Ancient Kerala church opens gates to Muslims for prayers

Agencies
December 30, 2019

Kochi, Dec 30: Opening a new chapter in the history of communal harmony in Kerala, an ancient church in nearby Kothamangalam opened its gates to hundreds of Muslims, who were participating in an anti-CAA protest, to offer prayers.

"I could experience the real spirit of India when authorities of an ancient church in Kothamangalam provided us space to offer Maghrib Namaz," Sayyid Munavvar Ali Shihab Thangal, an influential spiritual leader of Kerala Muslims, who led the namaz, told PTI.

The call for Maghrib Namaz (prayers offered after sunset) came when a "secular march" organised by the Kerala chapter of All India Professional Congress (AIPC) reached near the church on Saturday, known as Cheriya Palli.

AIPC leader Mathew Kuzhalnadan said to avoid the delay in offering evening prayers for hundreds of people from Muslim community, the church authorities were contacted and requested them to permit the Muslims to offer namaz in the church premises.

He said the church authorities immediately threw open the iron gates of the church, wholeheartedly welcoming their Muslim bretheren.

The chief priest of the church also arranged carpets and microphones for facilitating the prayers, he said.

"The gesture shown by the authorities of the church...

it generated a kind of feeling among us... no words to explain it. We could experience secularism and the soul of India," said Thangal, who is also a member of Panakkad Thangal family which controls Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

Priests of the shrine were offering evening prayers inside the church when Thangal was leading namaz in its courtyard.

"This is the message we intended to convey through the secular march," said Kuzhalnadan, a Congress leader, who is heading the AIPC, a department of the Indian National Congress.

The "secular march" against the BJP-led government's decision to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was attended by people from all major political parties including the Congress, the CPI(M) and the IUML.

Noted Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaisingh, former MP and CPI(M) leader M B Rajesh, Congress MLA V T Blaram, Thangal and Kuzhalnadan addressed the meeting held in Kothamangalam town after the march covered over 10 km from a masjid premises in Muvattupuzha.

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Agencies
January 12,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 12: A recent study has claimed that people end up wasting almost an entire day when they take a vacation.

This can happen while standing in a queue or searching for places to visit, people do not keep a count of the time they have actually utilised during the trip. As a result, they end up doing much lesser activities than they originally had planned.

According to a recent report in Fox News, the study has also shared the fact that people try to justify time waste with planning and scheduling activities whereas the truth is that these things can be done well ahead to save time during the trip.

The average time waste according to the study commissioned by Sykes Holiday Cottages also said the people taking a seven days' trip waste a minimum of 17-and-a-half hours to figure out various factors.

But there are other causes involved as well. When one visits any crowded location, the real-time spent to enjoy the location is lesser than the time spent on reaching and trying to get involved. For instance, if one visits an amusement park, the activities take lesser time than the preparatory and other phases.

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Agencies
July 13,2020

New Delhi, Jul 13: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has blocked Bharti Airtel's Platinum and Vodafone Idea's RedX premium plans that offer faster data speeds and priority services to customers as both the plans were violating net neutrality norms.

The telecom watchdog has asked Bharti Airtel to explain within seven days how such a similar plan being launched does not violate the rules of net neutrality.

Vodafone Idea's RedX plan has been in the market since November 2019. They made some modifications in May 2020 and the Bharti Airtel was soon going to launch a similar plan.

According to TRAI, the higher speed for premium customers discriminate against others and violates net neutrality.

Responding to TRAI's move, Airtel spokesperson said: "We are passionate about delivering the best network and service experience to all our customers. This is why we have a relentless obsession to eliminate faults and have been consistently recognised by international agencies as the best network in terms of speed, latency and video experience."

"At the same time, we want to keep raising the bar for our post-paid customers in terms of service and responsiveness. This is an ongoing effort at our end," the spokesperson said.

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Agencies
March 18,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 18: To raise awareness about protective measures against coronavirus, Kerala Police released a dance video on the State Police Media Centre's Facebook page promoting the washing of hands, here on Tuesday.

In the video, the police officers were seen dancing to the tunes of Kalakkatha from the Malayalam action-drama thriller Ayyappanum Koshiyum while demonstrating the right technique for washing hands.

The video gained over 27,000 likes and over 2,400 comments and more than 33,000 netizens shared the video.

The video has received a positive response with users congratulating Kerala Police for the initiative.

"Congrats Kerala police media for this kind of initiative," one user commented on Facebook. Another user thanked the police in the comments section saying, "Super super thanks to KL (Kerala) police."

The number of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in Kerala is 25.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India has reached 147, including 122 Indians and 25 foreign nationals, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare earlier today.

Globally, the virus has infected more than 184,000 people and killed more than 7500, as per the data available on the World Health Organisation website.

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