‘Mysuru King’ offers prayers to 'Shami' tree on Vijay Dashmi

Kozhikode, Jun 14: A mosque in Kuttichira of Kozhikode has found a unique way to avoid crowding amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee that runs the mosque has started issuing smart cards to people for offering prayers and simultaneously encouraging social distancing.

"The committee has given smart cards with numbers to the people in the surroundings of the Masjid. One who enters the mosque premises has to rub their hands with sanitizers. They also have to tell their identity on camera. The automatic system has been put in place to save the address and phone number. Next time onwards they have to say their smart card number only so that other details will be automatically filled," said Muhammad Sajjad, who is part of the Mosque committee.

"The door of the mosque will open automatically after swiping the card. We have fit in a sensor on the doors. We have also made marks inside the mosque area so that people can abide by social distancing norm," he added.

A couple of days back the Kerala government has rolled out an order allowing the opening of places of worship, malls and restaurants from June 9 in strict accordance with guidelines and social distancing norms. As per the guidelines, pregnant women and those with co-morbidities should not visit any places of worship. Those with symptoms should not be allowed.

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7: Kerala government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday has come under the spotlight for depicting the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on the cover of the state finance budget 2020-21 document.

Issuing clarification on the same, Issac justified that it is a political statement.

"Definitely, it is a political statement, the cover of my budget speech. It is a painting by a Malayalam artist of Mahatma Gandhi's murder scene. We are sending out a message that we will not forget who murdered Gandhi."

He also alleged that history is being re-written and National Register of Citizens (NRC) is being used to divide the country on communal lines.

"This is important at the times when history is being re-written. There is an attempt to erase some popular memories and use NRC to divide the population on communal lines. Kerala will stand united."

NRC is an official record of those people who are legal citizens of India. The dossier includes demographic information about all those individuals who qualify as citizens of India as per the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India and since then it has not been updated until recently.

Tumakuru, Jul 12: A four-year-old boy was killed by a leopard at Rajendrapur hamlet at Hasige Hobli village near Huliyurdurga in Kunigal taluk.

Police said on Sunday that this was the third such attack by big cats in the district in a span of six months.

Forest officials said that the boy had gone with his mother to wash clothes at a tank and the animal attacked him while playing there on Saturday late evening. 

A passerby who witnessed the incident scared the animal, it escaped leaving the boy’s body behind.