to set up a foundation to look after the construction of the temple. Urmila’s son Amit Chaturvedi said, “My mother ate only fruit and milk for 27 years. She was 54 years old when she started this. The Supreme Court verdict made her very happy.”

The family who supported her during the fast were glad that she would finally eat the food as she had said it was time to end the fast after receiving the blessings of Lord Rama after 28 years of fasting. She has only eaten fruit for 28 years.

Urmila had said that she knew that it would take 28 years for the decision to be made, but that she was relieved that the Ram Temple would be located in its rightful place. During these 28 years she had lost many relatives due to this fasting. However she had always had the support of her family.

Centre to encourage startups based on agriculture

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Union Minister for Agriculture and Agrarian Welfare  Narendra Singh Tomar said o Sunday that the Central government will fund  startups in the agri sector and has allocated ₹11.85 for the current financial year.

These funds will be provided under the Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship Development Programme launched under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

In the first phase of 2020-2021, funds will be provided in installments to 112 new businesses set up in the fields of agricultural processing, food technology and value addition. These startups have been selected by different knowledg partners and have been trained for 2 months at 29 agribusiness incubation centres spread across the country. 

Five knowledge partners as centres of excellence and 24 RKVY-RAFTAAR agribusiness incubators (R-ABIs) have been identified from across the country after a nationwide advertisement and a rigorous selection process.

Earlier this month, Minister Tomar added that while reviewing the progress of research, expansion and education in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized on the need to encourage new startups and agri-entrepreneurs to ensure that technology is used and innovations are introduced in the agricultural and agro-based sectors. 

Following this, the Prime Minister has also called for conducting hackathons to solve specific problems in agriculture. 

Byju’s to get $400 million investment from billionaire Yuri Milner

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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Yuri Milner-owned DST Global is all set to invest $400 million in the Indian education startup Byju’s. Byju’s has a current valuation of $10.5 billion.

This deal could be signed as early as the weekend. If this deal gets signed, it would make the startup the second most valuable in India after PayTM, which has been heavily invested in by China-based Alibaba Holdings Group.

Yuri Milner is one of the biggest technology investors in the world and is known for backing some of the largest internet firms like Alibaba, Facebook, Twitter, etc. in their early stages. He has also funded a lot of high profile Indian startups like Flipkart, Ola, Swiggy, and Udaan.

Notably, Byju already has investments by Facebook’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers Limited and Tiger Global Management. This online education service was founded by Byju Raveendran, who had scored a 100% in CAT but yet didn’t join the IIM.

The ed-tech company caters to students from kindergarten through 12th grade, and has 57 million registered users and 3.5 million paid subscribers, with 300,000 new subscribers every month. It recently doubled its revenue in the financial year that ended in March 2020 at 28 billion rupees ($373 million) from the previous financial year and is profitable, a rarity for Indian startups.

Unacademy, another leading startup is said to be raising funds at a valuation of over $1 billion, which would make it the country’s second EdTech unicorn.

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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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