Activist Trupti Desai says will visit Sabarimala soon

Agencies
October 13, 2018

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 13: Thousands of Lord Ayyappa devotees on Saturday took to the streets in Kochi against the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all age groups into Sabarimala temple, even as activist Trupti Desai announced plans to visit the hill shrine soon.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, which decided to implement the ruling, held a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram to evaluate the preparations carried out for pilgrims arriving at the temple which will open for monthly poojas on October 17 evening.

Though the government has not reacted to Desai's planned trip to the temple yet, it has evoked sharp reactions from Ayyappa devotees and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is campaigning against the entry of women into the hill shrine.

Padalam royal family member, Sasikumar Varma criticised Desai and urged the social activist to refrain from making any "provocative' move.

He also asked the Left government to take steps to prevent any law and order situation.

Desai, the 'Bhumata Brigade' leader, said in Mumbai that she along with a group of women would visit the temple "shortly" to offer prayers.

"We will visit Sabarimala shortly. The ongoing agitation by devotees is the violation of the Supreme Court verdict. I appeal the agitating devotees to welcome those women who come for worship at the hill shrine," she told Malayalam TV channels.

"I want to ask the Congress and the BJP whether they are against the fundamental rights of women. The parties should also explain their stand on this," Desai said.

Holding placards bearing pictures of Lord Ayyappa and chanting his hymns, the protesters marched through the busy roads of Kochi, the state's commercial hub, after launching the stir from the famed Shiva temple there.

The faithful, a large number of them women, urged both the Central and the state governments to intervene in the matter to protect the sanctity of the centuries-old rituals and traditions of the hill shrine.

Meanwhile, the 'Long March' led by BJP-headed National Democratic Alliance (NDA) reached Kollam district on Saturday.

Party state president, P S Sreedharan Pillai, who lead the rally, said Desai was visiting Sabarimala as she perceived it to be a challenge rather than a pilgrimage.

"It is a dangerous approach. She should desist from visiting the shrine and should not make Sabarimala a tension zone," he said.

"I do not know whether she is a devotee or not. But she is coming to add fuel to the fire," Pillai added.

Claiming that the NDA rally was getting tremendous support from all sections of people, the leader said the march would reach the state capital on October 15.

It was because of the success of the NDA long march that the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF was forced to launch counter-campaigns and family get-togethers to explain the Left government's stand on the Sabarimala issue, Pillai added.

Activist Rahul Easwar, who already announced hunger strike at Sabarimala during the five-day monthly pooja period, said they would stop Trupti Desai if she attempts to visit the Lord Ayyappa Temple.

"Ours will be a Gandhian mode of protest. Hundreds of devotees will lay down on roads leading to Sabarimala if Trupti Desai attempts to visit the shrine," he said.

Kerala has been witnessing a series of agitations by various devotee groups and Hindu outfits against the Pinarayi Vijayan government's decision to implement the apex court order without going for any review petition.

Besides BJP, the opposition Congress was also against the government's decision not to go for a review and extended support to the devotee's stir.

On September 28, a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by the then chief justice Dipak Misra, lifted the ban on the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.

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News Network
July 23,2020

New Delhi, Jul 23: With the highest single-day spike of 45,720 cases, India's coronavirus count crossed 12 lakh mark on Thursday.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed that 1,129 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours.

The total number of coronavirus cases stand at 12,38,635 including 4,26,167 active cases, 7,82,606 cured/discharged/migrated. The cumulative toll has reached 29,861 deaths.

Maharashtra has reported 3,37,607 cases, highest in the country followed by Tamil Nadu with 1,86,492 cases. Delhi coronavirus count has reached 1,26,323 cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 1,50,75,369 samples were tested till July 22 out of which 3,50,823 samples were tested yesterday.

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News Network
March 27,2020

New Delhi, Mar 27: The Delhi government has arranged to serve lunch and dinner to the needy in 325 schools in Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday amid reports of people going hungry without access to food during the ongoing nationwide lockdown.

From Saturday, arrangements will be put in place to feed about four lakh people daily at different centres across Delhi, he said addressing the media. "We have made arrangements to provide lunch and dinner in 325 schools. Around 500 people will be provided with food in all these schools. So far we were providing food to 20,000 people daily, the number will now increase to around 2,00,000 from today."

He also said that "from tomorrow, we'll be providing food to 4,00,000 people daily. We're distributing the centres across Delhi."

Stating that the total number of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in Delhi is now 39, Kejriwal said "We are ready to face any challenge.".

"There are a total of 39 coronavirus positive cases in Delhi as of today, of which 29 cases are of those who had come from outside and were kept in quarantine and 10 of these were cases of local transmission," said Kejriwal at a press conference.

The Chief Minister said that a team of 5 doctors has been set up to look into the preparedness needed to deal with an increase in the number of positive cases for coronavirus in future.

He said, "The team of doctors under the chairmanship of Dr Shiv Kumar Sarin, the head of Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, presented a detailed report on March 26 on the preparedness needed to deal with a situation if the number of positive cases for coronavirus increases."

"The report has categorized three situations - if the number of positive cases increases to 100 per day, 500 per day and 1000 per day," he said while adding that the doctors have clearly stated what preparedness should be taken for each situation including the number of ventilators, isolation beds, doctors and nurses required.

He also cited concerns raised by chief ministers of several states including Jharkhand's Hemant Soren and West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee.

Kejriwal said "we consider all those living in Delhi as Delhiites and everyone will be taken care of."
The number of cases tested positive for coronavirus rose to 724 on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 

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News Network
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: As the counting of votes for the Delhi Assembly polls began, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday raised doubts on EVMs, alleging that no machine having a chip is tamper-proof.

He called upon the Election Commission and the Supreme Court to take a fresh look at the use of EVMs in the country.

"No machine (which) has a chip is tamper-proof. Also please do for a moment think, why no developed country uses EVM," Singh said in a tweet.

"Would CEC and Hon Supreme Court please have a fresh look on EVM voting in India? We are the largest democracy in the world, we can't allow some unscrupulous people to hack results and steal the mandate of 1.3 billion people.

"If they match the votes in the counting unit. Declare the result. If they don't match then count the ballots of all polling booths in the assembly. It would convince everyone and save time also as this has been the consistent argument of CEC in favour of EVM," the Congress leader said.

Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly polls was held on Saturday.

The Election Commission on Sunday announced that the final voter turnout was 62.59 per cent, five per cent less than 2015.

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