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Delhi: Bablu Khan absconds after assaulting tenant Geeta with bricks over a petty argument, case registered, investigation underway

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi: Bablu Khan absconds after assaulting tenant Geeta with bricks over a petty argument, case registered, investigation underway

Earlier last month, the Delhi Police registered a complaint against landlord Bablu Khan for allegedly assaulting tenant Geeta with bricks in the Sultanpuri area of Delhi. Khan kept on attacking Geeta with a brick even after she faded unconscious on the street.

The entire episode of the attack got recorded on the CCTV camera installed near the house, the video of which went viral on social media. According to the reports, the tenant had indulged in an argument with Bablu Khan on Sunday. Khan in the CCTV footage could be seen coming out of the tenant’s house and hitting Geeta with a brick lying nearby on the street.

After a severe attack, the victim fainted and fell unconscious on the ground. However, Khan continued to hit her with the brick. The locals residing nearby interrupted and tried to pacify the matter. They immediately took the victim to the hospital where she was treated and discharged after a couple of days.

The Police, based on the CCTV footage have registered a complaint and are investigating the case. OpIndia meanwhile tried to contact the City Circle Officer and Station Officer Bhagyavati Pandey to know the update about the case but the duo foreshadowed that they had no information to share.

According to the reports, the incident is said to have happened on February 20 after which the accused went absconding. So far, the Police have registered a case against the accused under the relevant section of IPC. The investigation is underway.

Gujarat: Yasarkhan Pathan lures Hindu girl on pretext of sending her abroad for studies, Pathan’s family rapes, force her to wear burqa, read Quran

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Yasarkhan Pathan lures Hindu girl on pretext of sending her abroad for studies, Pathan’s family rapes, force her to wear burqa, read Quran

Despite the existence of stringent laws, purported grooming jihad cases continue to emerge from various parts of the country. In one recent case, the Nadiad police in Gujarat arrested eight out of ten accused of trapping a Hindu girl under the guise of sending her abroad and then physically and mentally exploiting her. The main culprit namely Yasarkhan Pathan and one of his accomplices are, however, still at large.

The incident came to the fore after the victim’s family members approached the Nadiad police with a complaint against Yasarkhan Pathan and nine others namely Jabirkhan Pathan (accused’s father), Faizalkhan Pathan (accused’s brother), Shehnaz Khan Pathan (accused’s mother), Suraiyakhan Pathan, Fardinkhan Saiyad, Faridabanu Malek, Nadim Malek, Jay Kadam and one more person. The victim’s family filed the complaint after she told them about the physical and mental exploitation she endured after falling into Yasarkhan Pathan’s trap.

According to reports, the accused, Yasarkhan Pathan, met the 24-year-old victim Hindu female on social media in 2020 and began dating her. After completing her studies, the 24-year-old female from the SC (Scheduled Caste) community expressed a strong desire to study nursing in a foreign country. This was used by the accused to lure the girl in and promise to send her abroad. He allegedly obtained the female’s visa to Dubai after stealing Rs 5 lakh from her over a period of time. Because he couldn’t get a visa, he sent her alone. The victim stayed for 15 days before demanding to be brought back. The accused returned her to Nadiad and began living in a rented house.

In his absence, the accused’s family members allegedly physically abused the victim.

They allegedly forced her to put on a Burqa and recite the Quran.

The girl, fed up with the atrocities, went back to her parents but they were not willing to accept her. The victim then told them about the physical and mental exploitation she endured. The parents then filed a complaint at Nadiad town police station.

According to the victim’s parents, the youth had lied to them that their daughter was in Poland. He had shown the victim’s father the ticket on his phone. When the female told her parents she was going to Poland, they made a Rs 5 lakh arrangement by mortgaging the ornaments. The female had also reportedly sold her gold chain.

After receiving the complaint, the police began investigating the case by forming various teams. Eight accused have been nabbed while the police are on the lookout for the other two.

YouTube blocks Indian news outlet WION for reporting Russian Foreign Minister statement on Ukraine-Russia war, doesn’t ban Western channels that reported the same

OpIndia Staff
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YouTube blocks Indian news outlet WION for reporting Russian Foreign Minister statement on Ukraine-Russia war, doesn’t ban Western channels that reported the same

The online video streaming platform Youtube had blocked Indian news channel WION for seven days for broadcasting a portion of the speech by the Russian foreign minister.

According to the statement issued by the WION network, Youtube blocked the WION channel on the platform for publishing a speech made by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. The platform had blocked the news outlet from uploading any new content on its channel.

In its statement, WION said that their users had written to them asking why was the media outlet not posting videos anymore.

However, as per WION, one of the videos it had published on March 10 had allegedly violated Youtube guidelines resulting in a seven-day ban. WION had broadcast two live speeches—one by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and the second by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Days later, on March 22, YouTube reportedly sent a message to WION saying they would not be allowed to post any videos. They said it violated YouTube’s community guidelines. According to WION, they made an appeal to YouTube, however, it was rejected. The media outlet said they wrote to Youtube demanding an explanation.

“Our community guidelines prohibit content denying, minimizing, or trivializing well-documented violent events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Under this policy, we have removed content, for example, denying that Russia invaded Ukraine or alleging that Ukrainian victims are crisis actors,” Youtube wrote in response.

WION has claimed that it was not the only media that telecast the Russian Foreign Minister’s speech, but several Youtube channels, including the western media outlets, had put up the video. However, Youtube decided to censor WION on the pretext that the video promoted pro-Russian content. After this, there were allegations that this was not just censorship by the big-tech, but it was also racism by YouTube given that they censored WION but not other Western channels that reported the same.

In response to the arbitrary ban on WION, the media outlet has slammed Youtube, asking who made the big tech companies like our media watchdog?

“YouTube cannot be a platform and act as an editor and a censor all at the same time. That’s called rigging the game. Silencing Russia will not end this war. Silencing us will not stop our journalism. We want people to know the truth—To hear and reject the lies, to form their own opinion and not be fed and programmed,” the WION said in response to Youtube banning their channel.

Youtube censors Russian media, neutral content on Russia-Ukraine crisis

Amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine, YouTube has arbitrarily blocked the channels connected to Russian state-backed media outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately. YouTube, in its statement, said that the company was observing the situation in Ukraine very closely.

“It’ll take time for the systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action,” the company operated by Alphabet Inc’s Google had said.

In addition to the Russian media outlets, Youtube has also censored independent media outlets under the pretext of publishing pro-Russian content.

USA President Joe Biden makes another gaffe? Tells US troops in Poland that they are ‘going to be in Ukraine’, White House clarifies

OpIndia Staff
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USA President Joe Biden makes another gaffe? Tells US troops in Poland that they are ‘going to be in Ukraine’, White House clarifies

Amidst the raging war between Russia and Ukraine, the one country that has ended up looking disoriented is the United States of America. From threatening to sanction every country that refuses to toe their line to making several gaffes, the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris duo seems to be losing their grip on reality pretty quickly. Joe Biden seems to have made another gaffe while talking to the US troops posted in Poland during his visit.

On Friday, Biden was in Poland speaking to the US troops posted there and thanking them for their service. During his speech to the troops, Biden ended up telling them that they “would be in Ukraine”. It is pertinent to note that earlier, Biden had said that the US will not be sending their troops to Ukraine to fight off the Russian invasion.

Biden made the remark while addressing members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division after lunching on pizza and posing for selfies with several paratroopers at a mess hall in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland. “You’re going to see when you’re there, and some of you have been there, you’re gonna see — you’re gonna see women, young people standing in the middle in front of a damned tank just saying, ‘I’m not leaving, I’m holding my ground,’” Biden said.

After this gaffe was caught on camera, the White House scrambled to issue a clarification to the media. According to the New York Post, a White House official clarified that President Joe Biden was not changing his stance on sending US troops to Ukraine.

According to Post, a spokesperson of Biden told the newspaper, “The president has been clear we are not sending US troops to Ukraine and there is no change in that position.”

While Biden made this gaffe, during his interaction with the media after meeting the troops in Poland, Biden also called Russia President Vladimir Putin a ‘war criminal’.

Biden said that he was “surprised” how everyone had managed to be united in their quest to arrest the massacre at the hands of Russia and that the most severe sanctions in the history of the world has been imposed against Russia.

Biden also said during his remarks that the US was working to “keep the massacre from continuing” after more than 3.7 million Ukrainians fled their country during the month-old war.

Earlier, Biden had made another gaffe where he had claimed retaliatory use of bio-weapons. In a press conference in Belgium, Biden had said that the US response to Russian troops using chemical weapons “would depend on the nature of the use” and then said the US would respond “in kind.” A White House official had then clarified that the US would not use chemical weapons under any circumstances.

Trouble mounts for Navjot Singh Sidhu after Supreme Court reserves verdict on decades-old road rage case

OpIndia Staff
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Trouble mounts for Navjot Singh Sidhu after Supreme Court reserves verdict on decades-old road rage case

As if his humiliating defeat in the Punjab Assembly elections, which resulted in him losing his Party’s state presidential post, wasn’t bad enough, the Supreme Court on Friday reserved its decision on a petition seeking a review of its order letting off Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu with a Rs 1,000 fine in a 1988 road rage case in which a man died.

The SC was hearing the petition filed by the victim’s family, demanding that the former Punjab Congress chief be charged with a more serious crime such as culpable homicide, or even murder, than just causing hurt.

As the hearing concluded before the Special Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, senior advocate AM Singhvi appearing for Sidhu questioned the “activation” of the case in the Supreme Court so close to the crucial Punjab Assembly elections.

“Why was this activated? This was suddenly listed before the elections… Don’t know why this case was activated, and now the elections are over,” Singhvi remarked.

The Bench ruled that the remark was not fair to the court. “This has nothing to do with elections,” said Justice Kaul.

According to Justice Khanwilkar, the court could infer much more about the case. “That is an incorrect argument, Mr Singhvi,” said Justice Khanwilkar, forcing Singhvi to retract his comment.

Notably, during the last hearing on March 22, Navjot Singh Sidhu had told the Supreme Court that “there is no conclusive evidence to show that a single fist blow caused the death of a 65-year-old man.” He accused the victim’s family of making a “malicious attempt” to reopen his road rage case. A month prior, Sidhu had urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the review plea in the 33-year-old road rage case, saying it’s not maintainable now. 

Sidhu, in his reply to the review petition, said “the review petition is not maintainable, and the incident happened 33 years ago.” 

Sidhu had also urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the review petition in the road rage case against him, citing his “impeccable reputation and clean antecedents” and pleading with the Court not to change his sentence in the case.

But, unfortunately for the Congress leader, the Supreme Court has reserved its decision in a review petition seeking modification of the sentence handed down to Navjot Singh Sidhu in a 33-year-old road rage case, and has given all parties a week to file their submissions before reserving its decision.

Sadly, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has recently been navigating extremely turbulent waters. On March 16, 2022, the Punjab Congress leader had tendered his resignation to Sonia Gandhi. In what can be described as one of the shortest resignation letters, Navjot Singh Sidhu wrote,  “I hereby resign as President (PPCC)”. The cricketer-turned controversial politician posted a copy of the resignation letter on Twitter saying, “As desired by the Congress President I have sent my resignation.”

The letter came a day after Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi had asked all presidents of Pradesh Congress Committees of five states where assembly elections were held recently to put down their papers.

This marked the end of the short term of Sidhu as the Punjab Congress chief, for which he was fighting a battle inside the party for several years.

Is ‘Nimbooz’ a lemonade or a fruit juice? Supreme Court to decide

OpIndia Staff
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Is ‘Nimbooz’ a lemonade or a fruit juice? Supreme Court to decide

Many unusual topics have piqued the interest of the Indian judiciary in recent times. In the latest, a Supreme Court bench decided to delve into the conflict of whether ‘Nimbooz’ is lemonade or a fruit pulp/juice-based drink. Once the Supreme Court rules on the drink’s legality, the exact amount of excise duty to be levied on it will be determined. The case has been ongoing since March 2015.

The case was brought before the bench led by Justice MR Shah and Justice BV Nagarathna by a company called Aradhana Foods, who wanted the drink to be classified as lemonade rather than the current status of fruit pulp or fruit juice-based drink. The case was essentially filed to determine the excise duty amount, which would ultimately be determined by the category of the drink.

Previously, Justice Dilip Gupta and P Venkata Subba Rao classified Nimbooz as a fruit juice-based beverage. As a result, the drink was subject to tariff Item 2022 90 20 of the Central Excise Tariff and was asked to accordingly pay the duty from February 2009 to December 2013 as lemonade.

“The product ‘Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh’ (hereinafter referred to as MMNF) manufactured by Brindavan Beverages Private Limited, and 7UP Nimbooz Masala Soda’ or 7UPNimbooz’ manufactured by PepsiCo India Holdings Private Limited are classifiable under Tariff Item 2022 90 20 of the Central Excise Tariff Schedule under the category of fruit pulp or fruit juice-based drinks,” Justice Dilip Gupta and P Venkata Subba Rao had said in their statement earlier while classifying the drink launched by the multinational company Pepsico in 2013 as a fruit juice-based beverage.

Now, overruling the previous order, the SC bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice BV Nagarathna said, “In view of the aforesaid order of the Larger Bench of the Tribunal, ‘Nimbooz’ would be classifiable under CETH 2022 10 20 of the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act,” due to which the bench decided to consider the appeal filed by Aradhana Foods.”

PepsiCo first introduced ‘Nimbooz’ in 2013. The popular drink has been described as a product made entirely of real lemon juice and containing no fizz. The description sparked a debate about its category, with some questioning Nimbooz’s status as a lemonade or fruit juice/fruit pulp-based juice.

‘Chur Chur Naan’, sandals and reasons behind extra-marital affairs…the bizarre topics that have piqued the interest of Indian judiciary

Interestingly, prior to this, the Indian judiciary was also seen focusing on such strange subjects. The Delhi High Court heard a case involving trademark infringement over the name of a Naan dish in 2019. The court then ruled that the terms ‘Chur Chur Naan’ and ‘Amritsari Chur Chur Naan’ cannot be monopolised because they are “completely generic.”

Besides that, the Delhi High Court had in the past shown a lot of interest in defining the terms “sandals” and “chappals.” Similarly, the Indian judiciary was also seen shifting its focus to determining what motivates people to engage in extramarital affairs.

A bench of the Madras High Court in March 2019 had asked a set of twenty questions to Central and State Governments, to ‘find out’ the reasons as to why people resort to illicit relationships despite being married.

In another bizarre incident, the Bombay High Court had last year lashed out at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for its faulty online approval process for goat slaughter on Eid after a person named ‘Neil Armstrong’ had obtained permission to slaughter 5 goats inside one of their own courtrooms.

‘You don’t keep hammering and chiselling after a murti is formed’: Aaditya Thackeray offers ridiculous analogy to explain Shiv Sena’s departure from Hindutva

OpIndia Staff
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‘You don’t keep hammering and chiselling after a murti is formed’: Aaditya Thackeray offers ridiculous analogy to explain Shiv Sena’s departure from Hindutva

Aaditya Thackeray, Maharashtra cabinet minister of Tourism and Environment, on Friday, offered a preposterous analogy to explain why his party, Shiv Sena, has departed from the hardline Hindutva ideology championed by his grandfather and founder of the party Balasaheb Thackeray.

Speaking at the ABP Ideas of India Summit on March 25, Thackeray equated hardline Hindutva to hammering and chiselling that an idol needs during its initial stages of creation, adding that once a murti is sculpted, one doesn’t need to hammer or chisel it.

On being asked if Shiv Sena needs to do hardline Hindutva politics that its ideological fountainhead Balasaheb Thackeray was known for, Aaditya Thackeray said, “Different times have different needs. When someone carves a murti(idol), you need hammering and chiselling to give a form that murti. What will happen if you keep hammering and chiselling the murti after it is formed? After it is sculpted, hammers and chisels are kept aside and the murti is worshipped.”

Shiv Sena barters its support for Hindutva for chief ministerial post in Maharastra

Even so, this is possibly the first time that a senior Shiv Sena leader had confessed to eschewing the cause of Hindutva. Ever since Shiv Sena broke its decades-old alliance with the BJP and joined hands with Congress and NCP, it has been accused of trading its much-revered Hindutva ideology for the position of chief ministership. Shiv Sena had severed ties with its erstwhile partner after being embroiled in a dispute over the rotational chief ministerial post following the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2019.

With the aim of installing a Shiv Sainik as the chief minister of the state, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party snapped its ties with the BJP and formed an alliance with the ideological rivals-NCP and Congress, sacrificing its support for Hindutva on the altar of chief ministerial position.

The first signs of Shiv Sena dropping the Hindutva issue came to the fore when a Common Minimum Programme(CMP) was hashed out between the allies of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. It appeared that in their thirst for power, Shiv Sena had given up on the Hindutva cause. In fact, there were speculations then that the Congress and NCP wanted an assurance from Shiv Sena that their Hindutva agenda is going to take a back-seat once the government is formed.

After forming a government with NCP and Congress, Shiv Sena had drastically toned down its demand for a Bharat Ratna for the Hindutva ideologue and Freedom Fighter Veer Savarkar, indicating that it no longer championed the cause of Hindutva with the same intensity it once did. Reservations up to 5 per cent for Muslims in Maharashtra was another such incident that demonstrated that Shiv Sena had relinquished its support for Hindutva.

Detention of ‘activist’ Khurram Parvez, who dubbed Amarnath Yatra ‘militarised pilgrimage’, extended by 50 days: Here is what you need to know

OpIndia Staff
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Detention of ‘activist’ Khurram Parvez, who dubbed Amarnath Yatra ‘militarised pilgrimage’, extended by 50 days: Here is what you need to know

On Thursday (March 24), a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court extended the detention of Kashmiri ‘activist’ Khurram Parvez and 2 others for 50 days. The trio was arrested in a terror funding case in November last year.

An application was filed before the court by the NIA, seeking an extension of the investigation period, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The central agency argued that under UAPA, the detention of an accused can be extended up to 180 days if the investigation is not completed within 90 days.

The matter was heard by Judge Praveen Singh. During the hearing, he observed that evidence could be tampered with by the accused since the investigation was still underway. Justice Singh noted, “I find that as the investigation is in progress, the chances of tampering with evidence cannot be ruled out.”

“Considering all these facts and circumstances and considering the facts stated in PP report, many of which cannot be disclosed, I find that it is a fit case where further extension for the period of investigation as demanded should be granted,” the Court stated.

It further added, “The application at hand is accordingly allowed. The detention of accused persons, namely, Muneer Ahmad Kataria, Arshid Ahmad Tonch and Khurram Parvez for the purpose of investigation, is extended for a further period of 50 days,” Court said.

Justice Praveen Singh also rejected the argument made by the lawyers for the accused that the extension of detention violated the Right to Life as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Details of the terror funding case

According to the National Investigation Agency, Islamist terror outfit Lashkar E-Taiba (LeT) has developed a widespread network of operators in India. These operators are tasked with recruiting overground workers for planning and carrying out terror activities in the country.

As per the findings of the central agency, Muneer Ahmad Kataria, Arshid Ahmad Tonch and Khurram Parvez worked as ‘LeT operators’ and actively recruited overground workers from different States in India. The trio was also in close contact with foreign handlers and had passed sensitive information about security forces and vital installations to them.

NIA informed that the three accused also identified key target locations for executing terror attacks. The central agency collected incriminating documents and pieces of evidence against them after conducting searches at several places in West Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir.

The duo, Muneer and Arshid, also received money from various individuals from several States such as Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Karnataka and West Bengal. They also maintained ‘fictitious’ bank accounts in the names of different individuals.

In September 2016, Khurram Parvez was arrested from his home in Srinagar for being a “threat to peace in the Kashmir Valley”. He was later released after he was detained for 76 days.

Khuram Parvez had called Amarnath Yatra ‘militarised pilgrimage’

Parvez is the founder of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), which has a history of propagating anti-India narratives in Jammu and Kashmir. JKCCS, in collaboration with Bangalore based Equitable Tourism Options (Equations), had published a controversial report in 2017, titled “Amarnath Yatra: A Militarized Pilgrimage”.

In the report, Parvez and other writers had tried to downplay the religious significance of ‘Amarnath Yatra’. It claimed that the Hindu pilgrimage is a ‘political yatra’ and allegedly a ‘manifestation of Hindutva nationalist movement.’

“In the initial 140 years or so of the Yatra’s existence, it seems to have stabilised and became a matter of routine, with not too much of an impact on the people of Kashmir. In 1985, with the resurgence of the Hindu right-wing and the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, several shrines attracted the attention of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and especially, one of its subsidiary organisations, the Bajrang Dal, which were used to revive a fundamentalist form of Hinduism,” the report had claimed.

Yogi Adityanath takes oath as Uttar Pradesh CM for the second time: Here is the list of ministers in the newly-formed government

OpIndia Staff
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Yogi Adityanath takes oath as Uttar Pradesh CM for the second time: Here is the list of ministers in the newly-formed government

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister-designate Yogi Adityanath took oath as the chief minister for a second term on Friday.

The oath-taking ceremony of the Yogi Adityanath government was organised at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Friday as the chief minister and his ministerial colleagues were sworn in by Governor Anandiben Patel.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leaders arrived at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Friday to witness the oath-taking ceremony of the Uttar Pradesh cabinet. PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Haryana CM ML Khattar, Himachal Pradesh CM Jairam Thakur and others were present during the ceremony.

After taking the oath, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath sought blessings from Prime Minister Modi for his second term.

Senior BJP leader Keshav Prasad Maurya yet again took oath as deputy CM of Uttar Pradesh. Brajesh Pathak, an MLA from Lucknow Cantonment and also former Minister of Legislative, Justice, Rural Engineering, took oath as another deputy CM of the state.

The other BJP leaders who took oath on Friday were Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, Jaivir Singh, Dharam Pal Singh, Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Yogendra Upadhyaya.

BJP ally Ashish Patel, the husband of Union Minister Anupriya Patel, Nishad party’s Sanjay Nishad take oath as cabinet ministers in UP. BJP leader Jitin Prasada, who quit the Congress party recently, also took an oath as minister in the Uttar Pradesh government.

Along with Yogi Adityanath, a total of 16 Cabinet ministers, 14 Ministers of State (Independent Charge), and 20 Ministers of State also took the oath on Friday. Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak took oath as the two Deputy Chief Ministers of the state.

Here is the complete list of ministers in the newly formed UP Cabinet: 

List of ministers in the newly formed Uttar Pradesh Cabinet/ Image Source: Twitter

Cabinet Ministers 

Surya Pratap Shahi, Suresh Kumar Khanna, Swatantra Dev Singh, Baby Rani Maurya, Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, Jayveer Singh, Dharampal Singh, Nand Gopal Gupta, Bhupendra  Singh Choudhary, Anil Rajbhar, Jitin Prasada, Rakesh Sachan, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Yogendra Upadhyay, Ashish Patel, Sanjay Nishad.

Minister of State (Independent Charge)

Nitin Agrawal, Kapil Dev Agrawal, Ravindra Jaiswal, Sandeep Singh, Gulab Devi, Girish Chandra Yadav, Dharmveer Prajapati, Asim Arun, JPS Rathore, Dayashankar Singh, Narendra Kashyap, Dinesh Pratap Singh, Arun Kumar Saxena, Dayashankar Mishra’ Dayalu’.

Minister of State

Mayankeshwar Singh, Dinesh Khateek, Sanjeev Gond, Baldev Singh Olakh, Ajit Pal, Jaswant Saini, Ramkesh Nishad, Manohar Lal Mannu Kori, Sanjay Gangwar, Brijesh Singh, KP Singh, Suresh Rahi, Somendra Tomar, Anoop Pradhan ‘Valmiki’, Pratibha Shukla, Rakesh Rathore Guru, Rajni Sharma, Satish Sharma, Danish Azad Ansari, Vijay Laxmi Gautam.

According to provisions of the Constitution, under the tenth schedule, there can be a total of 60 ministers in Uttar Pradesh, including the chief minister.

‘US-UK funded media and PR organisations running Ukraine’s propaganda ops, lobbyists working to send more weapons to prolong the conflict’: Report

OpIndia Staff
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‘US-UK funded media and PR organisations running Ukraine’s propaganda ops, lobbyists working to send more weapons to prolong the conflict’: Report

A detailed article titled “Ukraine’s propaganda war: International PR firms, DC lobbyists and CIA cutouts” in mintpressnews.com, written by journalist Dan Cohen has discussed how an extensive, massively funded specialised PR campaign is being run by several entities associated with the governments of US, UK and NATO bodies to portray the war in Ukraine to suit Western agendas.

In the article, Cohen starts how the ‘brilliant’ propaganda by Ukraine is being hailed by several international experts. The strategic communications aimed to depict the Ukrainian military as righteous, tiny heroes standing up to the brutal Goliath that is the Russian military, has been praised openly.

Behind this massively successful propaganda campaign are a group of international PR firms working directly with the Ukrainian foreign ministry, Cohen writes.

‘Massive PR blitz launched within hours’

As per the report, hours after the beginning of the Russian ministry operation in Ukraine, an anonymous figure, who runs a PR firm in Ukraine, had started collaborating with the Ukrainian foreign ministry. Working in collaboration with a wide network of over 150 international PR firms, a massive propaganda blitz was soon launched.

The report says the PR blitz is led by PR Network co-founder Nicky Regazzoni and Francis Ingham, a top consultant closely associated with the UK government. Ingham reportedly sits on the UK Govt Communication Service Strategy and Evaluation Council and leads the membership body of the UK government’s local govt communicators.

The report further states that with the PR firms offering entire teams to help Ukraine, the Ukrainian MFA distributed a dossier containing key messages, approved language, and other details. The dossier is run by one Yuroslav Turbil, a communications specialist who has worked with several US govt organisations.

Dossier contains already debunked lies, Nazi propaganda and racist, hateful artworks

The dossier by the Ukrainian MFA reportedly contains several constructs that have already been proven false. For example the ‘Snake Island heroes’ and the ‘ghost of Kyiv’ stories. Artworks and posters supporting Stephen Bandera, a Nazi collaborator who led OUN-B, an organisation that had murdered thousands of Jews and ethnic Poles during WWII find prominence.

The dossier celebrates Molotov cocktails as ‘Bandera smoothie’, lists Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, and Syria as “incurable diseases”, and includes derogatory, racist and violent depictions against Russians, and Putin. It also contains page links for foreign ‘volunteers’ to sign up for fighting in Ukraine.

False claims and fear-mongering

The said dossier also contains several claims that have already been debunked. ‘Key messages’ aimed primarily at spreading disinformation and panic among people in Europe. For example, it says “entire Europe was put on the brink of a nuclear disaster when Russians began shelling the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.”

This was a fake claim. Similar fake claims were made by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and his ministers, trying to spread panic over an ‘imminent nuclear disaster’. In reality, the International Atomic Energy Agency had confirmed that the building that was hit in Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant was not a part of the reactor. No radiation leak had happened and the Russians had put the NPP back on the grid soon after taking control.

Cohen further writes that the dossier also claims that Turkey had ‘blocked access to Russian warships to the black sea”, while in reality, Turkey had banned all warships, including those from NATO nations from passing the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits.

How NATO-backed entities used Facebook to block Russian media

The article further says Facebook has acted against Russian state-run media outlets, censoring several of them, upon recommendations from a self-proclaimed ‘fact-checking’ portal called StopFake. StopFake is reportedly funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, Atlantic Council, Czech and UK foreign ministries, and the International Renaissance Foundation, which is funded by billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, as per the article.

“StopFake was hired by Facebook in March 2020 to “curb the flow of Russian propaganda” but was found to be employing multiple figures closely tied to violent Neo-Nazis. The journalist who co-authored the exposé received death threats and ultimately fled Ukraine”, Cohen writes.

The article further names PR and experts like Nataliya Popovych, co-founder and board member of Ukraine Crisis Media Center, a propaganda arm funded by the US Agency for International Development, the National Endowment for Democracy, the US Embassy, and NATO, among many others including CEO of Edelman PR Richard Edelman, who is a member of the Atlantic Council’s board of directors.

CIA-linked organisations provide the content for PR, says report

The report further says that the content for the PR campaign is largely derived from specific media outlets run by billionaire foundations. At the core of it all is a project called ‘Russian Language News Exchange’, which was founded by opposition media outlets in ex-Soviet nations. Several journalists from these outlets were reportedly flown to Warsaw in 2021 to participate in a training program.

While the Russian Language News Exchange claims to be ‘independent’, Cohen writes that it is a project by Free Press Unlimited, funded by the Dutch government and European Commission. The 14 media outlets included in it act as nodes, cross-publishing and amplifying each other’s reports in various countries.

The website’s introductory video is by Maxim Eritsavi, head of the Millennium Leadership Program at NATO. On March 4, Free Press Unlimited had launched a project called Media Lifeline Ukraine to raise funds for pro-Ukraine coverage. They soon announced a joint project with the Institute of Mass Information, which is funded by USAID, and the UK government.

‘Lobbyists in USA getting US congress to approve more and more weapons for Ukraine’

Cohen writes that while PR firms are working to build public opinion around Ukraine and against Russia, some dedicated lobbyists are working in Washington DC to get the US Congress to approve more and more weapons for Ukraine.

Daniel Vajdich, one of the ‘lobbyists’ named in the article reportedly wrote Zelenskyy’s recent speech to the US Congress, citing Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I have a dream’ quote to ask for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Another lobbying firm SKDKnickerbocker’s MD Stephen Krupin had reportedly written the speech for the Ukrainian Permanent Rep. to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya’s Feb 23 speech at the UNGA. Krupin was a former speechwriter for Obama and had worked also in the Biden campaign.

The other lobbyists working for the Ukrainian government in the USA cited in the article include Andrew Mac from Asters Law, Global Strategy’s Shai Franklin, and a Maryland-based lawyer named Lukas Jan Kaczmarek.

In conclusion, the article adds that a Ukrainian defeat is imminent and can only be prevented if NATO joins the war, a possibility that has been ruled out by US president Biden. However, a number of PR groups and lobbyists are working relentlessly to promote the Ukrainian side as brave heroes who are fighting a desperate war against Russian aggressors and facilitating the flow of massive amounts of weapons into the country, thus, prolonging the conflict.

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