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Lightning overpowers lights in less smoke Deepavali

[email protected] (CD Network, Photos by Suhail Hussain, Ahmed Anwar )
October 26, 2011

Light


Mangalore, October 26: It was rather a festival of lightning in Mangalore than that of lights. The Diwali, locally known as Deepavali was on Tuesday literally marred by continued rains coupled with lighting and thunder, which caused immense damage in and around the city in last two days.

The colourful scenes of fireworks reaching sky-high were subsided as soon as the powerful lightning and thunder began to unleash their natural power, creating terror in the hearts of people.

The city had already witnessed a young man's death owing to lightning on the eve of the festival. Moreover, a number of people sustained injuries and a few houses were damaged in lightning strikes across the twin districts of coastal Karnataka.

Apart from nature's fury, the irritating power cuts, offered its own contribution to turn Deepavali into the festival of darkness. In fact there was a demand for extra power during Deepavali. In some parts of the coastal city and its surroundings, officials were forced to stop power supply for hours on Tuesday night to avoid lightning related tragedies.

Elderly people inside houses could not differentiate between the sporadic noise of the crackers and thunder. “I don't understand what's happening. When I asked my grand-daughter Sulagna to come inside the house after hearing the thunder, she replied that it was not a thunder but the sound of cracker she burst. A half an hour later unable to bear the noise of crackers, I shouted asking her to come inside. But, I heard her reply from inside the house saying that she had already stopped bursting crackers, and what I heard a little ago was indeed a thunder”, said Ramakrishna Rao a 70-year-old retired teacher.

Less Smoke

In a significant change, people in the coastal districts seem to have developed a disinclination towards firecrackers owing to various reasons. The number of firecracker stalls too reduced this year compared to previous years.

“The business was far less than our expectation. The demand for firecrackers is has fall by 35% to 40% this year”, said Sandeep, who owns a firecracker stall near city bus terminus area in the city.

Sundara, another fireworks dealers said that the sales have not touched 25% of last year figures with less stock and high prices. "This year I haven't ordered for more firecrackers, as I have huge piles left over last year”, he added.

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News Network
June 4,2020

Jun 4: Belur Mutt, the global headquarters of Ramakrishna Mutt and Ramakrishna Mission, has decided to throw open its gates to the devotees from June 15 after putting in place all safety measures required to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The gates of the sprawling premises of the mutt set up by Swami Vivekananada at Belur near here was closed since the lockdown was announced in March by the Centre. The Mutt has devotees from across the globe.

The secretary of Belur Mutt Ramakrishna Mutt and Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Suvirananda said in a statement that as the easing down of lockdown measures announced by the Centre and the state did not indicate the threat caused by COVID-19 pandemic is over, the authorities thought it prudent to put in place all the measures required before opening the gates of the Mutt and all RKM centres in the country for the scores of devotees.

The statement was issued on June 1, the day religious places of worship were thrown open by the West Bengal government.

"We had to think about both aspects - the issue of public health and also the wish of our devotees for having a darshan of the shrines of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Sarada Maa and Ramamrishna Paramahansa. But we believe spirituality and sceintific temparament must go hand in hand," he told reporters on Thursday.

"Therefore it is imperative for us to consult experts and put in place adequate arrangement and infrastructure" before opening the (Belur Mutt) gates," he said.

The senior monk said the timing of the opening and closure of the shrine and all other details conforming the health protocol and guidelines will be announced before opening date.

The Mutt complex had become totally out of bound for visitors from March 24 when the lockdown was clamped. There was restricted entry to it since May 16.

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News Network
July 31,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 31: The Karnataka government on Wednesday put on hold a controversial proposal to drop certain chapters, including on Islam, Christianity, Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali, from social science textbooks to reduce the 2020-21 syllabi for students in classes 1-10.

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption caused to the academic calendar of the year, the government had earlier dropped the chapter on Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali from the Class 7 social science textbook, saying chapters on Tipu Sultan have been retained in the Class 6 and 10 textbooks.

The move did not go down well with the opposition, which saw certain ulterior motives behind the decision.

Apparently under sharp criticism, the Department of Public Instruction issued a new notification on Wednesday "on the directions of the Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar".

There is a delay in opening the schools during the academic year 2020-21 due to COVID-19 pandemic, said the latest order.

In this context, the order said, chapters were dropped to fit in 120 days of the academic year for classes 1 to 10 and the same was published in the department's website.

"However, on the directions of the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, the decision to drop certain chapters has been put on hold. A review will be done following which the deleted chapters will be uploaded in the website," the order read.

Earlier in the day, Mr Kumar had issued a statement, saying that the decision to truncate the syllabus has not been finalised yet. He also made it clear that his department would not remove chapters unnecessarily.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had attacked the government on the issue.

"The government, which has failed to control the spread of coronavirus, is using it as an opportunity to push its clandestine agenda of saffronising the textbooks," Siddaramaiah tweeted.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 24,2020

Udupi, May 24: Three among the 18 coronavirus positive cases reported in Udupi district today were policemen. 

A police constable of Karkala Rural Police Station and ASI of Ajekar Police Station were tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday and authorities have taken steps to seal the Police Stations they were working. A policeman from Brahmavar police station also tested positive.

The district administration reported seal Karkala Rural Police station, Ajekar Police Station, and Brahmavar Police Station. Apart from them Karkala Town Station and Circle station are being sealed. All the policemen and policewomen working in these five stations will be quarantined.

Superintendent of Police N Vishnuvardha said that ''all the primary contacts of the police officers who were tested positive will undergo screening and their swabs will be collected and sent to Lab for test.''

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