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Rahul pens letter to PM Modi, urges release of funds

Agencies
August 11, 2018

New Delhi, Aug 11: As torrential rains continue to lash Kerala, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi apprising him of the situation and urging the latter to release sufficient funds immediately to the Kerala government for their relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Flash floods, caused by incessant rains, have wreaked havoc in several districts of the state, killing nearly 30 people since July end.

Rahul wrote, "The most severe disaster to have struck the state in the last five decades this natural calamity resulted in massive economic and human losses."

He said that the fishermen community were the most affected group due to flash floods and landslides caused due to heavy downpour.

"At a time when the fishing industry is yet to recover from the adverse impact of Ockhi cyclone, this disaster has a deadly blow, especially to fishermen," Rahul continued.

He added, "The widespread destruction of critical public infrastructure like power supply lines and roads will only prolong the recovery process. At this juncture, it is critical to acknowledge the looming humanitarian crisis facing Kerala."

The Congress president expressed hope that the Centre would extend cooperation with the Kerala government and provide funds to facilitate the relief efforts.

Earlier today, the Kerala government said that the families of people who died due to flood in the state, will receive compensation of Rs. 4 lakh each. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also directed the authorities to disburse cash compensation of Rs. 10 lakh each to those who suffered damages to their homes or farms.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has geared up to face the challenges arising due to floods and landslides and has mobilised all its resources and also airlifted eight self-contained teams to supplement the deployment in Kerala.

Presently, 14 self-contained teams of NDRF are deployed in various parts of flood-hit districts - Thrissur, Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Wayanad, Kozhikode and Idukki.

The teams are engaged in rescue and evacuation operations with full zeal and commitment at various flood-affected villages - Kuttiyadi and Kakkayum in Kozhikode district, Manikkashrey in Idukki district, and Ooralli, Kurichiyar Mala and Pozhuthana in Wayanad district.

The NDRF team operational in Kabini River has rescued six people and operations are still in progress at various sites.

Yesterday, the NDRF teams commenced rescue and evacuation operations at Payyampalli village under Taluka Mananphuedy and rescued seven people and evacuated seven others. In addition, three persons were evacuated at Cherutheri Bridge on Periyar River. So far, the NDRF teams have rescued seven persons, evacuated 398 persons and 12 livestock in Kerala.

In view of possible inundation, the NDRF teams are kept on standby in vulnerable locations and keeping a close vigil over the development of the situation. Additional teams are also kept as standby at nearest NDRF battalion, Arrakonnam and would be mobilised, if required. The NDRF Director General is personally supervising the ongoing rescue operations.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert (heavy to very heavy rainfall in most places) for Idukki and Wayanad till August 14 and orange alert (heavy to very heavy rainfall in isolated places) till August 15. The agency has issued a red alert for Kannur till August 13 and orange alert till Aug 15.

Red alert has been issued for Ernakulam, Palakkad, Malappuram and Calicut till August 12 and orange alert for these places till August 14. An orange alert has been issued by the IMD for Kasaragod till August 13.

Apprising the current situation, Union Minister KJ Alphons told ANI, "11 out of 14 districts of Kerala are under water. The Centre has sent armed forces and they have been on ground for past three days and have been helping the state government administration. NDRF teams have also been sent. Prime Minister Modi has also spoken to the Kerala Chief Minister about this."

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News Network
January 28,2020

Jan 28: After Union minister Anurag Thakur, on Tuesday, BJP MP Parvesh Verma has stoked a controversy by saying that "Shaheen Bagh protesters will enter houses and rape sisters, daughters." The BJP MP even went on to say that if BJP is voted to power in Delhi, they "will clear Shaheen Bagh protest within an hour."

"If the BJP comes to power in Delhi on February 11, we will clear Shaheen Bagh of all protests and protesters within one hour. Not a single person will be visible," Parvesh Verma said during a meeting at Vikaspuri assembly constituency.

"Lakhs of people gather there [Shaheen Bagh]. People of Delhi will have to think and take a decision. They will enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters, kill them. There's time today, Modi ji & Amit Shah won't come to save you tomorrow..." the BJP MP told news agency ANI.

"If our government is formed, then give me just a month after February 11, and I will remove all mosques built on government land in my Lok Sabha constituency," the BJP parliamentarian added.

Well, these statements didn't go down well with the netizens, who took to Twitter to express what they felt about the BJP leader's comments. A user wrote, "This is pure, unadulterated hate speech." While other user said, "Only when you thought BJP couldn't stoop any lower."

Earlier, on Monday, BJP leader and Union Minister Anurag Thakur triggered a row after he led the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan that "traitors should be shot". At the rally, Thakur, the Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, shouted: "desh ke gaddaron ko" to which the crowd responded, "goli maro saalo ko" (shoot down the traitors).

Addressing the meeting in support of BJP candidate from Rithala, Manish Chaudhary, Thakur raised the pitch of nationalism as he linked opposition parties with anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh and with alleged anti-India slogans, and then asked the crowd to raise the controversial slogan.

For more than a month, over 200 women have been joined by hundreds of others every day at South East Delhi's Shaheen Bagh at a sit-in protest against the CAA which promises citizenship to only non-Muslim refugees from three neighbouring countries.

Protests have been ongoing in different parts of the country against the amended Citizenship Act (CAA) which grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh if they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

Ayodhya,  Aug 4: Various religious ceremonies have been conducted for the past 108 days by saints in Ayodhya and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in `muhurat puja' at 12.44 pm on Wednesday as part of 'bhoomi pujan' for construction of a grand Ram temple.

PM Modi will arrive at 12:30 pm at the Ramjanmbhoomi and take part in various prayers including the main "bhoomi pujan".

Govind Giriji Maharaj, treasurer of Shri Ramjanmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, said that the religious ceremonies will begin from 8:30 am in the morning and will continue till 12:30 pm.

"The Prime Minister will arrive at 12:30 pm and he will offer `puja' for 15 minutes and take 'sankalp'. First Lord Ganesh will be worshipped then he will offer prayers of eight shilas. Some prayers at shilas we have conducted already," Giri told said.

"The muhrat of pooja is at 12: 44 pm. He will say words 'prathisthapayami' and it is crucial to be done in that muhrat," he said.

Elaborating on the rituals to be performed tomorrow by the Prime Minister, the trust member said that most important is `Kurm Shila' .

"The most important is Kurm Shila - this is right beneath the place where Ram Lalla will be seated. It is this ceremony that we are conducting tomorrow. A cone of Bakul tree wood will be kept in ceremony. This isn't an ordinary cone, it is made of various metals including gold and silver. 

A lotus with nine gems too will be part of pujan which will be offered to this cone by the Prime Minister," he said.

"These are intrinsic to main bhumi pujan. The first religious ceremony was of Devi Kali. There are two devi kalis here, `choti' and `badi'. She is kuldevi, family's goddess of Sita. Today we held Ramarchan ceremony," said Giri.

The Vedic pundits who are involved in religious ceremonies have come from Delhi, Mathura and Kashi.

Asked about the absence of Nepal's religious head of Janaki Mandir, he said that there are many, including 20 religious heads, who would not able to come because they can't leave their seat in Chaturmas.

On the design of temple, Giri said, the old design will remain as it is except a rise in height.

"The structure has become popular and we will keep it. Keeping in mind the modernisation of architecture, we have raised height from 128 feet to 161 feet and instead of three peaks we will have five peaks," he said.

Kanchi Pithadhishvar Maharaj has sent silver coins as souvenirs for every sadhu participating in it, Giri said.

Invitations have been sent to 175 people, including 135 saints of 35 religious organisations to attend the foundation stone-laying ceremony of Ram temple.

The construction of Ram temple will begin in Ayodhya after the ceremony to lay the foundation stone.

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News Network
May 22,2020

Mumbai, May 22: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday reduced repo rate by 40 basis points to 4 per cent in an effort to further boost liquidity in the economy which has been reeling under the impact of COVID-19 induced countrywide lockdown.

As a result, the reverse repo rate stands at 3.35 per cent, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) voted 5:1 in favour of the decision.

Repo rate is the rate at which a country's central bank lends money to commercial banks, and the reverse repo rate is the rate at which it borrows from them. 

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