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Jayalalithaa Set to Return as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister After Party Lawmakers' Meeting

May 22, 2015

Chennai, May 22: J Jayalalithaa was today elected by AIADMK lawmakers to take over as chief minister of Tamil Nadu at a party meeting in Chennai this morning. The 67-year-old leader, who was not present at the meeting, is likely to take oath tomorrow.

Jayalalithaa144 of 150 party lawmakers attended the meeting at the AIADMK headquarters where five rebel MLAs from actor-politician Vijayakanth's DMDK were also present. Current chief minister O Panneerselvam headed straight to Ms Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence after the meeting. He is expected to resign today.

Nearly eight months ago, Ms Jayalalithaa was convicted in a corruption case and forced to step down in the midst of her third term as the state's top leader.

Ms Jayalalithaa's return as the head of the government was enabled by her acquittal earlier this month in the same case, and a party that has expressed its unwavering devotion to her in unabashed shows of sycophancy.

Ms Jayalalithaa was found not guilty of illicitly amassing wealth adding up to nearly Rs. 50 crore by the Karnataka High Court. She must win a state assembly seat within six months of taking over as Chief Minister.

The leader, who is known as "Amma" or "mother" will appear in public today for the first time after her acquittal to garland statues of AIADMK leaders including founder MG Ramachandran.

In a statement on Monday that broadly hinted at her plans, Ms Jayalalithaa had told party workers that "whatever our cadres wish will happen soon."

When her replacement O Panneerselvam took over as Chief Minister, other AIADMK leaders and he wept through the swearing-in ceremony; when she was jailed, Ms Jayalalithaa's enraged supporters set buses on fire; she has said more than 200 people killed themselves to protest against her incarceration.

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News Network
March 29,2020

Mumbai, Mar 29: Virologist Minal Dakhave Bhosale led from the front to create India's first coronavirus testing kit even when she was in the last stage of her pregnancy.

Bhosale's efforts paid the price with her team delivering the testing kit in a record time of six weeks.

Bhosale gave birth to a baby girl just a day before submitting the kit to the authorities for evaluation.

"It was like giving birth to two babies," Bhosale told PTI over the phone.

The virologist said both the journeys - that happened in parallel - were not without challenges.

"There were complications in the pregnancy while work on the test kit was on. The baby was delivered through cesarean," she said.

Bhosale said she felt that it was the right time to serve the people to help them in combating the coronavirus threat.

"I had been working for five years in this field and if I don't work in emergency situations when my services are needed the most, then what is the use?" she said.

Though Bhosale was not able to visit the office due to the pregnancy, she was guiding a team of 10 persons working on the project at Mylab Discovery in Pune.

The strong bonds forged with the team over the years and their support made it possible, she said.

Company's co-founder Shrikant Patole said just like drug discovery, test kits too go through a lot of quality checks to improve the precision.

He credited Bhosale for the success of the project.

The COVID-19 testing kit delivered by Bhosale's team will reduce the time taken for delivering a result to 2.5 hours from the prevalent practice of eight hours.

A pioneering approach to testing without compromising on the results was adopted, Bhosale said.

The Maylab test kit will cost Rs1,200, a quarter of Rs 4,500 per kit that the government has been spending on testing so far.

"I'm happy that I could do something for the country," Bhosale said.

As of Friday, only 27,000 of the 1.3 billion people were tested for the virus in the country.

According to experts, high scale testing is essential because it alone can ensure an early diagnosis of COVID-19 and lower down the fatalities.

The company is confident of ramping up the capacity at its plant in Lonavala to deliver 100,000 kits a week, Patole said.

He said the authorities are helping the company, including giving priority for shipping of the raw materials.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: India's gold demand in 2020 is expected to fall to the lowest level in 26 years with domestic bullion prices hitting a record high and as falling disposable incomes could curtail retail purchases, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Lower demand by the world's second-biggest bullion consumer could limit a rally in global prices, which hit a record high earlier this month, although it could also reduce India's trade deficit and support the ailing rupee.

"Fast rising gold prices could act as headwinds," said Somasundaram PR, the managing director of WGC's Indian operations.

Local gold futures have jumped 35% so far this year after rising a quarter in 2019.

India's gold consumption in the first half of 2020 plunged 56% on-year to 165.6 tonnes. Meanwhile, the coronavirus-triggered lockdown also slashed demand by 70% in the June quarter to 63.7 tonnes, the lowest in more than a decade, the WGC said in a report published on Thursday.

Millions of Indians have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut after the country imposed a lockdown on its 1.3 billion people to curb the spread of the virus that has infected more than 1.5 million Indians.

Consumption is generally high during the June quarter due to weddings and key festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya, but lockdown restrictions kept shoppers indoors this year.

The weak demand in the first half could drag down India's gold consumption in 2020 to the lowest since 1994, when demand stood at 415 tonnes, Somasundaram said, adding that it is still difficult to provide an estimate for full-year demand as the coronavirus crisis is still unfolding.

"Indian demand has previously jumped as much as 300 tonnes in a quarter. Latent demand could come out in the second half," Somasundaram said.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Kozhikode, Aug 8: The death toll in Kozhikode air crash is likely to rise as the condition of 22 injured passengers is said to be extremely critical. A total of 149 injured passengers have been admitted to hospitals in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts. 22 others have been discharged after first aid, says K Gopalakrishnan, Malappuram Collector

Deceased passengers:
Mohammed Riyas VP, 24 years - Palakkad, 
Saheer Sayed, 38 years -Malappuram, 
Lailabi KV, 51 years -Malappuram, 
Rajeevan Cherikka Parambil, 61 years - Kozhikode, 
Manal Ahamed, 25 years - Kozhikode, 
Sharafudheen, 35 years - Kozhikode, 
Janaky Kunnoth, 55 years - Kozhikode, 
Azam Muhammed Chembayi ,1 year - Kozhikode, 
Santha Marakkat, 59 years - Malappuram, 
Sudheer Vaariyath, 45 years -Malappuram, 
Sheza Fathima, 2 years -Malappuram, 
Remya Muraleedharan, 32 years - Kozhikode
Aysha Dua, 2 years – Palakkad 
Shivathmika, 5 Years- Kozhikode
Zhenobia, 40 years – Kozhikode
Sahira Banu, 29 years - Kozhikode

Deceased crew:
Deepak Sathe (Pilot)
Akhilesh Kumar (Copilot)

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