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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
-

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.

“Korean king had been married to Ayodhya’s princess”: South Korean envoy Shin Bong-Kil

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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South Korea Ambassador to India Shin Bong-Kil said on Monday that he was relieved to see an end to the conflict in Ayodhya Ram Mandir. “I am very relieved to see that after many years, Ram Mandir will finally be built in Ayodhya. I am also happy that everyone obeyed this decision. This is the real strength of India’s legal system,” he said.

He added that South Korea International Vaccine Institute is planning to establish a foreign office in Delhi as an important partner in the pharma industry.

Notably, in 2018, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Korean Prime Minister inaugurated the Queen Huh Memorial at the Queen Huh Park in Ayodhya. Speaking about this, he said, “Both India and Korea Park Memorial could not be completed this year. The work is likely to be completed next year”.

He told in an interview to ANI that India and South Korea had a very profound relationship going back to the ancient times. He said that Korea’s old Asian history books had stories of an Indian princess having married a local Korean King Kim Suro. According to the legend, Princess Suriratna, also known as Heo Hwang-ok, went to Korea in 48 AD, some 2000 years ago, and started the Karak dynasty by marrying a local king. They had uncovered artefacts belonging to India in the tombs of the Karak kingdom. They claim that the then King of Ayodhya had a dream where God ordered him to send his 16-year-old daughter to South Korea to marry King Kim Suro.

Sitting DMK MLA to join BJP

By
The Commune
-

Thousand Lights MLA belonging to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) KK Selvam, will be joining the BJP in the presence of BJP President JP Nadda on Tuesday (August 4).

KK Selvam joined the DMK in 1997 from the AIADMK.It is being said that the sitting MLA was dissatisfied with him not being given the post of district secretary, a coveted post in the DMK. A district secretary is considered even more powerful than the post of MLA or MP in the DMK.

The post of Chennai West district secretary had become vacant with the passing away of DMK MLA J. Anbazhagan due to Wuhan virus. KK Selvam and Anna Nagar DMK MLA Mohan were said to be the heavy weights hoping to get the post.

However, Sittrarasu was appointed for the post. KK Selvam is the second horse to run away from the DMK stables to join the BJP. Earlier, VP Duraisamy quit the party and joined BJP who has been appointed the Vice President of BJP Tamil Nadu.

This comes as another setback for the DMK chief Stalin with just months in the run up to the Assembly elections.

Govt to boost indigenous weapons and exports, MoD comes out with draft policy

By
The Commune
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To end the dependency on weapons systems from foreign suppliers and to build a major defence industrial base (DIB) within the next five years, the Ministry of Defence released a draft defence production and export promotion policy (DPEPP 2020) on Monday. The objective is to achieve a turnover of ₹1,75,000 Crores ($ 25 billion), including export of ₹ 35,000 Crore ($ 5 billion) in aerospace and defence goods and services by 2025.

The DPEPP-2020 is envisaged as overarching guiding document of Defence Ministry to provide a focused, structured and significant thrust to defence production capabilities of the country for self-reliance and exports.

The Modi government wants to develop a dynamic, robust and competitive defence industry, including aerospace and naval shipbuilding industry to cater to the needs of the armed forces.

To make sure the objectives are achieved, the government would have to make some changes to some of its public sector units, such as the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and its 50 labs.

The infrastructure of the four defence shipyards would require massive overhaul along with the five defence PSUs and 41 ordnance factories to deliver cutting-edge weapon systems without huge time and cost overruns.

The current standoff with China has furthered the importance for indigenous development of high-grade military hardware and cutting edge technology in the defence sector.

The draft DPEPP says the aim is to reduce dependence on imports and take forward “Make in India” initiatives through domestic design and development, and also export of defence products as part of the overall ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ policy.

Soil from 2,578 holy places collected for Ram Mandir Bhoomi Poojan

By
The Commune
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With just a day left for the Bhoomi Pujan of the grand temple of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, soil from 2,578 sacred places of historical significance has been collected for the auspicious ceremony.

This news was made public by Ambrish, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) regional secretary for Uttar Pradesh (UP) East. According to this VHP functionary, the soil that has been collected include the birthplace of Ambedkar (Mau), samadhi of Kabir (Maghar) and the meditation site of Deoraha Baba (Deoria), Kamakhya Temple in Assam among thousand others.

Other important “Punya Sthal” (sacred places) from where soil has been collected include the birthplaces of freedom fighter Rani Laxmi Bai (Jhansi) and revered 16th-century spiritual leader Ravidas (Varanasi).

Soil from Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Ekambaranathar Temple and Kamakshi Amman Temple from Kanchipuram and Srirangam Temple too reached Ayodhya. Pnar tribals of Meghalaya who follow the ancient indigenous “Niamtre” faith also sent water and soil from Myntdu River in Jowai and Myntang River in Nartiang respectively.

The soil has been carefully stored in pots and cans at Karsevakpuram where the temple’s workshop is located.

August 5, 2020 will be a historic moment as the foundation stone for a grand temple for Lord Ram will be built at the Ram Janmabhoomi after centuries of struggle.

PETA once again conspires against Puducherry’s darling Lakshmi

By
The Commune
-

PETA has filed a petition in the Madras High Court on Saturday to separate the elephant Lakshmi from its home in Manakkula Ganesha temple.

This move of PETA comes just 2 weeks after Puducherry’s Chief Minister intervened and brought the elephant back to its home from where PETA had kept her.

Lakshmi had returned to the temple after she was kept in incarceration for 40 days with scanty food and water and no proper shelter.

Murali, an animal welfare activist has mentioned that the Puducherry Forest Department is trying to bring Lakshmi elephant under their control through the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2011.He had posted a video in which Lakshmi can be seen at her home with all required facilities.

The Indu Makkal Katchi has alleged that foreign NGOs are interfering in cultural traditions of the Hindus.
“We warn that this time we will not face PETA only through the internet and will do anything to keep Lakshmi in the temple,” the IMK said in a tweet.

https://twitter.com/rawincare1/status/1289841904864002048

 

 

Earlier, Lakshmi was displaced from her home in Manakula Vinayagar Temple by taking her away reportedly in an unethical and illegal manner. She was kept at Krishi Vigyan Kendra in a pathetic condition. Various Hindu organizations mobilized a campaign to rescue Lakshmi from PETA. They had sought the intervention of Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy to bring back Lakshmi home. Following this, Lakshmi was brought back to the Puducherry Manakkula Vinayagar Temple from the Kamaraj Agricultural Science Center in Kurumbapet.

Seniors in DMK upset over Junior Stalin’s interference

By
The Commune
-

It is being said that there have been various changes in the activities of the DMK chief MK Stalin’s son and ‘actor’ Udhayanidhi Stalin after he was appointed the party’s youth wing secretary. His focus seems to be beyond the activities of the youth wing secretary.

DMK seniors are lamenting over how the junior Stalin has been making statements without consultations and taking decisions without deliberating with senior leaders like Duraimurugan, AV Velu, K.N. Nehru, Tiruchi Siva, etc. Party insiders also mention that Udhayanidhi Stalin meets district secretaries in private and how he isn’t taking on-board leaders of the alliance partners like Congress and VCK.

There are even allegations that Udhayanidhi is interfering in affairs that Stalin as youth wing secretary never did when DMK stalwart M. Karunanidhi was alive, especially in the matter of appointment and meeting of district secretaries. It is being told by party insiders that senior leaders are unhappy over this interference.

Many who believed that Stalin’s rise as DMK chief would give a new energy to the party cadres are now finding themselves putting up with junior Stalin’s activities. Amidst all these ,the DMK chief is still hoping to sit on the CM’s chair soon.

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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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