Parties sympathise with Sri Lankan pilgrims’ plight

September 5, 2012

Lanken_Piligrims

Chennai/Tirunelveli, September 5: With the pro-Tamil outfits attacking Sri Lankan pilgrims in the state, the DMK on Tuesday said it was only opposed to India’s training defence personnel from the island nation while the CPI(M) expressed concern over the hostility towards the visitors.

DMK president M. Karunanidhi said his party was strongly opposed to India’s training of defence personnel from Lanka, but was not averse to players’ visits.

“All that we can insist is there should be no military training to Sri Lankan personnel in India as the military was responsible for the death of civilian Tamils. That is why we are opposing the training for Lankan personnel and even stoutly opposing it in Parliament,” Mr Karunanidhi said in reply to a query on Lankan pilgrims being forced to leave for home after some local pro-Tamil outfits staged a protest against them near Thanjavur Monday.

When asked about his party’s stand on the state government sending back a Lankan football team, Mr Karunanidhi said it is usual for sportsmen, especially cricketers from the two nations, to travel to either country to play matches.
On Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s proposed India visit later this month on an official engagement, the DMK chief said, “It is not acceptable to us that he, responsible for the killing of lakhs of Tamils, is accorded a special welcome”, in India.

Expressing concern over “hostility” against Lankan visitors in the state, the CPI(M) said nothing should be done to disturb people-to-people relations whatever be the Lankan government’s approach towards the Tamils issue. It also appealed to the people and political forces in TN to ensure that friendly and harmonious relations are maintained with the people of Sri Lanka.

TN-Colombo trade may take a beating, fear southern dealers

Pro-Tamil outfits may be happy that Sri Lankan pilgrims have been driven back to their island nation, cutting short their trip to the state, but the trading community of the southern districts is afraid its traditional trade with Colombo through Thoothukudi could take a hit as a result.

Chairman of the Thoothukudi chapter of the Confederation of Indian industries (CII), Gunasingh Chelladurai, says the acts of some of the political and other outfits in Tamil Nadu against the visitors from Sri Lanka are bound to adversely affect its existing trade ties with the neighbouring nation. Around 15 boats currently operate between Thoothukudi and Colombo, carrying dry fish, construction material and beedi leaves for export to Colombo from small traders of the southern districts of Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Virudhunagar.

A boat operator, Danabalan says 50 years ago over 40 sailboats were engaged in the sea trade between Thoothukudi and Colombo, but the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka dealt a severe blow to the trade and the boats stopped operating altogether during the final phase of the war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in 2008, leaving 5000 sailors jobless.
The sailboat service however resumed on February 12, 2011 after the end of the ethnic war in the island nation, but now only 15 boats operate between the two countries, according to him. Danabalan fears that the attitude of the state government and other political parties to visiting Sri Lankans could prove the last straw for the traditional small sailboat service.

Responding to the fears of the boatmen, state secretariat member of CP1(M), K Kanagaraj says the state government is doing a great disservice to the Tamils by harassing Sri Lankan nationals visiting Tamil Nadu and warns it may provoke the common Singhalese against the community in Sri Lanka.


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News Network
April 21,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 21: Not just in China, but in Kerala also robot is now playing a key role in the health workers' fight against COVID-19, thanks to the innovative spirit of a group of young minds and the support of the state Health Department.

Named "Nightingale-19", the robot is deployed to provide food and medicines among patients at the district coronavirus centre in Ancharakandi in Kannur district where a large number of cases have been reported.

The special display facility, attached to it, also allows patients to communicate with health workers and their relatives if necessary, the health minister's office here said.

Designed by the students of Chemberi Vimal Jyothi Engineering College with the support of the Health Department, the remote control-operated robot can carry food and water for at least six persons at a stretch.

Also Read: Pandemic Podcast: How the lockdown is affecting women

The machine, which can travel up to one kilometre, distributes food, water and medicine in each room, a department statement said.

The robot would be disinfected after each use, it said.

Health Minister K K Shailaja inaugurated the new venture from here recently through the robot's video facility, the statement added.

Robots have been put to use in other parts of the country to help in the health workers' fight against COVID- 19.

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News Network
March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: Lawyer of Mukesh Singh, who is one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, on Thursday mentioned a petition before the Registrar of the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing in the matter.

Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, through the petition, sought directions to bring call record, documents and reports of his client through any probe agency and passed appropriate directions and measure to ensure justice in the matter.

The petition, however, has not sought a stay on the execution, which is scheduled for the morning of March 20. The petition is likely to be taken up for hearing today.

Earlier today, the apex court dismissed the curative petition of Pawan Gupta, another convict in the matter, who claimed juvenility at the time of the crime.

This comes as the four convicts -- Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta -- are scheduled to be hanged at 5.30 am on March 20.

Meanwhile, several other petitions are also pending in the matter in different courts.

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: India's COVID-19 tally on Saturday witnessed its highest-ever spike of 11,458 cases, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

A total of 386 deaths have been reported due to the infection during the last 24 hours.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 3,08,993 including 1,45,779 active cases 1,54,330 cured/discharged/migrated and 8,884 deaths.

COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra continue to soar with the number reaching 101141. Tamil Nadu's coronavirus count stands at 40,698 while cases in Delhi reached 36,824.

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