Sabarimala row: Section 144 imposed, Trupti Desai unable to exit Airport

Agencies
November 16, 2018

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 16: Ahead of Sabarimala Temple's reopening today, authorities have imposed Section 144 in the towns of Nilakkal, Pamba, and Sannidhanman as a precautionary measure.

The section of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which prohibits assembly of more than four people at a place, has been put in place as the state braces for a bout of fresh protests against entry of women into the hill shrine, which is set to open today for the two-month long annual Mandala Makaravilakku festival.

Social activist and founder of Bhumata Brigade, Trupti Desai, reached Cochin this morning to visit the Temple, but has been unable to exit the Cochin International Airport due to protests being carried out against her visit.

"We reached Cochin Airport at 4:30 am. Protests were being held outside. We booked taxis 2-3 times but drivers have been threatened that their vehicle will be vandalised if they offer us a drive. Police have said that we can't go outside now," said Desai as she was unable to carry on with her journey.

She asserted that she will not return unless she visits the temple. "Police tried to evacuate us from another gate but protesters were there as well. Does this mean protesters are scared that we'll reach Sabarimala once we reach Nilakkal? Or are they trying to scare us? We won't return until we have darshan," she said.

Trupti on Wednesday wrote a letter to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, stating that she would not leave the state if she were not allowed to enter the Sabarimala Templeand had also asked for security during the visit.

To attain a common ground on the Sabarimala row, Kerala CM Pinayri Vijayan called for the all-party meeting on 15 November. However, the opposition parties in the state- Congress and the BJP- walked out of the meet.

On 28 September, the Supreme Court quashed the age-old ban on entry of menstruating women into the Temple, by allowing women of all ages to worship at the shrine.

This is the third time that the Temple will open after the top court lifted restrictions. So far 3,505 protesters have been arrested and around 529 cases were registered in connection with a series of incidents of violence in the state after the opening of the temple gate in October.

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Agencies
May 27,2020

New Delhi, May 27: The government has further extended the deadline for bidding to buy its entire 52.98 per cent stake in the country's second-biggest oil refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), by over one-and-a-half months to July 31.

This is the second extension for submission of expression of interest (EoI) for BPCL stake by interested bidders. The government had first invited bids showing interest in buying its stake, by May 2. It was then extended till June 13.

This has now been extended to 5 p.m. on July 31 in "view of further requests received from the interested bidders and the prevailing situation arising out of COVID-19", an official notice put up by disinvestment department DIPAM late on Tuesday said.

Accordingly, the last date for submission of written queries or preliminary information memorandum has been pushed back to June 23 from the earlier deadline of May 16.

The disinvestment in BPCL involves the government selling its entire 52.98 per cent stake in the company to a strategic investor with transfer of management control. The government has barred PSUs from bidding for BPCL and expects private sector Indian players and global MNCs to bid for its stake. The government's stake in BPCL is worth around Rs 50,000 crore.

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News Network
May 22,2020

Bengaluru, May 22: Amazon.com Inc’s India unit said it would hire 50,000 temporary workers to meet a surge in online shopping in the country, where customers have been stuck indoors for two months in a lockdown to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

E-commerce firms faced massive disruption in the initial days of the lockdown in India, but a slow easing of the stringent regulations has allowed them to resume large parts of their operations.

"We want to continue helping customers all over India get everything they need so they can continue to practice social distancing," Amazon senior executive Akhil Saxena said in a statement on the company's blog. (bit.ly/2A1Wv7O)

“(The move) will also keep as many people as possible working during this pandemic while providing a safe work environment for them,” said Saxena, Amazon’s VP for customer fulfillment operations in APAC, MENA & Latam.

The temporary hires will work in Amazon’s fulfillment centers and as part of its delivery network, the company said, making the announcement at a time when various other companies in the country have been forced to cut jobs as they try to tide over the health crisis.

Amazon itself has pushed its annual global Prime Day event, traditionally a summer affair, to September, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

In India, where the Jeff Bezos-led company faces stiff competition from Walmart Inc’s Flipkart, Amazon earlier said it plans to create 1 million jobs by 2025.

The company also said on Thursday it plans to enter the food delivery business in India, pitting itself against well-established startups such as Swiggy and Zomato.

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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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