Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief and former Union minister Chaudhary Ajit Singh died due to Covid-19 on Thursday.
The 82-year-old RLD chief Ajit Singh was admitted to a private hospital in Gurugram after his health deteriorated due to a lung infection on Tuesday. In April, Ajit Singh had tested positive for the Covid-19. His condition worsened and passed away on Thursday.
Jayant Chaudhary, the son of Ajit Singh took to Twitter to announce the death of his father. “Chaudhary Ajit Singh ji was diagnosed as Covid positive on April 20. He battled his condition till the very end and breathed his last today morning,” Jayant Chaudhary said.
The seven-time MP from Baghpat – Ajit Singh was the son of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. Prior to his political career, Ajit Singh, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, had worked in the United States before returning to the country to start his political career.
Ajit Singh was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 1986. Later, he represented the Baghpat constituency seven times in Lok Sabha. His party RLD has a strong influence in Jat-dominated western Uttar Pradesh.
Ajit Singh also worked as the Union Minister of Industry in the VP Singh government. Later, he joined the PV Narasimha Rao government but resigned from the Congress in 1996. Ajit Singh then formed RLD and joined the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as Agriculture Minister in 2001. He was part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government till May 2003. He also served as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation.
Recently, Ajit Singh came into prominence after he had extended his support to the so-called farmer protests in the country. His party RLD had supported violent agitators who had not only blocked national highways to Delhi but also stormed into the national capital to unleash riots on Republic Day.
It is now quite an established fact that Aam Aadmi Party has a complicated relationship with facts and logic. The agents of chaos in charge of Delhi would blame everyone but themselves for any crisis that befalls them. Except, this time, people are dying because of the sheer incompetence and zero coordination efforts from the Arvind Kejriwal government.
The oxygen crisis in Delhi reached such level that the Delhi High Court as well as Supreme Court have been regularly holding hearings to try and get matter sorted. While the oxygen crisis has hit almost every state of India, Delhi in particular seems to worst hit.
Amid all this, Delhi Government’s Raghav Chadha, a Chartered Accountant by education, took to social media to give logic defying calculations with respect to cryogenic tanks.
देश में 1631 Cryogenic Tankers है जो 8500 MT OXYGEN Carry करते है जबकि इनकी क्षमता 23000 MT OXYGEN Carry करने की है।
जिस तरह से केंद्र सरकार Oxygen का आवंटन कर रही है, उसी तरह से इन Cryogenic Tankers का भी आवंटन होना चाहिए! pic.twitter.com/x0vBERwrX6
Filled with background music as if Chadha is giving some sensational input, Aam Aadmi Party put up a video which claimed that there are 1631 cryogenic tanks in India. He said that total production of liquid medical oxygen is 8,500 MT. He then claims that these tankers have actual capacity to carry 23,000 MT oxygen but are used only for ferrying 8,500 MT liquid medical oxygen.
“In our country, there is no scarcity of cryogenic tanks,” he claims. Chadha claims that other state governments have full control over these these tanks. “These cryogenic tanks should be national property and the way central government is distributing oxygen, it should distribute the tanks,” he said in the video. He eventually concluded the video with the demands of cryogenic tanks.
As AAP’s demands went from ‘oxygen’ to ‘cryogenic tanks’, netizens took it upon themselves to give the basic calculations to Chadha.
Looks like maths for this tweet advised by Priyanka C
How hard to understand this that about half of the total tankers return back empty for refill. And many tankers take more than 24 hrs due to long distance
जैसे दस टैंकर है तो 5 खाली होकर वापस रिफिल के लिए जाएंगे और 5 डिलीवरी
As this Twitter user pointed out, many of these tankers ply empty to the source of oxygen to be refilled before it can ply again with oxygen to required destination. Moreover, many of these tankers take over 24 hours for one-way journey because of long distances they have to cover. It is not that the tankers can teleport in an instant.
Half the tankers used to carry oxygen & when after delivering they return remaining half sent, if all used at once there will be huge time gap between deliveries.
AAPiyas should stick to advertisement than trying to give gyaan on other things which they don’t understand at all
Some even pointed out that if all tankers were to ply at same time with oxygen, with none returning to source for refilling, there will be a huge lag in deliveries.
इसके घर में 1 ही LPG सिलिंडर है। जब वो खत्म हो जाता है तब ये सिलिंडर बदलने गोदाम जाता है। लेकिन खाना फिर भी पकता रहता है? आधे क्रायोजेनिक टैंकर जब डिलीवरी दे रहे होते हैं तब आधे टैंकर डिलीवरी देकर रिफिलिंग कर रहे होते हैं डिलीवरी के लिए। इस प्रकार चलती है सप्लाई। https://t.co/KsnOZi8ush
A Twitter user also explained in simpler terms on how the calculation Chadha provided was devoid of any logic. “If you have 1 LPG cylinder in your house and when gas is over, it goes to the godown for refilling. But does the food continue to cook without gas?” he questioned.
Over past few days, as Delhi choked, the oxygen crisis in the national capital has seem to have spiralled out of control.
Firstly, after Centre allotted oxygen to Delhi, Kejriwal government had failed to arrange for the specialised cryogenic tanks required to transport the same to hospitals.
April 24 – Delhi not collaborating for oxygen
Delhi High Court pulled up Delhi government and told them they could not have everything served to them on platter and asked them to do everything they could.
Soon, Kejriwal took to Twitter to announce that he will write to all Chief Ministers of states to request them for cryogenic tanks.
I am writing to all CMs requesting them to provide oxygen to Delhi, if they have spare. Though Central govt. is also helping us, the severity of corona is such that all available resources are proving inadequate.
He put up the message on Twitter on what he would do before he actually does it, because whether he works or not, it must appear that he is working.
Next day, newspapers were filled with Arvind Kejriwal’s ads where he had appealed to individuals if they have spare cryogenic tanks they could give to Delhi government.
Cryogenic tanks ad
These ads appeared in all regional newspapers in regional languages. It must be noted that cryogenic tanks are superspecial tanks and as Raghav Chadha himself mentioned, only 1631 tanks all over India. So clearly, an individual like you and I is very very unlikely to have a cryogenic tank just parked in their backyard as a spare to offer it to Kejriwal.
Perhaps Kejriwal could have written to chief ministers of states, who are likely to have details of such super special vehicles in their states? Considering just 1631 of them are here? But no, Kejriwal would put out an advertisement, giving money to newspapers, to let general public at large know that he does not have tankers and if anyone has, they could give. I’m sure he knows better. But how else will he give advertisements in papers without coming under scanner for giving out advertisements amid COVID crisis?
Had it not been this tragic and had people not been dying because of lack of oxygen, this farce by Kejriwal would have been called out in harshest terms. Here it just appears that ‘at least he is trying’ and basic decency stops one from calling it out.
Further, data has revealed that while Delhi govt continues to demand more oxygen, its demand is four times the actual consumption of Mumbai, which has similar number of active COVID cases.
According to AAP leaders, Delhi has been demanding 700 MT of oxygen per day during the last fortnight of April, and its demand went up to 976 MT per day from 29th April. On that day, Delhi Deputy CM wrote to the union govt demanding 976 MT oxygen per day. Delhi had active case load of 97,977 on that day. On the same day, Mumbai consumed 225 MT oxygen for 61,433 active cases. If we go by Mumbai’s average O₂ for that day, Delhi should need around 360 MT. According to the Delhi govt, they received 400 MT of oxygen on that day, which means they received more oxygen than the consumption by Mumbai.
Amidst all this, one feels that if Aam Aadmi Party leaders focus on resolving the oxygen crisis instead of overusing their tiny brains for absurd calculations, they could perhaps save a few lives.
On May 4, The Carter Center, a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, posted a photograph with the US President, his wife and the Carters. In the picture, First Lady Jill Biden was kneeling next to 96-years-old Jimmy Carter while President Joe Biden was kneeling next to 93-years-old Rosalynn Carter. But in the images, Joe Biden and Jill Biden seemed disproportionately bigger in size compared to Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter.
As soon as the photograph made it to social media, the netizens were baffled to see the difference between the body size of Bidens and Carters.
We’re pleased to share this wonderful photo from the @POTUS and @FLOTUS visit to see the Carters in Plains, Ga.!
— ? Deonardo La Vinci ? (@DeonardoLeVinci) May 4, 2021
This shows you how distorted this picture is from the lens and the flash. This was a quick and dirty fix in Photoshop, but it’s closer to actual sizes, look at the white area on the edges, you can see how it was distorted. pic.twitter.com/BGfxC84O1R
— Dr. Linda #CharacterWins #NationalPopularVote laws (@gossamerLL) May 4, 2021
Why do The Carter’s look like miniatures?! They are amazing wonderful people ??The proportions here are off somehow. Who else agrees?!
Having the privilege of being a professional photographer and a Multimedia graduate, I would like to take the liberty to explain the science behind the distorted photograph in the simplest possible way.
Is poor editing behind the distortion in the photograph?
No, in fact, the photograph has not been edited at all in terms of dimensions or angles. The person who uploaded the picture on social media either did no editing and uploaded it SOTC (Straight Out Of the Camera) or did minor colour corrections before uploading it. No major retouching has been done on the photograph.
So what is the reason behind the distortion?
As simple as it can get, the reason is the lens. The person who clicked the photograph used a wide-angle lens. The room in which they are sitting seems to be a smaller room. In such cases, photographers often use a wide-angle lens to fit everyone in a single frame as they have to click photograph from a close distance. Though wide-angle lens help achieve the objective, after a certain point (for technically savvy people in terms of photography, under 18mm focal length), the outer edges begin to warp or bend. Also, a strong flash seems to have added to the optical illusion. Flash, when bounced at the subjects often kill the natural shadow in a small confined room that adds up to the illusion.
Here are a few examples that you can easily find on the internet.
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
Image by photochur from Pixabay
Image by Hjörleifur Sveinbjörnsson from Pixabay
Image by jplenio from Pixabay
Is there any way to fix it?
If you are not familiar with photo editing software, you better find a place where you can click the photograph without switching to a wide-angle lens. For technically savvy people, the focal length of 50mm on a full-frame camera and 35mm on a crop frame camera would be ideal for portraits and family photographs. While using flash in confined spaces, it is better to bounce it at the roof rather than bouncing it towards the subject.
For those who are a little bit familiar with photo editing software like Photoshop, such photographs can be fixed by spending little time on the wrapped edged. In Adobe Photoshop, there is a tool called Adaptive Wide Angle Lens that can fix it quickly. Alternatively, one can use online tools like photo-kako to fix the image online.
According to CNN-News18 quoting Harayana Police sources, a young girl who died of Covid-19 in Delhi was allegedly molested at the Farmer’s protest on the Tikri border and she had filed a molestation complaint. The girl was taken to Civil Hospital in Bahadurgarh after she exhibited COVID-19 symptoms on April 26, 2021.
Row over a girl allegedly molested at Tikri border, Delhi.
In an interview with CNN-News18, Farmer leader Mandeep Nathwani made it clear that he is aware of the situation, but stated that the protest leaders are still investigating the issue on their end. Nathwani said in the interview that according to the information given to him, the girl in question had died from COVID-19.
“We are constantly in touch with the big leaders of Sanyukta Morcha, and we are maintaining a constant vigil trying to find out what actually happened to the girl”, said Nathwani in the interview. He said that it is not clear whether the girl was actually raped or not, and it needed to be ascertained.
Speculation has arisen from this interview that this anonymous girl in question might in fact be the 25-year old woman from West Bengal, who had died of complications from COVID-19 at the Tikri border just a few days ago. This speculation is corroborated by the fact that the girl in question and the woman from Bengal were both admitted to a hospital in Bahadurgarh for COVID-related symptoms on April 26.
However, CNN-News18’s reporting mentions the girl being admitted to Civil Hospital, Bahadurgarh whereas reports regarding the woman from Bengal states that she was admitted in a private hospital. Therefore, this speculation is merely just speculation at the time. According to the CNN-News18 report, the Haryana Police is currently ascertaining more facts and is currently investigating.
Facebook’s Oversight Board on Wednesday decided to continue the permanent ban on Facebook and Instagram accounts of Donald Trump. The Oversight Board, which was appointed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has often been described as “Facebook’s Supreme Court” and its role is to rule on difficult or controversial moderation decisions made by Facebook. Facebook claims that the Oversight Board is an independent entity, despite all of its wages and running costs being covered by Facebook.
However, even though the Oversight Board has upheld the ban on Donald Trump, it criticized the permanent nature of the ban. The board said that a permanent ban is not consistent with Facebook’s normal penalties. It also ordered Facebook to review its decision and “justify a proportionate response” that is applicable to every Facebook user including ordinary users.
The Oversight Board said that the initial decision to permanently ban Trump was “indeterminate and standardless”, and that the correct response should be “consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform”. Facebook has been given the deadline of six months to respond, in what is seemingly another delaying tactic ensuring the permanent ban of Donald Trump will last for six more months.
The Oversight Board has taken issue with the “indefinite” nature of Trump’s Facebook ban, whilst ruling that Trump did violate Facebook’s community standards in the wake of the January 6th Capitol riot. Facebook, a multi-billion dollar Big Tech social media monopoly is now ruling on as to whether the sitting President of the United States at the time violated their community standards. This dynamic clearly demonstrates the rising power of Big Tech companies which can even rival and surpass governments.
“It is not permissible for Facebook to keep a user off the platform for an undefined period, with no criteria for when or whether the account will be restored,” the Oversight Board said in a statement.
The Board argued that Facebook had essentially issued “a vague, standardless penalty and then [referred] this case to the Board to resolve”. It said doing so meant “Facebook seeks to avoid its responsibilities” and sent the decision back to Facebook.
Donald Trump, the then sitting President of the United States was unceremoniously banned by Facebook and Twitter in the aftermath of the January 6th Capitol Riot. It is of note that the only death of the January 6th riot which was ruled a homicide was the murder of Trump supporter U.S. Army veteran Ashli Babbit. All other deaths related to the January 6th riot have been attributed to illness and other factors.
A day after the Congress party’s link emerged in the massive BBMP-bed scam with the arrest of a Congress supporter, the Congress party hit a new low by sharing fake images to target the BJP leader and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya.
On Tuesday, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and BJP MLAs Satish Reddy, Ravi Subramanya, and Uday Garudachar had exposed the illegal bed-allotment nexus between civic officials and private agents. The BJP leaders had alleged that some officials in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had joined hands with the touts to book hospital beds in the name of people under home isolation while selling these beds to other patients in need at an exorbitant price.
Following the massive allegations, the Bengaluru police had arrested one Congress party supporter named Nethravathy and her nephew for their involvement in the illegal allotment of beds to Covid-19 patients in Bengaluru in exchange for money. The police had suspected that the accused had contacts with the BBMP war room staff.
The accused – Nethravathy and Rohith Kumar, hailing from Begur, had alleged nexus with civic officials and certain private hospitals, were caught after the police conducted a sting operation. A police team, posing as relatives of a Covid-19 patient, had approached them for beds. the accused used to circulate messages on WhatsApp offering help to Covid-19 patients to arrange beds. The police had said that the duo had established contacts in the BBMP war room from where they availed the allotment.
The duo would charge anywhere between Rs.20,000 and Rs.40,000 from the patients based on their financial status.
Congress party spreads fake news – shares morphed image to target Tejasvi Surya
As the Congress party faced massive embarrassment in the state after one of its party supporters was arrested by the Bengaluru police in connection with the BBMP-bed scam, the grand-old party has now resorted to peddling misinformation on social media by posting morphed images to allege that the accused is actually linked with the BJP. They tried to claim that the accused woman Nethravathy is linked with Tejasvi Surya, who in fact, was the first person to expose the nexus between private agents and BBMP officials in the allocation of beds to Covid-19 patients in the city.
Brazening it out on Wednesday, the Congress party took to Twitter to not only make abusive slurs against the young MP but also resorted to sharing fake images of him with the arrested Nethravathy to insinuate that the BJP has links with BBMP-bed scam accused Nethravathy.
Sharing a morphed image on Twitter, the official Twitter handle of Karnataka Congress said that the accused Nethravathy (encircled in the below image) was a BJP party worker.
However, in reality, the image shared by the Congress party is nothing but a badly photoshopped image. In reality, the woman who is seen next to Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya is a different person and not Congress party supporter Nethravathy.
In the below image shared by a social media user Sharath bs, one can see the real person standing next to Tejasvi Surya.
However, in an attempt to target BJP and the BJP MP, the Congress party seems to have scored a self-goal by indulging in lazy work of badly morphing an image to replace the real person with the scam accused Nethravathy.
Bed scam accused a supporter of the Congress party
Following the arrest of the accused in the BBMP bed scam, several reports had emerged stating that scam accused Congress supporter had participated in several rallies and events organised by the Congress party in the last few years. In addition to that, several images expose her close links with the state leadership of the Congress party.
Here are some of the images in which the accused Nethravathy can be seen participating in several rallies organised by the Congress party. There are several images that exposed her links with the Congress party.
Accused Nethravathy with Congress leader Zameer Ahmad/ Image Source: Asianet
In another image, Nethravathy was seen with KPCC working President Eashwar Khandre.
Accused Nethravathy with Congress leader and KPCC working President Eashwar Khandre/ Image Source: Asianet
Congress party supporter Nethravathy can be seen holding banners that feature images of Gandhi-scions – Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi.
Accused Nethravathy participating in Congress party rallies/ Image Source: Asianet
The alleged involvement of the Congress supporter in the BBMP-bed scam has now caused a massive political storm in the state.
BBMP-Bed Scam:
The massive scam came to light after Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, along with three other BJP MLAs – Satish Reddy, Ravi Subramanya, and Uday Garudachar had stormed into the BBMP war room in Bengaluru on Tuesday to expose the illegal bed-allotment nexus between civic officials and private agents.
The BJP MP had alleged that some officials in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had joined hands with the touts to book hospital beds in the name of people under home isolation while selling these beds to other patients in need at an exorbitant price.
IMPORTANT Addressing issues of irregularities and anomalies in BBMP bed booking for covid patients in Bengaluru along with Bommanahalli MLA Shri. Satish Reddy, Basavanagudi MLA Shri. Ravi Subramanya and Chickpet MLA Shri. Uday Garudachar. https://t.co/mzjjiQq7AP
Addressing the press conference, Surya had said that there are enough beds in Bengaluru city. However, the war room personnel had been running a racket of false blocking the beds. They were then allotting those beds to the people in exchange for money. He added that there was a nexus between BBMP officials, Aarogya Mitra hospitals and private agents who were indulging in the said crime.
Further, Surya had questioned the hiring process of 17 individuals and asked about the agency that they belonged to. Some of the names he enquired about while confronting BBMP officials are Mansoor Ali, Tahir Ali Khan, Sadiq Pasha, Md Zayed, Alsai Saheer, Umer Khan, Salman Urif, Zameer Pasha, Zabiullah Khan, Sayed Hasnain, Sayed Shahid, Sayeed Shahbaz, Md Yunus, Syed Mohin and Syed Mukesh.
The systematic attack on the opposition party workers by TMC goons in West Bengal after their thumping victory in the 2021 assembly elections has sent shockwaves in the entire country. From looting and plundering the houses to setting offices ablaze to brutal killings and lynchings of BJP workers, the party workers are left hapless with little or no support from the state police.
In one such incident, BJP’s SC leader Bhaskar Mandal released a heart-wrenching video begging for help from the Centre. Mandal can be heard in the video saying that a systematic attack is taking place against the Hindus where Hindu houses are being looted and set on fire.
Mandal, who can be seen weeping profusely in the video, informed that his house too was looted and he is in hiding for the past three days from the TMC goons with no food or place to go. He also said that not just the party men but even their families are being attacked. Belonging to Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s constituency, Mandal informed that no Hindu house will be spared.
The SOS video has gone viral on social media with users trying to make the video reach to the relevant handles who can take cognisance of the matter.
The Bhartiya Janta Party had released a list of emergency numbers for the karyakartas to contact in case of an attack or assault after videos of brutal attacks went viral.
Party president JP Nadda visited the state of West Bengal on Tuesday to take a stock of the situation.
With heavy heart, met the family of our Karyakarta, Shri Abhijeet Sarkar who was brutally killed in post-poll violence in Beliaghata, Kolkata. We will fight this ideological battle with cruel TMC in a democratic manner. We are rigidly standing with our Karyakartas. pic.twitter.com/o7XjjHyXNI
The state of West Bengal is currently in the grip of violence after the TMC managed to regain power, with even the women being attacked and assaulted.
Over 450 party men with their families fled West Bengal and crossed over to Assam for shelter in a tragic exodus.
Not just the BJP, but even the CPI(M) partymen were brutally murdered by the TMC thugs.
Comrade Kakali Khetrapal, a 52-year-old CPI(M) worker from Nabagram in East Burdwan’s Jamalpur was hacked to death on Sunday. Trinamool members, celebrating their election victory, allegedly entered her home while she was cooking and attacked her with a sharp weapon. pic.twitter.com/yN8mCNNelB
— CPI(M) WEST BENGAL (@CPIM_WESTBENGAL) May 4, 2021
The governor of West Bengal at Mamata Banerjee’s oath-taking ceremony urged the third-time elected CM to immediately take control of the law and order situation in the state.
However, the TMC is in denial and is trying to distance itself from the violence despite clear video evidence. The top leadership of the TMC has blamed internal party conflict in the opposition as the reason behind the loot and murders.
Following the unearthing of a massive bed scam by BJP leader and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, the Bengaluru police on Tuesday arrested a Congress party supporter and her nephew for their involvement in the illegal allotment of beds to Covid-19 patients in Bengaluru in exchange for money.
According to the reports, the Bengaluru police arrested a 40-year-old woman Nethravathy, a Congress party supporter and her 22-year-old nephew, Rohit Kumar, for their role in the allotment of beds in return for money from the Covid-19 patients in the city. The police suspect that the accused had contacts with the BBMP war room staff.
The accused, Nethravathy and Rohith Kumar, who hailed from Begur and suspected to be having nexus with civic officials and certain private hospitals, were caught after the police conducted a sting operation. A police team, posing as relatives of a Covid-19 patient, had approached them for beds.
As per Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Harish Pandey, the accused used to circulate messages on WhatsApp offering help to Covid-19 patients to arrange beds. The police said that the duo had established contacts in the BBMP war room from where they availed the allotment. The duo would charge anywhere between Rs.20,000 and Rs.40,000 from the patients based on their financial status.
“We also suspect that they have contacts within the private hospital network, which is being probed,” Pandey added. A case has been registered against the duo in the Jayanagar police station. The case has now been handed over to Bengaluru’s City Crime Branch for further probe.
Accused has links with the Congress party
Interestingly, the arrested accused woman Nethravathy seems to have well-established connections with the Congress party. According to Asianet News, the accused in the bed scam had participated in several rallies and events organised by the Congress party in the last few years. In addition to that, several images expose her close links with the state leadership of the Congress party.
Here is an image in which the accused Nethravathy can be seen participating in a rally organised by the Congress party. Congress party supporter Nethravathy can be seen holding banners that feature images of Gandhi-scions – Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi.
Accused Nethravathy participating in Congress party rallies/ Image Source: Asianet
In another image, Nethravathy was seen with KPCC working President Eashwar Khandre.
Accused Nethravathy with Congress leader and KPCC working President Eashwar Khandre/ Image Source: Asianet
Reportedly, the accused has also links with Congress leader and Chamarajpet MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan.
Accused Nethravathy with Congress leader Zameer Ahmad/ Image Source: Asianet
Nethravathy, who is now arrested for her involvement in the BBMP bed scam, had also wished Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy for her birthday recently. Interestingly, the Jayanagar constituency falls within the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency.
Accused Nethravathy with Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy/ Image Source: Asianet
So far, neither the Congress party nor the party leadership has not provided any clarification regarding the arrest of one of its party supporters.
BBMP-Bed Scam:
The massive scam came to light after Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, along with three other BJP MLAs – Satish Reddy, Ravi Subramanya, and Uday Garudachar had stormed into the BBMP war room in Bengaluru on Tuesday to expose the illegal bed-allotment nexus between civic officials and private agents.
The BJP MP had alleged that some officials in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had joined hands with the touts to book hospital beds in the name of people under home isolation while selling these beds to other patients in need at an exorbitant price.
IMPORTANT Addressing issues of irregularities and anomalies in BBMP bed booking for covid patients in Bengaluru along with Bommanahalli MLA Shri. Satish Reddy, Basavanagudi MLA Shri. Ravi Subramanya and Chickpet MLA Shri. Uday Garudachar. https://t.co/mzjjiQq7AP
Addressing the press conference, Surya had said that there are enough beds in Bengaluru city. However, the war room personnel had been running a racket of false blocking the beds. They were then allotting those beds to the people in exchange for money. He added that there was a nexus between BBMP officials, Aarogya Mitra hospitals and private agents who were indulging in the said crime.
Further, Surya had questioned the hiring process of 17 individuals and asked about the agency that they belonged to. Some of the names he enquired about while confronting BBMP officials are Mansoor Ali, Tahir Ali Khan, Sadiq Pasha, Md Zayed, Alsai Saheer, Umer Khan, Salman Urif, Zameer Pasha, Zabiullah Khan, Sayed Hasnain, Sayed Shahid, Sayeed Shahbaz, Md Yunus, Syed Mohin and Syed Mukesh.
Two weeks after the Central Government announced that it will provide 5 kg of food grains free-of-cost to around 80 crores Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) beneficiaries during May and June 2021 amidst the second wave of COVID-19 cases, the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday announced that his government will provide two months of free ration to 72 lakh cardholders in the national capital.
The announcement made by the Delhi Government naturally piqued the interest of the observers, given that the centre had already announced free ration for the 80 crore beneficiaries, including those residing in Delhi.
With the Delhi government known for notoriously stealing credit and spending inordinate amounts on advertising and promoting itself, it is relevant to get into the details of food subsidies granted by the centre vis-a-vis Arvind Kejriwal-led government.
The central government provides food grains to the states, including Delhi, through the central pool stocks for distribution under the Targeted Public Distribution System or the National Food Security Act, 2013. In addition to this, the centre had also instituted a social welfare scheme called Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana in March 2020 to provide free ration to people amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the National Food Security Act, a quantity of roughly 4.50 lakh metric tonnes of food grains are allocated to Delhi per year, entailing a food subsidy of Rs 1163 crores/annum by the central government.
NFSA Allocation and Subsidy details for Delhi
The economic cost of Wheat and Rice are Rs 25.73/kg and Rs 36.79/kg respectively. However, the subsidised cost, also known as Central Issue Price (CIP), meaning the prices at which the central government provides food grains to the beneficiary states are Rs 2/kg and Rs 3/kg for wheat and rice respectively. In a nutshell, the central government provides subsidies of Rs 23.73/kg on wheat and Rs 33.79/kg on wheat under the NFSA allocation.
About 29,830.39 MTs of Wheat and 7,742.35 MTs of Rice are allocated monthly to Delhi by the Centre for distribution. This means, the total monthly subsidy under NFSA, therefore, amounts to Rs 70.79 crores for wheat and Rs 26.16 crores for rice. As a result, the central government provides spends Rs 96.95 crores (combined wheat and rice) per month as subsidies for beneficiaries in Delhi.
The below table provides the details on how the central government subsidies food distribution in Delhi:-
Particulars
Unit
Wheat
Rice
Total
Economic Cost
Rs. / Kg
25.73
36.79
62.52
Central Issue Price (CIP)
Rs. /Kg
2
3
—
Monthly Allocation
In MTs
29,830.39
7,742.35
37,572.74
Subsidy under NFSA per month
In Rs. Crore
70.79
26.16
96.95
Annual Subsidy under NFSA
In Rs. Crore
849.50
313.93
1,163.43
CIP recovered per month
In Rs. Crore
5.97
2.32
8.29
CIP recovered annually
In Rs. Crore
71.59
27.87
99.47
Subsidies granted by the central government under NFSA
Since the monthly subsidy under the NFSA stands at Rs 96.95 crores, the yearly is equal to Rs 1,163.43 crores.
Now, since the central government subsidies food grains and charges a paltry Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice, it recovers about Rs 5.97 crores from the distribution of 29,830.39 MTs of wheat monthly and Rs 2.32 crores from the distribution of 7,742.35 MTs of rice. Collectively, the recovered amount is Rs 8.29 crores monthly, and for two months it would be double, i.e Rs 16.58 crore. It is this amount that Kejriwal plans to waive off with his announcement of providing free ration to Delhi residents for the next two months.
As the government recovers Rs 2 per kg on wheat and Rs 3 per kg on rice, the monthly subsidy granted by the central government would be equivalent to the subsidy granted under NFSA per month, which is Rs 96.95 crores, minus the CIP recovered per month, which stands at Rs 8.29 crores. Therefore, the monthly subsidy by the central government sums up to Rs 88.62 crores (Rs 96.95 crores-Rs 8.29 crores).
In effect, the central government provides a subsidy of Rs 88.62 crores to the residents of Delhi under the NFSA. On the other hand, the Arvind Kejriwal government after announcing free ration to 72 lakh card holders will be providing the subsidy of Rs 8.29 crores per month or Rs 16.58 crores for two months.
Hence from the above calculation, it could be inferred that the Central Govt.’s assistance to beneficiaries in terms of food grains (which is totally provided) and subsidy are far in excess of what the Delhi Government claims to project through this announcement.
Additional subsidy provided by the Centre under the PMGKAY III
Furthermore, under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY III), free ration for 2 months (May-June 2021) has been allocated by the Government of India from the Central Pool.
Under the PMGKAY III a quantity of nearly 72778 MT of food grains have been allocated to Delhi for the 2 months of May-June 2021, entailing an additional subsidy of over Rs. 203 Crore by the Government of India.
Through PMGKAY III, the central government will be providing 58,222 MTs of wheat costing around Rs 25.73 per kg and 14,556 MTs of rice costing around Rs 36.79 per kg free of cost to the beneficiaries residing in Delhi.
Particulars
Unit
Wheat
Rice
Total
Economic Cost
Rs. / Kg
25.73
36.79
—-
Total Allocation under PMGKAY (for May & June 2021)
In MTs
58,222
14,556
72,778
Total Subsidy (2 months)
In Rs. Crore
149.81
53.55
203.36
Monthly Subsidy
In Rs. Crore
74.91
26.78
101.68
Subsidy under the PMGKAY in Delhi for May-June 2021
For wheat, the total subsidy will amount to Rs 149.81 crores and for rice it would be Rs 53.55 crores for the two months—May and June 2021. Therefore, the monthly break down of subsidy comes at Rs 101.68 crores, including Rs 74.91 crores of wheat subsidy and Rs 26.78 crores of rice subsidy.
In all, the central government is providing a monthly subsidy of Rs 190.3 crores (Rs 88.62 crores under NFSA + Rs 101.68 crores under PMGKAY III), whereas the Arvind Kejriwal government will be providing a subsidy of Rs 8.29 crores per month.
The covid-19 pandemic has brought the worst out in the world. However, what we are seeing and experiencing is only the tip of the iceberg. There are countless underlying problems that society is either facing or will soon face in the coming days. From hunger to lack of jobs and from loss of lives to children becoming orphans due to Covid-19, there are issues that need to be addressed with sensitivity and empathy.
Recently, a post went viral on all social media platforms about two orphan girls. The message urged people to adopt those girls as their parents died due to Covid. The message read, “Adoption!! If you or your parents wish to adopt a daughter. Please contact [phone number]. One is 3 months old, and the other one is 6 months old. They lost their parents due to Covid.” In one such message, it was added, “I’m posting this because I arranged a bed for their father, and now they both are homeless. Arranging resources are good but providing them shelter is the needs of the hour.”
Viral message about adopting girl child
At first, one may think of forwarding the message without a second thought. However, in such times, it is necessary that you read the message carefully. Here the message was for two girls that apparently had the same parents. Their parents died due to Covid, and now they are orphans. Till now, everything looks fine. However, when you look at their age, things will start to raise red flags. One girl was 3 months old, and the other was six months old. Biologically it is not possible for any parent to have two girls with an age difference of three months.
Similar messages with different ages of the said girls with the same mobile numbers were floating on all social media platforms. Unfortunately, even after Union Minister Smriti Irani and PIB Fact Check debunked the claims and warned netizens to be careful, such messages are still circulating on social media platforms. The same message is available in different languages, which has increased the reach further.
Similar message in different languages
PIB debunked the claim
The Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check department debunked the claims. In a post, they said, “A post is being shared with a claim that two girls who have recently lost their parents can be adopted by calling a number. This claim is #Fake. A process has to be followed to adopt a child. It is illegal to adopt a child if proper guidelines are not followed.”
A post is being shared with a claim that two girls who have recently lost their parents can be adopted by calling a number.#PIBFactCheck
This claim is #Fake. A process has to be followed to adopt a child. It is illegal to adopt a child if proper guidelines are not followed. pic.twitter.com/TIPwrtHk22
Smriti Itani, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, penned down a thread on such social media forwards about adoption. In the thread, she wrote that if someone comes to know about such children, who have lost their parents to Covid, they must inform the Police or Child Welfare Committee of the district. Alternatively, they can call on 1098. She added that it is everyone’s legal responsibility to inform the authorities about such children.
*IMPORTANT Thread*
If you come to know of any child who has lost both parents to COVID and has no one to take care of her/him, inform Police or Child Welfare Committee of your district or contact Childline 1098. It is your legal responsibility.
Irani further added that it is illegal to adopt such children or give them away for adoption. “Such children should be taken to Child welfare committee, which will take necessary action in the best interest of the child,” she added.
It is illegal to give or take orphan children of any one else in adoption. Such children should be taken to Child welfare committee, which will take necessary action in the best interest of the child.
Irani said that if someone comes across posts or contacts regarding orphan children available for direct adoption, it could be a trap, and it is essential to inform the authorities immediately. She added, “We all must ensure legal adoption, otherwise children can be trafficked in the name of adoption. Save them. Inform Police or Child Welfare Committee or Childline 1098 if you come to know of any such child.”
We all must ensure legal adoption, otherwise children can be trafficked in the name of adoption. Save them. Inform Police or Child Welfare Committee or Childline 1098 if you come to know of any such child.
She further urged people not to share pictures and contact details of vulnerable children in distress situation on social media platforms. “Their identity is to be protected as per law. Instead, inform the police, Child welfare committee or Childline 1098,” she said.
Please do not share pictures and contact detail of vulnerable children in distress situation in social media. Their identity is to be protected as per law. Instead, inform police, Child welfare committee or Childline 1098.
The National Commission of Women quoted PIB’s post and said, “Due procedures are to be followed for adoption. Posts claiming otherwise are misleading. Please refrain from sharing such posts and immediately contact National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights and Child helpline 1098 if you come across any illegal adoption practices.”
Due procedures are to be followed for adoption. Posts claiming otherwise are misleading. Please refrain from sharing such posts and immediately contact @NCPCR_ and @CHILDLINE1098 if you come across any illegal adoption practices. @sharmarekhahttps://t.co/hfHSZForHU
Possibilities of child trafficking and child labor
One of the major issue with such posts is that they may lead to child trafficking and child labour. While talking to Hindustan Times, Sonal Kapoor Singh, founder of an NGO working for children at risk or having experienced traumatic events said, “We have been working to help children in 40 slums for 10 years to help them recuperate from various traumas. The last few months have been very disturbing. Excluding children, who have lost both parents to Covid, there are cases where the condition of children is worse than those orphaned by the pandemic.” She added that in many cases, young girls were forced to do hard labour for lesser wages as both their parents have died of Covid.
Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi recently posted on Twitter that his organisation is ready to help such children. He wrote, “We are ready to provide food, shelter and education to such children whose parents have died of Covid.” He urged people to inform his organisation about such children. But there is a catch.
Though the sentiments might be right, as per law individuals and organizations are not authorized to take in orphan children without permission of the authorities.
Someone questioned Smriti Irani about such individuals or organizations extending support for such children on Twitter. Irani straight away replied that only Childline, CWC, police, and district authorities, along with State governments, are legally mandated to take care of such children. Individuals and organizations are NOT authorized to take such children in. She said, “No individual organization or individual is legally mandated to keep such kids unless authorized by Government. Only Childline / CWC / police & district authorities along with State governments are legally mandated.”
No individual organisation or individual is legally mandated to keep such kids unless authorised by Government. Only Childline / CWC / police & district authorities along with State governments are legally mandated .
Many of us are not aware that India has well-established rules for legally adopting children. Central Adoption Resource Authority or CARA comes under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.
The adoptions are divided into several categories such as Resident Indian Parents, OCI/Foreigner Living in India, NRI/OCI/Foreigner Living Abroad/Relative Adoption and Adoption by Step Parent. There are terms and conditions for every category.
For Indian resident parents, in order to adopt a child, a couple or individual must register with the said authority as adoptive parents. There is a long list of eligibility criteria for registering as a parent. If a couple wants to adopt a child, they must have at least two years of stable marriage. They must be financially and physically capable of taking care of the child. A single female can adopt a child of any gender, but a single male cannot adopt a girl child. There are several other conditions that the couples or individuals must follow before registering as adoptive parents. They can be checked here.
For in-country relative adoption, the prospective parents shall register in Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System and follow due to legal proceedings. Consent of biological parents or permission of the Child Welfare Committee shall be required as per law. If the child is above five years of age, his or her consent would be required. More details can be found here.
For inter-country relative adoption, a Non-Resident Indian or an Overseas Citizen of India interested in adopting a relative’s child may approach concerned authorities as per the law. Once the authorities receive an application, they will conduct a background check of the family before proceeding further. In case of countries that are not signatories to the Hague Adoption Convention, in respect of Indian citizens, family background report of the relative’s child and prior approval letter from the authority shall be forwarded to the Indian Mission of that country, which will issue a recommendation letter to the authority. Once approval is received by the authorities, the couple can follow the guidelines provided. More information can be found here.
Detailed steps and procedures for adopting a child can be found here. Please note that from time to time, these guidelines may change based on the new laws introduced by the parliament or judgements passed by the Indian courts. The couples who are interested in adopting a child must check the latest guidelines and prepare their case accordingly.
For the general public, it is illegal to post any sensitive information about a child in distress. You may get trapped in legal trouble if you post photographs, or identity, location details of a child in distress. As per law, you must contact the authorities and inform them about the child. Make sure you provide complete details so that the authorities can provide the required support.
OpIndia asserts again that individuals, NGOs, or any other organization are not authorized to take in any child in distress without permission from the government authorities. If anyone approaches you for the adoption of a child in distress, it is your duty to inform the authorities immediately so that the child can be rescued. In these times, there is always a possibility of child exploitation, sexual exploitation, and child trafficking. As a citizen of India, it is your duty to help the authorities in saving the child from the hands of criminals. Please contact the authorities immediately if you come across any such posts.
