Monthly Archives: April 2020

Anand, Humpy, Harika to play online exhibition games to raise funds

April 6, 2020Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Sportsadmin

Other top players who will play these games are India No.2 Vidit S Gujrathi, P Harikrishna and Baskaran Adhiban (all Grandmasters)

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand. DC File photo

Chennai :

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand and five other leading Indian players will compete in an online chess exhibition on April 11 to raise funds for country’s fight against Covid19.

The Indians will take on players from across the world on the portal chess.com.

Apart from Anand, India No.2 Vidit S Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, Baskaran Adhiban (all Grandmasters) and the country’s top two women players — Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika will compete on 20-board event.

The event will be streamed live on chess.com/tv, where all donations made will be sent to the PM’s CARES Fund.

Anand, who is stuck in Germany owing to the travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, tweeted: “Please support the Indian Chess Community’s support towards Covid 19 relief.”

To participate in the event, players must have a Chess.com blitz or FIDE standard rating of under 2000 and will be required to make a donation during the registration process.

A guaranteed game against Anand requires a minimum donation of $150. However, a $25 registration fetches the chance to play any two of the six Indian stars (one of whom may be Anand).

Just five spots are left to play against Anand.

Besides, the three biggest donors will get to play against Anand on additional boards during the live stream on chess.com/tv.

“It is a privilege that we can play our sport from home and collect funds for a good cause,” Harika told PTI.

On his part, the Chennai-based Adhiban said, “I am excited about the event. I am happy to support a good cause.”

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Sports> In other news / by PTI / April 04th, 2020

Health kits and rasam for the needy: Meet Chennai’s corona warriors

April 5, 2020Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Resources of Free Materialsadmin

Meet good samaritans in Chennai who are working to ensure that people don’t go hungry during the lockdown imposed to fight the coronavirus.

Image for representation: PTI

HIGHLIGHTS

Chennai eatery distributes free food packets
NGO volunteers provide dry rations, health kits
‘We have to help each other out’: Eatery owner

It’s tough to find better words than Trilok Babu’s to capture spirit of good samaritans working to ease the pain of life under lockdown: “We have to help each other out.”

This owner of a Chennai eatery, Dosa Corner, is having free packets of food — rice, sambhar, rasam, buttermilk and pickle — made for anyone who needs it.

“No questions asked,” he said.

Trilok Babu underscored the importance of such charity in a situation that he said was unprecedented for him.

“In my 40 years, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

– Trilok Babu to India Today TV

All of India is under lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, a new kind (Sars-CoV-2) that was first detected in China and causes a potentially fatal respiratory illness, Covid-19.

In Tamil Nadu, over 300 people have, or have had, the virus, according to an India Today tracker . One person has died.

Many of the infections were traced to a religious congregation held at a markaz in Delhi’s Nizamuddin, now linked to a large cluster of coronavirus cases.

DRY RATIONS AND SANITISING KITS

Sneha Mohandoss, the founder of the NGO Food Bank, is also working to make sure people don’t go hungry during the lockdown and has teamed up with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).

Since the corporation is asking the public to provide dry rations instead of cooked food, the Food Bank, too, is asking its volunteers — a small number, since prohibitory orders are in place — to donate accordingly.

“We are a small group of volunteers working together, as it isn’t advisable for a huge group to be out on the streets,” said Sneha Mohandoss, one of several women who took over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account on Women’s Day this year.

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Food Bank is also using donations to make sanitising kits with soaps, masks, gloves and alcohol-based rub.

India’s lockdown is scheduled to end on April 14, having begun at midnight on March 24.

source: http://www.indiatoday.in / India Today / Home> News> India> Health / by Shalini Lobo / Chennai – April 03rd, 2020

These women are ensuring the poor don’t go hungry during corona lockdown

April 4, 2020Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, Alladmin

For the poor and destitute, who have been affected more by the lockdown than the rest of us, Amma Unavagams are a godsent gift.

Cuddalore :

For the poor and destitute, who have been affected more by the lockdown than the rest of us, Amma Unavagams are a godsent gift. With most cheap eateries shut, these government-run canteens ensure people don’t go hungry. And behind this successful enterprise are a bunch of low-paid temp staff, who are as underprivileged as the people they serve.

When the lockdown was announced, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami promised that Amma Unavagams would continue to work through the period, serving three meals a day across the State.
Rajathi (name changed) shows up to work at 4 am, and so do her friends. By 7 am, they get the breakfast ready. By the time dinner is done and they wind up for the day, it’s 9 pm.

Walking into the outlet where Rajathi works, we found that the food prepared for lunch had gotten over. There were still people waiting to eat, and the workers had to cook a fresh batch. “This outlet serves 80 persons on average. Now, we are serving about 130,” says Rajathi.

“Even then we cannot meet the demand.” As per statistics quoted by official sources, on March 31, 377 people ate breakfast, 370 had lunch and 105 had dinner at the outlet inside the Cuddalore GH. On April 1, the numbers steeply increased to 411, 412, and 200 respectively.

The entire operations here are managed by just 7 women. “It is satisfying to serve the poor and government staff in times like these, but the administration should also consider our hardships,” says a staff member. “Since 2014, our contract payment has been standard – a paltry Rs 7,500.”

The workers are seeking extra payment for the lockdown period.

Commenting on this, Cuddalore Municipality Commissioner Ramamurthy said, “I suggested them to bring in more workers so that they can share their work load or work in shifts. But, they seem unwilling to do that. They instead sought salary revision. Since this is a State government scheme, we are only following the guidelines.”

Meanwhile, Cuddalore Collector V Anbuselvan told The New Indian Express that he would take up the concerns of workers for salary revision and regularisation of jobs with the government.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Nirupama Sampath / Express News Service / April 03rd, 2020

App to map people with fever signs

April 3, 2020Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technologies, Uncategorized, World Opinionadmin

The Greater Chennai Corporation has developed an app to geographically map people having fever, the most common symptom of COVID-19.

Chennai :

The Greater Chennai Corporation has developed an app to geographically map people having fever, the most common symptom of COVID-19. Touted as the first such technology to be used in any city in the country, the app, named as GCC Corona Monitoring, will mark people in home quarantine as well as the areas where crowd gathers against social distancing norms. The app developed by a team of volunteers from Mr Cooper will be officially launched within a week, confirmed official sources.

“Currently, most of the urban civic bodies in the country are actively monitoring only people under home quarantine. But, there could also be a cluster of people with fever symptoms in a particular area. Since most people are staying indoors, nobody knows if the person next door is having fever. This can lead to community spread,” said M P Azhagu Pandia Raja, a research fellow with Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, who conceptualised the app for Greater Chennai Corporation.

How it works?
1) Click on the option in app
2) Photo of house for location
3) As more people notify fever symptoms, officials can identify clusters and send health workers

Home-quarantined people
1) App geo-tags people
2) Will help civic body to channelise more resources
3) Over 1,000 have downloaded the app and marked themselves

Notifying about crowds
There is an option to notify the civic body about crowd in an area. Anyone can click the picture of a group and send it through the app

Where to get it?
Since Playstore is taking down apps related to COVID to stop spread of fake news, it will be released on GCC’s website

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by KV Navya / Express News Service / March 31st, 2020

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