Prime Minister of Estonia

 

Kaia Kanepi of Estonia notched another upset in her lengthy career, claiming her 12th win over a Top 10 player with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 triumph over World No.7 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus at the Gippsland Trophy.  "When I play well and aggressive, I think it’s tough for anybody to beat me," Kanepi said in her post-match interview on court.   Sabalenka had won her previous 15 matches, which encompassed title runs at Ostrava and Linz in 2020 and Abu Dhabi to start this season.  Kanepi is World No.94 Kanepi,  and  at 35 is the oldest player in the Gippsland Trophy draw this week, ousted then-World No.1 Simona Halep at the 2018 US Open for her most recent Top 10 victory prior to today's victory.

Not a post on Kaia Kanepi or Sports but something on women in power !  Estonia, a nation of 1.3 million, is now one of the few countries where both the Head of State and the Head of Government are women. 

Estonia’s first female prime minister has promised to implement changes in both style and substance in the governance of the Baltic nation, as she takes charge after two years in which a far-right party was in the ruling coalition. Kaja Kallas, a 43-year-old lawyer and head of Estonia’s Reform party, was sworn into office on 26.1.2021.  The previous coalition collapsed after a corruption scandal involving the Centre party of Jüri Ratas, who resigned as prime minister. He caused controversy after elections two years ago by going into coalition with the far-right EKRE, whose members opposed all immigration, were often Eurosceptic and on occasion praised Nazi economic policy !!

The Aesti  were an ancient people first described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his treatise Germania (circa 98 AD).   The history of Estonia forms a part of the history of Europe. Humans settled in the region of Estonia near the end of the last glacial era, beginning from around 8500 BC. Before German crusaders invaded in the early 13th century,  perhaps their lives were much more peaceful.  Starting with the Northern Crusades in the Middle Ages, Estonia became a battleground for centuries where Denmark, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Poland fought their many wars  over controlling this geography.

After Danes and Germans conquered the area in 1227, Estonia was ruled initially by Denmark in the north, by the Livonian Order, an autonomous part of the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights and by Baltic German ecclesiastical states of the Holy Roman Empire.  Throughout this period the Baltic-German nobility enjoyed autonomy, and German served as the language of administration and education. 

Estonia  is a country on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia.   Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and Tartu are the largest cities and urban areas in the country. Other notable cities include Narva, Pärnu, Kohtla-Järve and Viljandi. The official language of the country, Estonian, is the second-most-spoken Finnic language.

                      After centuries of successive rule by Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles and Russians, a distinct Estonian national identity began to emerge in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This culminated in independence from Russia in 1920 after a brief War of Independence at the end of World War I, where Estonians, led by General Laidoner, had to fight for their newborn freedom. Initially democratic prior to the Great Depression, Estonia experienced authoritarian rule from 1934 during the Era of Silence. During World War II (1939–1945), Estonia was repeatedly contested and occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union, ultimately being incorporated into the latter as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. After the loss of its de facto independence for the Soviet Union, Estonia's de jure state continuity was preserved by diplomatic representatives and the government-in-exile. In 1987 the peaceful Singing Revolution began against Soviet rule, resulting in the restoration of de facto independence on 20 August 1991. 

The Prime Minister of Estonia   is the head of government of the Republic of Estonia. The prime minister is nominated by the President after appropriate consultations with the parliamentary factions and confirmed by the Parliament. In case of disagreement, the Parliament can reject the President's nomination and choose their own candidate. 

                                The current Prime Minister is Kaja Kallas of the Reform Party. She took the office on 26 January 2021. Unlike counterparts in other parliamentary republics, the Prime Minister is both de jure and de facto chief executive. This is because the Constitution explicitly vests executive power in the Government, of which the Prime Minister is the leader.  

Kaja Kallas (18 June 1977) has become the first woman to serve in the position. She has been the leader of the Reform Party since 2018, and a member of Riigikogu since 2019, and previously from 2011 to 2014. Kallas served as member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2018, representing the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Before her election to parliament, she was an attorney specializing in European and Estonian competition law. Jüri Ratas   was the 18th Prime Minister of Estonia from 2016 to 2021.  Jüri Ratas' second cabinet was active from April 2019 to January 2021. It has been notable for its share of public scandals, resignations of ministers and the number of public apologies from Ratas. Ratas resigned as prime minister on 13 January 2021 after the Prosecutor General suspected the Centre Party of "criminal involvement" in an influence peddling scandal involving businessman Hillar Teder.  

Interesting ! 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

2.2.2021.

the invasive hippos of Escobar terrorise the Nation !!

After that famous day at Gabba, I have now read at least 100+ forwards on a substituted team India won the Test with ease and created history.  Am no big follower of Football, yet the name Escobar did ring a bill – for I saw that 1994 FIFA World Cup match !!  the Colombian footballer played as a defender for Atlético Nacional, BSC Young Boys, and the Colombia national team.  Not sure how popular this name (Escobar) is in Colombia, yet this post on his namesake, a notorious don !

I feel and I think most feel happy and gleeful in seeing animals – visiting Zoo, though there could be arguments galore that they are moved out of their natural habitat and held captive by mankind.  There are many Zoological parks that provide good healthy natural environment and large space for the animals, though some of them could be in a foreign land !!  While the purpose of Zoo is different, the animals do face different types of trouble from the visitors !  

A few years ago, in  El Salvador, occurred the gruesome killing of Gustavito, an adored hippo, attacked and badly mauled with metal bars and knives that  shocked even the Nation, where killings are so high.  Close on its heels, came the news of a  group of visitors at a Tunisia zoo stoning a crocodile to death.  People at times turn crude, savage and do gruesome acts !

Hippopotamuses love water, which is why the Greeks named them the "river horse." Hippos spend up to 16 hours a day submerged in rivers and lakes to keep their massive bodies cool under the hot African sun. Hippos are graceful in water, good swimmers, and can hold their breath underwater for up to five minutes. One detail that cannot be misunderstood is that hippos are huge – mature males weigh up to a whopping 3,200kg. They also have a well-documented reputation for aggression and engage in brutal battles over mates, slashing and biting with their incisor teeth, which can measure up to 40cm (1.3ft) in length.

Scientists have got it wrong about hippopotamuses a lot over the years. Their name in ancient Greek translates to “river horse” yet modern science linked the animals to pigs. The most recent studies have found they are more closely related to whales.They also don’t sweat blood as once thought, but excrete a red fluid that contains antibacterial sunscreen. Plus the stubby-legged rotund creatures have surprised biologists with running speeds of up to 19mph. While hippos can be very aggressive towards humans and are considered one of Africa's most deadly animals, they are herbivores and the battle with the crocodile was likely territorial. The pair share the same habitat and clashes are not uncommon.

 

Slightly more than a dozen years ago, in 2007, 14 years after Escobar's death, people in rural Antioquia, 200 miles north-west of Bogota, began phoning the Ministry of Environment to report sightings of a peculiar animal. It was stated that ‘they found a creature in a river that they had never seen before, with small ears and a really big mouth." –startling for the villagers for it was not native to that place…. Situated halfway between the city of Medellin and Bogota, the Colombian capital, Hacienda Napoles was the vast ranch owned by the drugs baron Pablo Escobar. The estate covered about 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi) of land.  In the early 1980s, after Escobar had become rich but before he had started the campaign of assassinations and bombings that was to almost tear Colombia apart, he built himself a zoo. He smuggled in elephants, giraffes and other exotic animals, among them four  of these  - three females and one male. And with a typically grand gesture, he allowed the public to wander freely around the zoo. Buses filled with schoolchildren passed under a replica of the propeller plane that carried Escobar's first US-bound shipments of cocaine.

The animals now vast in number and fully grown are dangerous. Despite their ungainly appearance, they are very agile in the water and can charge on land at up to 18 mph (29km/h). It's often said that they are responsible for more human deaths in Africa than any other animal - though it may be more accurate to say they cause more deaths than any other wild mammal. Attacks happen when humans encroach their territory – they are not crocodiles – not instinctive killers, nor man-eaters. Yet  living near the animals is inevitably a risk, - one that local people have to decide whether they are willing to take.

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gavíria (1949 –  1993) was a notorious and wealthy Colombian drug lord and an exclusive cocaine trafficker. He is regarded as the wealthiest criminals. In 1975, Escobar started developing his cocaine operation. He even flew a plane himself several times, mainly between Colombia and Panama, to smuggle a load into the United States.  Reports state that he later bought fifteen new and bigger airplanes (including a Learjet) and six helicopters, he decommissioned the plane and hung it above the gate to his ranch at Hacienda Napoles. The war against Escobar ended on Dec 2, 1993, when Colombian National Police assisted by Colombian electronic surveillance team,  using radio-triangulation technology, found him hiding in a middle-class barrio in Medellín and  shot him dead.    

Following Escobar's death in 1993, his family went into a legal struggle with the Colombian government over the property. The government prevailed and the neglected property was later  managed by the Municipality of Puerto Triunfo. The cost of maintenance for the zoo and the animals was too expensive for the government, so it was decided that most of the animals would be donated to Colombian and international zoos.  Escobar's hippopotamuses became  feral, living in at least four lakes in the area and spread into neighbouring rivers.   Now comes the news that Pablo Escobar's 'Cocaine hippos' have overrun Colombia's waterways with their prodigious breeding after four escaped from drug kingpin's compound in the 1990s

Now  decades after his death and escapade by hippos, they became 100+-strong herd that rampage his former village. Their toxic urine and faeces are killing wildlife, say eco-experts. They are now the largest invasive species in the world with largest, wild hippo population outside of Africa.  It is apprehended that by 2040 numbers could rise to 1,500, making their environmental impact irreversible and their numbers impossible to control !!  their erstwhile owner, the King of Cocaine was once estimated to be the seventh richest person in the world, worth around $59billion in today's money.  The  Medellin Cartel once controlled over 80% of the cocaine shipped to the US.   

Now, dozens of the descendants of the original three females and one male roam the wetlands north of Bogota, causing untold damage to local wildlife with their 'toxic' urine and feces.  By 2040 the invasive population could swell to almost 1,500 individuals, making their environmental impact irreversible and their numbers impossible to control, a new study has claimed.  David Echeverri Lopez, a researcher at the regional environmental agency Cornare who led the 2013 sterilization effort, told The Washington Post that Colombia is a 'hippos paradise' with the animals spending hours grazing and basking in the Magdalena River, with no large predators to keep numbers down.  He said: 'I’ve worked for many years to understand the problem and find solutions, but the problem keeps happening over and over again. The only thing that changes is the number of hippos.'  

Attempts to kill the animals have been met with resistance by locals who see the hippos as unofficial mascots.  Gift shops in nearby Puerto Triunfo sell hippo keychains and T-shirts. At Hacienda Napoles, the zoo opened on Escobar's former pleasure palace and private zoo, a few of the recaptured animals attract tourists, whilst their wild cousins occasionally plod into town. In 2013 a judge issued a ruling making it illegal to kill hippos in the country, sparking the start of the sterilization campaign. But Echeverri Lopez said that sterilization of the 4,000lb animals is difficult to do and going too slowly, with the team managing only one a year, whilst the population grows by about 10%.     

The  animals have turned themselves into an emblem for a whole community of people. It’s not possible to just take them away.'     A renowned  Colombian ecologist working at the University of Quintana Roo in Mexico, said that the hippos threatened native species including the giant, guinea-pig-like capybaras that feed on the grasses and fruits now consumed by hippos, as well as endangered Antillean manatees.  In September 2020, the nephew of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar said that he found a plastic bag with $18million of cash hidden in the wall at one of his uncle's houses.  Escobar reportedly wrote off 10 per cent of his profits per year, $250 million per month, because it was being damaged by water, eaten by rats, or otherwise destroyed.  He owned luxury cars, planes and even two submarines at one point.   

Now moving to the other Escobar - Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga  played for Atlético and the Colombia national team. Sadly, Andres Escobar was killed in the aftermath of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, reportedly as retaliation for having scored an own goal which contributed to the team's elimination from the tournament.  At that time, Pele’s suggestion that Colombia would at least make the semi-finals of USA 94 wasn’t a crazy shot in the dark. Those would come later, six of them; bullets fired in a Medellín nightclub car park during a row that occurred in the early hours of 2 July, 1994. They would ring around the world, rendering millions incredulous that the captain of Colombia had been murdered, shot six times in the back, apparently as revenge for his contribution to his own team’s elimination from a World Cup that was not yet over. It seemed that for no crime more heinous than accidentally scoring an own goal during a football match, Andrés Escobar had been gunned down in cold blood.] 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
21.1.2o21. 

pics not mine .. taken from twitter and reposted. 

Thirunelveli halwada ! ... connection with Indian Budget !!

I rise to present the first Budget of a free and independent India. This occasion may well be considered an historic one and I count it a rare privilege that it has fallen to me to be the Finance Minister to present this Budget. While I am conscious of the honour that is implied in this position, I am even more conscious of the responsibilities that face the custodian of the finances of India at this critical juncture.

 

Tirunelveli locally Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in  Tamil Nadu.   Tirunelveli is located 700 km (430 mi) southwest of the state capital Chennai, 58 km (36 mi) away from Thoothukudi and 73 km (45 mi) from Kanyakumari. The downtown is located on the west bank of the Thamirabarani River; its twin Palayamkottai is on the east bank.  .. .. Thirunelveli, famous for temples is also known for halwa, a sweet made of wheat, sugar and ghee.  Intrestingly, Tirunelveli Halwa does not belong to Tamil Nadu but  originated during the mid-1800s  - having been first prepared by Rajput cooks who were hired by the zamindar of Chokkampatti (a village near Tirunelveli).   .. .. a shop famously ‘Iruttukadai halwa stores’ was doing roaring business and was in news as its owner tragically committed suicide a few months ago, when Corona was spreading wildly. 

Till a few years ago, people were agog with the budget announcements – there would be crowds at petrol bunks as people would fill the tanks of their two wheelers…… funny, some of them had capacity less than 5 litres … !!  

For those of us, not so conversant with Finance, the Union Budget of India is the annual Financial Statement of the Nation as represented in Article 112 of the Constitution of India; presented each year on the last working day of February by the Finance Minister of India in Parliament. The budget has to be passed by the House before it can come into effect on April 1, the start of India's financial year. Sure there cannot be answers to India’s various problems in one budget exercise but the annual budget is one where Govts try to balance between aiming at growth and maintaining the present costs.  Until the year 2000, the Union Budget was announced at 5 pm on the last working day of the month of February. This practice was inherited from the Colonial Era, when the British Parliament would pass the budget in the noon followed by India in the evening of the day. Mr.Yashwant Sinha, the then Finance Minister of India in the NDA government (led by BJP) of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, changed the ritual by announcing the 2001 Union Budget at 11 am. 

Unlike the past, the voluminous budget documents will not be printed this year following the COVID-19 protocol and will instead be distributed electronically to the Members of Parliament.   This will be the first time since the presentation of independent India's first budget on November 26, 1947, that the documents containing income and expenditure statement of the Union government along with the finance bill, detailing new taxes and other measures for the new financial year, will not be physically printed. "In an unprecedented initiative, Union Budget 2021-22 will be delivered in paperless form for the first time. The Union Budget 2021-22 is to be presented on February 1, 2021," the finance ministry said in a statement. On the occasion, the finance minister also launched the 'Union Budget Mobile App' for hassle-free access of Budget documents by Members of Parliament and the general public using the simplest form of digital convenience. The mobile App facilitates complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants, Finance Bill etc. as prescribed by the Constitution, it said.

.. .. Budget & Halwa – there is connection – the customary halwa ceremony, which marks the process of printing documents for the Budget, was hosted by the Finance Ministry on January 20, ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1. Finance Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman,  Mr Anurag Thakur, Minister of State and many other officials of the ministry were present  at the ceremony which will be held at North Block.  It is stated that every  year, the Government follows an annual tradition of hosting a halwa ceremony, a few days before the Budget is presented. The making of halwa marks the official kick-off of events. The Indian dessert is prepared in a large vessel and served to the finance ministry staff as part of the ritual.

After the ceremony, the employees who are a part of the budget-making process move to the basement of North Block for around 10 days. They will only emerge once the Finance Minister presents the Budget in Parliament. This is done to prevent any leaks before the annual Budget is presented.

In presenting the Budget 2013-14 – the one thing that made it interesting for me was the  concluding quote from Thiruvalluvar :

கலங்காது கண்ட வினைக்கண் துளங்காது

தூக்கங் கடிந்து செயல்.

~ meaning -  "What clearly eye discerns as right, with steadfast will; and mind unslumbering, that should man fulfil".

The para at the start were the opening lines of the Budget speech of 1947.  On Nov. 26th 1947, RK Shanmukham Chetty, India’s first Finance Minister presented the first budget.  It covered only 7 and half months from Aug 15th the day of Independence to March 31, 1948.  Though New Delhi could have authorized the expenditure for the part of the financial year, a budget was indeed presented in the Parliament and approved.   Understand that the Budget Estimate for total revenues was Rs 171.15 crore; of which notably, Rs 15.9 crore was to come from the Posts and Telegraphs Department. It was to be a deficit budget of 26.24 crores.  The first budget of the Republic of India was presented by John Mathai on Feb 28, 1950.   This budget laid down the roadmap for the creation of the Planning Commission. The Commission was entrusted with the responsibility of formulating phased plans for effective and balanced use of resources.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
24.1.2021 

interesting impersonation good to see in movies but not in real life or Sports !!

A couple of decades ago, have seen people impersonate and write examinations [especially Arrears] for their friends .. .. ..  a classmate of mine once sold his Typewriting (lower) Original for a pittance to another friend [having the same name] – that person somehow could not pass TW and after a few failed attempts, bought the Certificate of his namesake, submitted the original and got a job – the lender had by that time passed Higher in style and did not require the lower certificate. !!

 

 

Remember the blockbuster ‘ 3 Idiots / Nanban / Snehithudu’, a  film that  distinctively  featured inventions ingenuously made.   When the two friends try finding out the other colleague who was so innovative in their college, comes the turn that a rich Estate owner had in fact utilized their servant to study in guise and his son taking the credits.  Impersonations are oft repeated in tinseldom.  Aiyampettai Arivudainambi Kaliyaperumal Chandran does exhibit his comic skills in that interview before Sriramachandramurthy in his import-export company, and then fools him by impersonating that he has a twin brother.  That was hilarious ‘Thillu Mullu’ – the Rajnikant starrer, directed by K Balachander. 

Another Rajnikant blockbuster ‘Billa’ – storyline featuring a mafia don, who gets fatally wounded in an encounter too had impersonation.  The police plant a decoy, a villager impersonating the don and providing vital clues ~ [though the film ran for many days, I always feel, that naming of the movie  after a cruel criminal was in bad taste].   Well this is no cinema review – but an interesting story of impersonation in Sports. 

Sometime back, Indian Express, Chennai edition reported that – after  20 years of legal battle to claim her right to employment which was fraudulently taken away by an impersonator, R Parvathi finally got justice. Parvathi, who had registered with the employment exchange at Thudiyalur in Coimbatore, was called for an interview for a vacancy of Class IV employee in Pollachi. After attending the interview, Pravathi thought she had not been selected and went to the exchange to renew her employment card. However, officials said that she had already been appointed in the Pollachi Commissioner’s office. Smelling something fishy, she found out that Pollachi councillor’s wife has impersonated her and got the job which was due to her. Parvathi began knocking at the doors of justice in 1996 by filing original application. It was only in 2009 that Parvathi’s application was taken as writ petition and the Madras High Court ruled in her favour after finding that the impersonator, who goes by the name Parvathi, changed her father’s name to get the job which was due to the other Parvathi.   It took 23 years and two judicial orders for state agencies and the Pollachi municipality to end the fraudulent career of a woman who brazenly impersonated another with the same name, bagged her job in the municipality , changed her father's name, date of birth and educational qualifications. 

Section 416 in The Indian Penal Code :   Cheating by personation.—A person is said to “cheat by personation” if he cheats by pretending to be some other person, or by knowingly substituting one person for another, or representing that he or any other person is a person other than he or such other person really is.   According to Sec 419 : Punishment for cheating by personation.—Whoever cheats by personation shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

 

Fond of Jallikattu – read this now :  When Kannan of of Virattipattu drove away the car sponsored by TN CM Mr Edappadi Palaniswami after winning the Alanganallur jallikattu on January 16, few would have imagined that he had taken everyone for a ride too. A week after the world-famous event was held, an inquiry has brought to light that he had not tamed all the 12 bulls which fetched him glory, but only five. He had cleverly taken the place of M Harikrishnan of Achampattu who went out after taming seven following an injury. 

According to the records, Kannan came into the arena at 8.30am in the first round and tamed 12 bulls following all rules. He wore a T-shirt with number 33 printed on it. However, tahsildars Sivakumar and Palanikumar who viewed the videos of the games at the Vadipatti taluk office along with revenue officials found that this was not true. They saw Harikrishnan leave the arena after taming seven bulls after suffering an injury and Kannan entering wearing the same shirt.  Kannan is believed to have swapped his T-shirt with Harikrishnan’s and bagged the honours through impersonation. Adjudged the best tamer, he was given the car announced as the prize on behalf of the Chief minister. In the days following the event, word has been going around that Kannan was not the true winner and that he had impersonated another tamer. Later, it was revealed that Kannan’s name was not even there in the list of tamers who had registered with the revenue department. 

Subsequently, Karuppanan of Pothumbu, who won the second prize, lodged a complaint in this regard with the collector. When contacted, district collector T Anbazhagan said prizes were under the control of the organising committee and not the district administration. Their role was to ensure the arrangements for jallikattu were made according to government norms. He had asked the RDO to conduct an inquiry and take appropriate action following the complaint. The tahsildars have submitted their report to the collector for further action.

 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
24.1.2021.