‘Save Odisha’s Dongria Kondhs, Bondas from COVID-19’
The Hindu
Activists and writers urge State government to protect particularly vulnerable tribes.
Activists and writers have urged the Odisha government to take immediate steps to the prevent loss of lives among Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) like the Dongria Kondh and Bonda due to COVID-19. In a petition addressed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, over 70 intellectuals expressed their concerns over rising COVID-19 positive cases among PVTGs. They said home quarantine as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-19, as suggested by the State government, would not work as privacy and isolation hardly exist within communities in tribal culture.
The municipal bus stand auditorium in Malappuram was packed. But nobody quite knew what to expect. After all, a new event was making its debut at the State School Arts Festival. The moment V.G. Harikrishnan started his rendition of Pyar bhare do sharmile nain..., everyone was convinced that Ghazal was here to stay. The student from GVHSS, Atholi (Kozhikode), was applauded loudly for his rendering of the timeless ghazal sung originally by Mehdi Hassan.

For the last few weeks, several wards in Madurai city have been getting piped drinking water through a new drinking water scheme. The sweetness of the generously supplied water has led to loss of business to several suppliers of canned drinking water in the city. But, not many know that the water supplied to the houses in Madurai is directly drawn from Lower Dam of Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki district of Kerala.











