Kannada is our mother, Tulu is father: Pejawar seer tells people of DK, Udupi

Bengaluru, June 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today praised the Karnataka government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing the silver jubilee celebrations of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) via a digital platform, he spoke about the Karnataka government's efforts.

He appreciated the work of front-line warriors who are fighting every day in the war against COVID-19 and stressed the need to respect them.

"Doctors and other medical workers are soldiers without wearing the uniform of soldiers. Any kind of attack or violence against them is not acceptable," said Modi.

"There are incidents of violence against the front-line warriors. Any kind of abuse, violence or rude behaviour is not acceptable. The world is looking at doctors and medical staff with gratitude," he said.

"This is the biggest crisis since the two World Wars," the prime minister said. "Pre- and post-COVID-19, the world will be different. The discussions now at a global level are humanity-centric."

Stressing the importance of medical infrastructure, the prime minister spoke about the decision taken by the Union Government to set up a medical college in every district.

"A nation like ours has to have the medical infrastructure and medical education. Now, every district is going to have a medical college," he said.

However, the PM remained silent on salaries of front-line warriors. The Karnataka government has so far not released the salaries of doctors, nurses and lab technicians hired under National Health Mission.

Mangaluru, Jun 2: Even as the mosques in Karnataka recieved green signal from state government to reopen for congregational prayers from June 8, a senior Islamic scholar in coastal Karnataka has encouraged Muslims to prefer to offer prayers at homes during covid times. 

Twaqa Ahmed Al-Azhari, the Qadhi of Mangaluru, has welcomed the state government's decision to allow Muslims to offer congregational prayers including Jum'a prayers with certain precautions and conditions.

"Government has upheld our religions sentiments. All the mosques where congregational prayers will be held from June 8 should strictly follow all the guidelines issued by the government," he said. 

He also suggested that if any mosque is not in a position to follow all the guidelines issued by the government then it should refrain from holding congregational prayers. "Muslims can continue offer Fard and Jumá prayers at homes as the cornavirus pandemic is still spreading in the region and across the world," he said.

Remember social media memes of Chinese companies exporting #BoycottChina hats and t-shirts to India? This time India’s sensational and saffronite TV anchor Arnab Goswami vindicated those memes by hosting an anti-China debate show which was sponsored by Chinese companies!

While the last night's debate was all about boycotting Chinese products in the wake of massacre of over 20 Indian soldiers by their Chinese counterparts in eastern Ladakh, the show was brazenly promoting Chinese products through advertisement placements. 

During the debate, amongst the flashy headlines, there were two brand sponsorships that appeared: VIVO and Xiaomi. Both companies are giant Chinese multinational corporations. 

Twitter user Nirmala Tai, who was among those who spotted this irony, highlighted two instances during the debate where the logo of one of the brands popped up, and one where Xiaomi was found promoting the Mi 10. 

Many Twitterati used Goswami’s some of the favourite words such as ‘hypocrite’ and ‘anti-national’ to target him. They hit out at his channel for accepting sponsorship deals from Chinese brands at a time when anti-China sentiment is strong in the country.

Boycott China powered by Mi10 and Vivo. pic.twitter.com/TAb6Fn1tWx

— Nirmala Tai (@vishj05) June 17, 2020