Periyar statue vandalised in Tamil Nadu, 2 arrested

Agencies
March 7, 2018

Vellore (TN), Mar 7: A statue of social reformer and founder of Dravidian movement E V Ramasamy "Periyar" was allegedly vandalised in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district tonight, police said.

The incident, which the police claimed was perpetrated by two drunk men, assumed political significance as it came after a BJP leader indicated that statues of the rationalist leader could be the next to be pulled down after a statute of Communist icon Lenin was razed by suspected BJP workers in Tripura.

A senior district police officer said that two people, identified as Muthuraman and Francis, damaged the bust at Tirupattur in an inebriated state.

The duo have been arrested, the police said, adding that while Muthuraman was suspected to be a BJP worker, Francis is believed to be a CPI activist.

Earlier today, BJP leader H Raja said in a Facebook post in Tamil said, "Who is Lenin and what is the connection between Lenin and India? What connection India has with Communists? Today Lenin's statue removed in Tripura, tomorrow it will be the statue of EV Ramasamy in Tamil Nadu."

The post was subsequently deleted. It drew condemnation from several political parties in the state. Political parties including DMK, MDMK and the Left lashed out at Raja, a BJP National Secretary, with DMK Working President M K Stalin leading the charge seeking his detention under the 'Goondas Act'.

BJP's Raja was referring to the pulling down of a statue of communist icon Lenin by some persons using an excavator machine at Belonia in South Tripura district, days after the BJP defeated CPI (M) in the closely fought assembly polls.

The CPI(M) has held BJP workers responsible for pulling down the statue of Lenin.

BJP's state unit distanced itself from the issue, saying it was his personal view.

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News Network
January 27,2020

New Delhi, Jan 27: Remember the story of two friends coming face-to-face with a bear in a forest? One of the two friends climbs the tree to save his life and the other, not knowing how to, lays on the ground, breathless, pretending to be dead.

Well, that lesson turned out to be useful for this man who pretended to be dead when a tiger had both his paws on the man's chest.

Yes, that is right. IFS officer Parveen Kaswan recently shared a video of a man lying under a tiger, with their faces extremely close to each other with the caption, "You want to see how does a narrow escape looks like in case of an encounter with a #tiger. #Tiger was cornered by the crowd. But fortunately, the end was fine for both man and tiger. Sent by a senior."

Another Twitter user shared the full 30-second video in the comments. He also said that the incident occured in Tumsar in Bhandara district, Maharashtra. The spine-chilling clip shows a tiger running freely in the fields trying to avoid people who have surrounded him and are trying to shoo him away.

In his quest to run away, the scared tiger grabs a human. When he sees that people are still approaching him and trying to scare him away, he gets up and runs away for his life. All this while, the man who was captured by the animal lays still on the ground and does not make an attempt to get free.

This is what stuck with Twitter and they are praising the man for his presence of mind.

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News Network
February 28,2020

Feb 28: National oil marketer Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Friday said it is ready to supply low emission BS-VI fuels from April 1 and that there will be a marginal increase in retail prices.

The largest oil supplier has spent over Rs 17,000 crore to upgrade its refineries to produce the low-sulfur diesel and petrol, the company's chairman Sanjiv Singh told reporters here.

Without disclosing the quantum of price increase, Singh said, “there will definitely be a marginal increase in retail prices of the fuels from April 1 when the whole country will be run on new fuels, which will have a sulphur content of only 10 parts per million (ppm) as against the present 50 ppm.

“But let me assure you, we will not be burdening the consumers with a steep hike,” Singh said.

He said, state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) have invested Rs 35,000 crore to upgrade their refineries, of which Rs 17,000 crore have been spent by IOC alone.

Earlier this week, the sell-off bound BPCL said it had invested around Rs 7,000 crore for the same. ONGC-run HPCL has not so far disclosed its readiness for BS-VI supplies or its capex on the same.

HPCL had said from February 26-27 it was ready with BS-VI fuels and that it would sell only the new fuels from March 1.

IOC switched to BS-VI fuel production a fortnight ago and all its depots and containers are ready now, Singh said.

However, he said some remote locations, where the intake is very low, will take some more time to switch. But the company is planning to drain out the entire BS-IV stock and replenish the new fuels at such locations, he added.

Further, it has been reported that the companies will have to increase prices by 70-120 paise a litre, but Singh said, to arrive such a weighted average is not possible given the complexities of each refinery.

He, however, asserted that the price hike will not be a burden on consumers.

We are not looking at this investment from a pure return on investment basis, but this is a national mandate and we have done it.

Having said that, all those countries that moved to low emission fuels are charging higher prices; and from April 1, our prices will also be benchmarked against Euro VI prices as against the present practice of the cost-plus model, Singh concluded.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Ayodhya, Aug 2: With the foundation laying ceremony of the grand Ram temple around the corner, the work at the stone-carving workshop of Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya has reached its final stage.

Speaking to news agency, caretaker of Ram temple stone workshop Hanuman Yadav said, "Stonework is ready for the construction work till the first floor of the temple. Cleaning work is almost done but some work is still left which will be done soon after the trust's meeting."

Talking about the characteristics of the sandstone chosen work the construction, he said, "It was chosen for the construction as it can withstand rigours for thousands of years. These designated stones are minutely carved according to the need of the temple."

The stone-carving workshop for the Ram temple construction was established in Ayodhya by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in 1990.

On August 5 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ayodhya for rituals that will mark the beginning of Ram temple construction, Hanumangarhi is the first stop he would be visiting.

The construction of Ram temple will begin in Ayodhya after the ceremony to lay the foundation stone in which various dignitaries from the political and religious fields are likely to participate apart from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. 

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