RIVANCH

In the mid 90s, Bill Gates released his first book, The Road Ahead , and it blew our minds. Or at least one part of it did (I never managed to read much of it). In it, Gates described the Seattle home he was then building with inlaid fiber optic cables where each room would have its own unobtrusive touchpad to control the lights, music and temperature. Best of all, as you entered a room, it’d automatically customise those elements and even wall paintings (via LCD screens) based on personal preferences, all pinged via an electronic pin everyone in the house would wear. I was reminded of that moment from a quarter century ago as I listened to a recent webinar on access to the internet in India, organised by Agami, the law and justice organisation where I work. Much of Gates’ fantastic vision has become widely available today in the form of mobile phones, smart devices and apps – all of them powered by the internet, and what he then romantically called the Information Highway. In a s

In the mid 90s, Bill Gates released his first book, The Road Ahead , and it blew our minds. Or at least one part of it did (I never managed to read much of it). In it, Gates described the Seattle home he was then building with inlaid fiber optic cables where each room would have its own unobtrusive touchpad to control the lights, music and temperature. Best of all, as you entered a room, it’d automatically customise those elements and even wall paintings (via LCD screens) based on personal preferences, all pinged via an electronic pin everyone in the house would wear. I was reminded of that moment from a quarter century ago as I listened to a recent webinar on access to the internet in India, organised by Agami, the law and justice organisation where I work. Much of Gates’ fantastic vision has become widely available today in the form of mobile phones, smart devices and apps – all of them powered by the internet, and what he then romantically called the Information Highway. In a s

The Delhi Minorities Commission wrote a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal requesting a probe into the deaths of two Tablighi Jamaat members kept at a quarantine centre in the city’s Sultanpuri area, according to several media reports. Several people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in March. PTI According to the letter dated 23 April, Mohamed Mustafa died on 22 April and Haji Rizwan passed away 10 days ago,  The Quint  reported. Both were from Tamil Nadu and were diabetic. “Both died due to denial of diabetic medicines and erratic food supply,” the letter read, as per the report. They had attended the Markaz event in Nizamuddin organized by Tablighi Jamaat. Commission chairperson Zafarul-Islam Khan and member Kartar Singh Kochhar said in the letter that the deaths were a result of “callous and uncooperative nature of officers and doctors” manning and supervising these camps as well as the “erratic supply of food at these facilities.

This piece is not about Arnab Goswami and his journalism. One journalist issuing a journalism certificate to another is vain. Nor is it about television drama spilling on to streets and courts with real consequences, or a fading dynast’s desperate jabs at power and intimidation. FIle image of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. News18 It is simply about the Congress party’s political wisdom in reacting the way it has to a news anchor’s provocation of calling its president Sonia Gandhi biased and silent on the lynching of two Hindu monks in Palghar. It is also about how the party took Arnab calling Sonia by her maiden name ‘Antonia Maino’, dog-whistling about her being Italian, and thereby unboxing the baggage of old allegations. Old questions tumbled out. Why did she take 16 years to become an Indian citizen after marrying Rajiv Gandhi in 1968? Has she ever been an Indian at heart, even while running the country as the power centre with Manmohan Singh as prime minister? The episod

Jaipur:  A 40-year-old woman was raped allegedly by three men on a government school premises where she had stayed during lockdown in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district, police said on Saturday. The incident occurred on Thursday night. All three accused have been arrested and produced before a court, a police official said. The woman, in her statement, said she has been stuck for a month in Sawai Madhopur due to the ongoing lockdown. She decided to walk down to her residence in Jaipur. On Thursday night, she stayed at a government school premises in Batod Police Station area to take rest, but was allegedly raped by three men, the official said. A case has been registered against the accused on the basis of a complaint lodged by the woman on Friday. The accused, identified as Rishikesh Meena, Lakhan Regar and Kamal Kharwal, have been arrested and produced before a court, DSP Parth Sharma said. He said medical examination of the woman was conducted and her statement recorded.

Kozhikode : A Sub Collector and town Circle Inspector were among more than 100 people asked to go in for self quarantine after a mentally unsound destitute man housed in a shelter camp visited by them tested positive for COVID- 19, a top police official said. The man was in a shelter camp set up by the district administration, along with about 100 destitutes. The sub-collector Samba Siva Rao said the officials and volunteers and inmates were directed to go on home quarantine as a precautionary measure in the light of the destitute testing positive. "We were part of the team identifying the destitute roaming around the city limit. As is the usual practise, we house them as a batch of 100 people and one among them tested positive. As a precaution, we have all been advised to go into self quarantine and have given our swab samples for testing," the police official, who did not wish to be named, told PTI . The city police, along with the district administration, have been en

08:00 (IST) Coronavirus in Bihar  ​ Latest Updates Bihar confirms 251 COVID-19 cases after 28 more test positive  As many as 28 fresh COVID-19 positive cases were reported in Bihar on Saturday, taking the overall count to 251 in the state. Of the total confirmed cases, 45 people have recovered while two have succumbed to the infectious disease. Currently, there are currently 204 active cases. While two new cases reported on Saturday are from Khajpura in Patna, Arwal reported its first case with a person from Kurtha testing positive for the virus on Saturday. 07:55 (IST) Coronavirus in Uttarakhand  ​ Latest Updates Standalone shops will be open in Uttarakhand in nine green zone dists: CM After the home ministry issued clarification on reopening of shops, Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Sunday said standalone shops in colonies will be permitted to operate from 7 am to 6 pm in nine out of 13 districts that have been green zones in the state.  "Liquor s

New Delhi: Amid rising coronavirus cases in the national capital, a top official in the Delhi government's COVID-19 committee has suggested that the ongoing lockdown will have to be continued till mid-May for the epidemic curve to flatten. The Delhi government had announced a lockdown in Delhi on 23 March followed by a nationwide lockdown by the Centre from midnight of 24 March till 14 April. The lockdown was further extended to 3 May by the Centre. "India is still on the ascending limb of the epidemic curve and so, to ease the restrictions will mean the cases will multiply uncontrollably. And, Delhi has a large number of containment zones, so it will be wise to extend it," Dr SK Sarin, chairman of Delhi government's committee on combating COVID-19, said on Saturday. "The lockdown will have to be extended till 16 May as that is when the epidemic curve is likely to start declining, which happens after the flattening of the curve," he said. The total num

New Delhi: Transporters' body AIMTC on Saturday sought the government intervention for relief measures, including extension of e-way bill validity till 15 May, saying their problems are increasingly getting aggravated. All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) is the umbrella body of transporters representing about 95 lakh truckers and entities. "The situation remains fluid on the ground. The reports of vehicles stranded for want of unloading at factories, warehouses, godowns keep coming in. "The issues of loaded vehicles not getting unloaded as limited permission is available to open factories and godowns," AIMTC said in a statement, adding that comeback of drivers still seem difficult. Seeking intervention of the PMO, it demanded extension of validity of e-way bill till 15 May from the present 30 April, 2020, in view of stranded vehicles at various places. Citing a case where a poor transporter allegedly committed suicide on Friday unable to stand the press

A month into the lockdown, the Union Health Ministry on Saturday informed that there has been a marked improvement in the rate of spread of the novel coronavirus in India, even as the country registered 1,490 new COVID-19 cases and 56 deaths, the highest single day rise in fatalities so far. On Saturday, the nationwide count of confirmed cases climbed to 24,942 with 779 deaths with some states began easing some of the restrictions imposed since the country went on a nationwide lockdown on 25 march. India's rate of spread slows down The average doubling rate of COVID-19 cases in the country is 9.1 days as of now; this was 7.5 days just five days ago, and 3 days on 21 March , when India had just 300 cases. The doubling rate is the rate at which India's Covid-19 cases are expected to double from today's figure. Furthermore, from Friday 8 am to Saturday 8 am, India recorded a six percent growth in new cases, which is the lowest daily growth rate recorded since the country

Chennai: A lawyer has approached the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Union and state governments to use only rapid test kits that have been tested to be satisfactory either by National Institute of Virology or by European Economic Union for coronavirus tests. According to the petitioner, there was very high global demand for testing kits and specifically rapid testing kits for diagnosis of COVID-19. There have been reported instances of defective or ineffective rapid test kits of Chinese origin been sold to those in desperate need for some form of testing in their pursuit to stop spread of the virus. Spain and Turkey have been victims to such sale of defective/ineffective kits, he said. He further submitted that test results have been found to be erroneous with both false negatives and false positives thereby making the exercise of test with the kits a futile one. Some states like Punjab have returned these kits back to the Indian Council of Medical Research. Click

Bengaluru: JD(S) MLC KT Srikante Gowda, his son and three others were booked on Saturday for allegedly trying to obstruct a COVID-19 test organised for journalists at Mandya and man-handling media persons. Gowda, his son Krishik and the others strongly objected to conducting COVID-19 test at Ambedkar Bhavan near his residence at Mandya, during which journalists were allegedly manhandled, leading to chaos, police said. On the directive of the state government, the district administration, along with the Department of Information and Public Relations, had jointly organised the tests for journalists in the district. The MLC expressed fears that the virus may spread in the locality where his house located as swab samples were being collected there, police said. He also questioned why the venue was chosen. The JD(S) MLC and others allegedly abused the officials and personnel deployed there, which the journalists strongly objected to. This led to a minor scuffle, during which Krishik

Mumbai: Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said the lockdown rules will remain unchanged in the state will 3 May. Talking to PTI , Tope said there was no clarity in the Centre's latest order regarding the reopening of shops. "We will get more clarity after a video conference with the Prime Minister on Monday," he said "We haven't taken any decision on the order of the Ministry of Home Affairs as yet. But there will be no further relaxation in lockdown rules till May 3," the minister added. The issue of sending migrant labourers back to their native places will also be taken up during the meeting with the prime minister, Tope said. Stating that economic activities need to start, he said the Maharashtra government was of the opinion that businesses can resume in green zones with borders of these areas sealed and industrial activity allowed inside. Whether or not to extend lockdown in red zones (which have a large number of coronavirus

Kerala University has announced the result of second semester of MA Malayalam and MSc Zoology. Students who took the exams can check their result on the official website of Kerala University at https://www.keralauniversity.ac.in/ . The total marks are shown against the student code in the provisional list of successful candidates. “Originals of the qualifying certificates shall be forwarded to the university for verification of eligibility conditions," said the notification. Those who have not paid fees will not be issued mark list. Besides, the results of candidates who have not produced their eligibility certificates or qualifying certificates have been withheld. If a candidate wants to get his answer sheet evaluated again, he will have to send an application to the Deputy Registrar along with the prescribed fees when announced by the university after the lockdown is lifted. Kerala University is contemplating on conducting pending exams in the second week of May. The prop

On Wednesday, Mohammad Shamsuddin, a resident of Mustafabad, one of the many localities affected in the Delhi riots in February this year, got an unexpected call from the police. According to Shamsuddin, the police told his son to go to Dayalpur police station for inquiry and investigation into the Delhi riots. His son — weak and pale — is still limping from the untreated injury near his groin area that he sustained from the riots. File image of a man sitting behind his burnt car in Delhi's Chand Bagh, one of the sites where violence took place in Feb. Image/Ismat Ara As reported earlier by Firstpost , Shamsuddin's 22-year-old son Mohammad Imran had been seriously injured during the police firing in Mustafabad on 25 February. According to doctors at Mustafabad's Al Hind hospital, where he was initially treated, Imran's scrotum and penis were ripped apart, and his anal region had suffered severe injuries. He was shifted to LNJP hospital later. This is how the initial

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that it is extending the date for submission of application by schools for affiliation. The decision has been taken in view of the prevailing coronavirus situation. Now, schools can submit applications without late fee till 30 June. The date has not only been extended for fresh affiliations, but also for upgradation and extension of affiliation for session 2021-22 . The Board had last month pushed the last date for submission of application to 30 April. The decision in March had been taken after schools made a request for extension of dates due to the coronavirus lockdown. The CBSE, in a notification, said, “The competent authority of the Board has also accorded approval for allowing the schools for online submission of compliances for affiliation under various categories till 30 June.” The Board has taken several other steps in the fight against COVID-19. It has collaborated with Fit India Mission to provide live class

The Kerala Government’s citizen first approach in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely praised. Kerala is the perfect example of a socially vigilant administration which has ensured social unity and high standards of civic participation during a massive crisis like COVID-19. The media’s active involvement in times of crisis has been a discussion point in many democratic societies throughout the last century. The role played by the Malayalam news media — both print and television — is of special significance in this regard vis a vis the Kerala floods of 2018-2019, Nipah Virus outbreak in 2018-2019 and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Malayalam news media’s response to these events reaffirmed people’s faith in the credibility of news media particularly at a time when media all over the world is faced with a crisis of credibility. But Kerala is not immune to this crisis either. Corruptions of various kinds, affiliation to ultra-nationalist forces, discrimination on the

Akshaya Tritiya is considered to be an auspicious occasion by Hindus and people often buy gold on this day in the hope that it will bring good luck. Akshaya Tritiya 2020 will be celebrated on 26 April. Also known as Akha Teej, Akshaya Tritiya is observed during Shukla Paksha Tritiya in the month of Vaishakha of the Hindu calendar. According to Hindu mythology, the day is also celebrated as the birth anniversary of Parashuram, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. The day of his birth also marked the beginning of Treta Yuga. Some beliefs also say that Goddess Ganga arrived on Earth from heaven on this day. Devotees worship Lord Vishnu, who is among the holy trinity of Hindu gods, on Akshaya Tritiya. Vishnu is regarded as the preserver in Hindu mythology. People also offer prayers to Goddess Annapoorna, the deity of food and nourishment. Significance of Akshaya Tritiya The word Akshaya means something that never diminishes. This is the reason why people buy gold on this day, believing it w

Chennai: Days after the wife of a doctor, who died of COVID-19, appealed to authorities to allow excavation of his body so that it could be buried again at a cemetery of her spouse's choice, the Chennai Corporation on Saturday rejected her plea citing health experts' view that it was unsafe to do so. Citing her request on 22 April to allow burial at a cemetery in Kilpauk, the civic body said it sought a report from a committee of public health experts to ascertain the feasibility of entertaining her plea. The report of experts has said that "it is not safe," to excavate and bury again the body of a COVID-19 victim and hence "it is not possible to accept her request," the Greater Chennai Corporation said in an official release. On 19 April, a city-based 55-year-old neurosurgeon died of coronavirus and his burial at the Velangadu crematorium in Chennai was marred by violence. A mob falsely fearing that the burial may lead to the spread of contagion had a