Devotees not allowed at Guruvayur temple

21/03/2020,THRISSUR

The Sreekrishna temple in Guruvayur will not allow devotees from Saturday in view of the COVID-19 outbreak. Rituals such as Choroonu, weddings, Udayastamana puja, Chuttuvilakku and Krishnanattam will not be allowed. The usual pujas and rituals will continue at the temple. The decision is part of the efforts to maintain the guidelines of the government to check the spread of the virus, Guruvayur Devaswom chairman K.B. Mohandas said.

Eight killed in cracker unit blast

21/03/2020

The exact cause of the fire that sparked the explosion around 3.10 p.m. was under investigation, he added.

The Collector said that the licence of the unit was suspended in 2018 after officials discovered violations of safety norms. “The suspension was revoked in 2019 with a warning and the licensee gave an undertaking to comply with conditions,” Mr. Kannan said.

Fire and Rescue Services personnel had to struggle for hours to put out the flames, as the chemicals at the accident site kept exploding till 8 p.m. All five work sheds were gutted.

Inspector General of Police (South Zone) K.P. Shanmuga Rajeswaran inspected the accident site along with the Superintendent of Police P. Perumal.

“Luckily, a godown on the fireworks premises where the raw chemicals were stocked in huge quantities escaped the flames. Otherwise, it could have caused havoc,” Revenue Divisional Officer, Sattur, A. Kalimuthu, said.

The deceased were identified as J. Rani, 42, G. Tamilselvi, 35, M. Thangammal, 39, J. Jeyabharathi, 47, M. Badrakali, 33, S. Veluthai, 34, R. Kaliammal, 63, and A. Murugaiah,57.

The injured were rushed to the government hospital in Kovilpatti. However, four of them were shifted to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital in Palayamkottai and four others to the government hospital in Thoothukudi.

The Elayirampannai police are investigating.

High Court judges will be given iPad Pro, says Minister

Govt. to build additional district courts and sub courts

21/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

C. Ve. Shanmugam

Tamil Nadu government will procure 60 Apple iPad Pro units with cover and stylus at a cost of ₹80.93 lakh to judges of the Madras High Court, Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam announced in the Assembly on Friday. These will be for use by judges at the principal Bench in Chennai and the Madurai Bench.

The government will take up conservation and restoration of heritage buildings at the District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate Court at Vandavasi in Tiruvannamalai district and District Munsif Court in Coimbatore, at a cost of ₹ 10 crore, Mr. Shanmugam said.

The Minister announced that the government would provide young lawyers a monthly stipend of ₹3,000 for two years.

Additional district courts would be constituted at Tiruchengode in Namakkal district, Harur in Dharmapuri district and Arakkonam in Ranipet district; additional sub courts will be set up at Thirukoilur in Kallakurichi district, Nilakottai in Dindigul district, Keeranur in Pudukottai district and Tiruvottiyur in Tiruvallur district, he said.

Mr. Shanmugam said the government would upgrade the existing sub jail in Tiruvallur into a district jail. An additional block for 100 prisoners at the district jail in Chengalpet would be constructed, library facilities would be upgraded in all Central prisons and special prisons for women, jailor quarters would be built in Central prisons in Madurai and Palayamkottai, 50 body worn cameras would be procured for prison officials to monitor the movement of prisoners and to prevent any untoward incidents, he said.

Tamil in court

The State government has been taking steps to urge the Centre to make Tamil the official language in Madras High Court, even though the plea was rejected twice by the Supreme Court, Mr. Shanmugam said.

In his reply to P. Sivakumar alias Thayagam Kavi (DMK), who raised the issue in the House, Mr. Shanmugam said the Chief Minister had written to the Centre on March 3 in this regard.

Countering Mr. Sivakumar’s question on the delay in adopting Tamil as official language in the Madras High Court, Mr. Shanmugam questioned why the DMK was unable to ensure this when in power between 2006 and 2011, although it was a partner in the coalition government at the Centre then. The plea for adopting Tamil as official language in the Madras High Court was rejected twice in 2012 and 2015, he said.

S. Semmalai (AIADMK) urged the State government to take action on adopting Tamil as official language in the High Court. “When the courts in four States can have Hindi as official language in respective States, why not Tamil,” he asked.

Exams postponed

21/03/2020,CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University has postponed the exams scheduled for first and third semester of B. Pharm students on March 30 to April 15.

Provide food, shelter to the homeless during ‘Janata Curfew’: HC

‘If needed, use community halls, schools’

21/03/2020, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The Madras High Court on Friday directed the State government to accommodate all street dwellers in ‘night shelters’ run by local bodies and also provide them free food during the ‘Janata Curfew’ called for by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday when most of the eateries are likely to be closed through the day.

Justices N. Kirubakaran and R. Hemalatha issued the direction at the request of advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam who pointed out that the poor living on pavements would be the most affected during the self-imposed restriction on public movement, except for emergencies, across the country from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.

During the course of a habeas corpus petition argued by him, the lawyer apprised the court of the difficulties that could be faced by the homeless poor during the curfew.

The Bench in its order said: “As rightly pointed out by Mr. Suryaprakasam, in these days of crisis, the interest of daily wage labourers and poor workers should be taken care of by this court especially during ‘Janata Curfew’ as this court is a constitutional court. Therefore, it has to incidentally consider the plea made by him.

“Though it is submitted by Raja Srinivas, standing counsel for Greater Chennai Corporation, that 51 night shelters were available in the city, the government and the corporation are directed to inform through media about the availability of such shelters. It is also the duty of the government to provide food to them.

“If necessary, the government and the corporation shall utilise the community halls, marriage halls and schools for this purpose on March 22, 2020,” the court ordered.

51 shelters

Homeless people may stay in the 51 shelters maintained by Greater Chennai Corporation on Sunday. Sharing a list of 51 shelters of the Corporation on twitter, Municipal Administration Minister S.P.Velumani said the homeless people may approach these shelters in various wards. They would also be given food. He advised city residents to cooperate and remain indoors on Sunday.

Laptop demand up as firms mull work-from-home options

Supplies impacted since major production takes place in China

21/03/2020, SANJAY VIJAYAKUMAR,CHENNAI

With an increasing number of companies looking at work-from-home options for its employees amid the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a sudden spike in demand for laptops. However, there is a shortage in the market due to supply issues, according to industry players.

“The demand has been very sudden, and more companies have been looking to procure laptops, as they adopt work-from-home options. The availability is not on a level to match the demand in time,” said K. Purushothaman, former director at Nasscom.

“For large corporates, the supply works on a built-to-order basis, and is shipped as per requirements. In case of this segment, no one holds an inventory, unlike in the consumer segment. Over the last 45 days, the demand has spiked due to work-from-home policies adopted by firms,” said Mahesh R, business head, digital products, Croma.

Mr. Mahesh pointed out that a majority of production happens in China and most factories were based in Wuhan. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, supplies have been impacted. “Normally, what happens is that those who need supply in April will have to shift stocks in February, which is essentially the Chinese New Year time-frame. This was impacted due to the extended holiday there,” Mr. Mahesh said. He also pointed out that Intel accounted for 85% of the processors and they had been facing shortages for the last one year and were focusing on premium models.

The annual size of the Indian personal computing market (desktops, laptops, tablets) is 12 million, of which 4.5 million is the consumer segment and the remaining is the commercial segment.

“The processor issue; the supplies being impacted due to the situation in China; and the weaker rupee pushing up prices, will all result in the inability to cater to the current demand. Our outlets in malls too have been shut,” said Mr. Mahesh.

Jaipal Singh, associate research manager, client devices, IDC India, pointed out factories are operating at only half capacity in China, and this is expected to continue till April. So it will be difficult to meet the demand,” he said.

Singer’s COVID-19 status has politicians worried

Leaders who attended events with Kanika also met President

21/03/2020, OMAR RASHID,LUCKNOW

Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor’s announcement on Friday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 triggered a scare among several top politicians who had attended a series of events with her in Lucknow recently as well as those who were in contact with them.

Many have since announced that they were going into quarantine.

Following Ms. Kapoor’s revelation on Instagram, BJP leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje stated that she, along with her son and MP Dushyant Singh had attended a dinner where Ms. Kapoor was present, and as a matter of “abundant self-caution” were immediately adopting self-quarantine.

Mr. Singh was among many MPs who attended a breakfast meeting hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind on March 18 as well as a parliamentary panel meeting attended by around 20 MPs later in the day.

While Rashtrapati Bhavan is yet to issue any statement, it is learnt that Mr. Kovind would follow all protocols prescribed. The Uttar Pradesh government has not revealed the names of politicians, bureaucrats and socialites who allegedly attended the event.

Late on Friday, an FIR was lodged against Ms. Kapoor for negligence. She was booked under Sections 188, 269 and 270 of the IPC.