Ashwini Akkunji, team-mates get two-year suspension

July 18, 2012

ashu1New Delhi, July 18: The six Indian women athletes, who were caught for doping last year, lost their case in the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland, as it upheld the International Association of Athletics Federation's appeal to impose a two-year ban on them.

A National Anti-Doping Agency panel had handed a lenient one-year ban on the six quartermilers, including Asian Games double gold medallist Ashwini Akkunji, on the ground that they did not know the food supplement they had been provided by their coach contained prohibited substance. But the IAAF filed an appeal to the CAS against the NADA panel decision, stating that the athletes should not be given any lenient treatment and they should be banned for two years provided under the rules.

The CAS on Tuesday decided the case in favour of the IAAF and the athletes will serve a two year ban. “The IAAF's appeal has been upheld by CAS and the six Indian athletes have lost their case. The operative part is not known and it will come later,” an Athletics Federation of India source told PTI.

Besides Ashwini, the other five are 4x400M relay quartet members Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur and three other quartermilers Priyanka Panwar, Jauna Murmu and Tiana Mary Thomas. The period of their one-year ban by the NADA panel ended last month.

The relay quartet of Akkunji, Mandeep, Sini and Manjeet Kaur had won the gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and the Asian Games in China a month later.

Ashwini became the toast of the country after she also won the 400M hurdles in the Asian Games also. Experts had raised doubts over her incredible performances but the athlete always denied taking banned substances knowingly.

Manjeet, the only one among the famed quartet not to fail a dope test, ended her career after she allegedly refused to give samples to NADA officials in Patiala. Manjeet was charged with doping violation by NADA but she successfully argued that she had retired from the sport. As such, she was let off by the NADA panel.

Ashwini and her team-mates had continued to train in the hope that they would be cleared in time for them to make an attempt at Olympic qualification in the 4x400M relay. In their absence, the Indians failed to clock a good enough time to get into the top-16 teams in the world who are eligible to take part in the Olympics.

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News Network
May 9,2020

Mangaluru, May 9: Dakshina Kannada District Collector Sindhu B Roopesh on Friday held a meeting to discuss the precautionary measures to be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the current situation in the district.

The meeting was attended by Member of Parliament and Karnakata BJP unit chief Nalin Kumar Kateel, Minister-in-charge of Dakshina Kannada Kota Srinivasa Poojary, MLA Vedavas Kamath and District Medical Officer Dr Ramachandra Bauri among others were present there.

Top officials of the police department, labour department officials and other concerned persons were also present in the meeting.

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News Network
March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: Senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes on Wednesday extolled the virtues of 'gaumutra' and shared an anecdote about a man claiming to have cured his cancer by drinking cow urine to drive his point home.

Participating in a debate in Rajya Sabha on two bills for setting up national commissions for homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine, the former Union minister said, "My extreme friend Jairam Ramesh pulls my leg, when I talk of 'gaumutra'."

Sharing an anecdote, Fernandes said once during a visit to an ashram near Meerut he had met a person who claimed to have cured his cancer by drinking 'gaumutra'.

Many BJP leaders have earlier spoken about the healing power of 'gaumutra'. The Congress has reacted sharply to such remarks.

He also praised the virtues of the Indian systems of medicine. He said when he had severe pain in knee joint and doctors had suggested for replacement surgery. However, he refused and started doing 'Vajrasana'.

"I started Vajrasana, practising yoga, and today I am able to do wrestling without any difficulty," the septuagenarian leader said.

"When (former) prime minister (Atal Bihari) Vajypee ji had a knee surgery, I thought if I had known him earlier, I would have definitely gone to him and ask him to follow 'Vajrasan' and it could have been cured," he said.

He also claimed to have met a person in US aged around 104 years and moving swiftly as a young man.

"Yoga is our wealth. If you practise yoga, may be our budget cost of health can be reduced by 50 per cent. It's way of life," he said.

"Our own Indian systems of medicine will provide a lot of reliefs even before going to a doctor," he said.

Though Fernandes supported the bills but raised objection over the exclusion of yoga and naturopathy.

"I would urge the minister either to amend the bill or bring an assurance that it will bring a separate legislation to cover yoga and naturopathy," he said.

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News Network
January 14,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 14: Days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) capped to Rs 35,000 the withdrawal limit of Sri Guru Raghavendra Co-operative Bank, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Monday reassured account holders and said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was personally monitoring the issue.

Taking to Twitter, Surya said, "I want to assure all depositors of Sri Guru Raghavendra Co-operative Bank to not panic. Hon'ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is appraised of matter and is personally monitoring the issue. She has assured the government will protect interests of depositors. Grateful for her concern."

The Bengaluru South MP also attached a letter in his tweet where he had appraised Sitharaman of the situation.

"Finance Minister, after speaking with the RBI governor and other authorities concerned, assured Surya that the government will do everything in its capacity to protect the interests of the depositors and the long term interests of the bank," the letter read.

It said that Surya also reached out to Sitharaman "three times on January 13" after which she reassured him that the "depositors need not panic".

RBI had, on January 10, imposed certain restrictions on Sri Gururaghavendra Sahakara Bank Niyamitha.

"In particular, a sum not exceeding Rs 35,000 of the total balance in every savings bank or current account or any other deposit account may be allowed to be withdrawn subject to conditions stated in the above RBI directions," the notification said.

The regulatory body said that the bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions until its financial position improves.

"These directions shall remain in force for a period of six months from the close of business of January 10 and are subject to review," it said.

The bank has been restricted from granting or renewing any loans and advances, make any investment, incur any liability including borrowal of funds and acceptance of fresh deposits, disburse or agree to disburse any payment whether in discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise, enter into any compromise or arrangement and sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of its properties or assets except.

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