On Saturday (April 24), a 19-year-old girl named Nidhi Paswan was murdered at her residence by her stalker and his two aides. The incident took place in Krishnanagar street number-20 of Roorkee in Uttarakhand, which falls under the jurisdiction of Gangnahar police station.
As per reports, the primary accused has been identified as Haider Ali. He would stalk and pass derogatory remarks at the victim every day. He had even approached her for marriage but the offer was turned down by Nidhi. An enraged Haider, along with two aides Sariq and Riyan, reached her house on a bike. They broke into her home on Saturday afternoon and murdered her in broad daylight.
Her throat was slit open by the trio. While Riyan and Sariq managed to flee the crime scene, Haider was caught red-handed by locals after they heard the screams of the victim. He was then handed over to the police. Reportedly, Nidhi Paswan was a BBA student and also worked at a local beauty parlour. BJP MLA Deshraj Karanwal said, “These men killed an innocent girl brutally in broad daylight. They must be put behind the bars and the law should take its course against them.”
All accused arrested by the cops
He along with the family members of the victim staged a sit-in demonstration and demanded the immediate arrest of the three accused. While speaking about the matter, SP (rural) Pramendra Singh Dobal informed that a case was filed following a complaint by the victim’s brother Dinesh. The two absconding accused were arrested on Sunday morning by Inspector Manoj Manwal from near Rahimpur gate.
Haider Ali had planned a cold-blooded murder
The police also informed that Haider Ali knew the victim for over 3 years. On returning home from Dubai, he began chasing Nidhi every day. But an uninterested Nidhi did not pay any heed to him. The cops said that Haider and his two friends had come to her house with the intention to murder her. They had first thrashed the victim, before slitting her throat with a paper-knife.
Police team awarded for solving the case within 24 hours
SP Dobal said that a cash prize of ₹2.5K has been awarded to the police team for solving the case within 24 hours. The police team comprised Inspector Manoj Manwal, Sub Inspector Manoj Siraula, Sunil Ramola, Vinod Gola, Deep Kumar, Naveen Purohit, Lokpal Parman, Preity Tomar, Jehangir Ali, constable Bablu, Mukesh Joshi, Vijay, Sandeep, Zakir Ali, and others.
Nikita Tomar murder
In October 2020, a 21-year-old student Nikita Tomar was shot dead in full public view by two men outside the Aggarwal college in Ballabgarh, Faridabad. The video of the gruesome act caught on camera had gone viral.In the CCTV footage, the assailant was seen stepping out of his car and pulling out his revolver. Nikita was seen struggling to get free and she had managed to flee for a brief moment before the accused grabed her again.
While Nikita struggled to free herself from the man, he then shot her in point-blank range. The other accused, Mohammad Rihan, was also pulling Tauseef back into the car. Tomar had filed a molestation complaint against Tauseef a few months prior to her murder. However, the family later dropped the case. Her family had alleged that Tauseef started hounding her again and pressuring her to embrace Islam.
Last month, the district sessions court in Faridabad convicted prime accused Tauseef and his friend Rehan in the sensational Nikita Tomar murder case. The third accused, Azruddin, who had supplied a weapon to the accused, has been acquitted.
After Twitter removed left-wing activist Prashant Bhushan’s anti-mask tweet more than two weeks ago for spreading misinformation, many expected the former AAP member to calm down. However, in a tweet today, Prashant Bhushan attempted to slyly push the anti-vaccine narrative by raising doubts as to the efficacy of vaccines in the U.K. vis-a-vis India.
In order to make sure his tweet stays up and is not removed from Twitter, Bhushan masked his anti-vaccine narrative in the garb of criticizing “graphs”.
People use the graph of falling cases& deaths alongside rising vaccinations in UK, to show how effective vaccines are to stop the Pandemic. But see the same graph in India! I am not saying that Vaccines are responsible for the current wave, but graphs are not necessarily evidence pic.twitter.com/7TSJIHY6rh
In order to prove Bhushan’s anti-vaccine tendencies without a shadow of a doubt, one only needs to read Bhushan’s own words. On February 1 of this year, Prashant Bhushan announced that “Covid is naturally dying down in India!” and therefore the Finance Minister’s allocation of Rs. 35,000 crores to private vaccine companies at the time was somehow incorrect. Bhushan referred to the vaccines as “untested” in order to further propagate his anti-vaccine narrative.
FM announces 35,000 Cr of our money to be spent on Pvt Vaccine Companies for untested Vaccines at a time when Covid is naturally dying down in India! But this money cannot be given to poor migrant labour who lost their jobs or to Farmers for MSP on their crops. Wah FM sahiba!
On February 15, Bhushan once again questioned people who are “promoting untested vaccines in India”. In the same tweet, Bhushan makes assertions that Coronavirus is somehow slowing down in India, and laughably declares that Delhi and Mumbai are “at herd immunity”. For someone who has been this categorically wrong about the pandemic, we wonder why Prashant Bhushan continues to comment on it.
Don’t understand why people are still promoting untested Vaccines in India when Daily Covid cases, active cases&Covid deaths are down to 10% of peak&deaths are <100 daily. Sero surveys show that >30 Cr have been infected with death rates <1/2000. Delhi,Mumbai are at herd immunity https://t.co/m0g28iOmiZpic.twitter.com/IRbEb6CMQY
On March 30, Bhushan made his biggest anti-vaccine comment. In a tweet, Bhushan falsely claims that the vaccines promoted by the Government, including Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN, are ineffective against the U.K. strain and the South African strain. However, a recent ICRM study concluded that COVAXIN is effective against both the U.K. variant and the South African variant. Prashant Bhushan provides no evidence for his claims of ineffective vaccines, obviously.
Amazing how Govt&media is hyping the fresh Covid wave& Vaccines, w/o asking whether fresh wave is due to UK & South African variants; &if these vaccines are effective against Variants. Punjab reported 84% of new cases are UK Variants. Studies show present vaccines are ineffective
In a tweet on April 10, Bhushan wrote, “The data suggest that facemasks are ineffective to block transmission of viral and infectious disease such as COVID-19. Wearing facemasks has been demonstrated to have substantial adverse physiological and psychological effects”. He had added this text from the quoted report, asking his followers on Twitter to “read this detailed study on Masks”.
Screenshot of the now removed tweet by Prashant Bhushan
Soon after he posted this anti-mask tweet, he was widely criticized on social media by users of all ideological leanings, including left-wing personalities. Many people had reported the tweet as spreading misinformation. As a result, Twitter removed the Tweet later in the day, saying that it violates Twitter Rules.
Drawing conclusions from Bhushan’s own words, it seems obvious that Prashant Bhushan inhabits some vaccine hesitancy, which does not come as a surprise considering he’s an Anti-Masker as well. However, the one thing which all the above-mentioned tweets/examples make clear is this, Bhushan is not a person to listen to when it comes to COVID-19, about masks, vaccines, or anything really. People will be much better off following the advice of doctors and scientists rather than a has-been political activist.
Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins took to Twitter today in order to announce his donation of 50,000 Australian Dollars to the PM Cares Fund specifically for the purchase of oxygen supplies. “India is a country I’ve come to love dearly over the years and the people here are some of the warmest and kindest I’ve ever met. To know so many are suffering so much at this time saddens me greatly,” the Kolkata Knight Riders star wrote in his post.
Even though the reactions to this announcement were overwhelmingly positive, some liberals on Twitter couldn’t resist the urge of throwing political shade at Pat Cummins in the form of ungrateful snarky replies. From ESPN journalists to online movie critics, liberals in all forms couldn’t simply accept Cummins’ grateful donation without a fuming repudiation of the PM Cares Fund, a fund specifically created for combating COVID-19.
The fuming Liberal reaction to Pat’s donation
Arjun Namboothiri, an ESPN journalist based in Bengaluru, was quick to utilize his verified check mark on Twitter to baselessly allege that the PM Cares Fund is somehow “mismanaged”. Not only that, Namboothiri then went on to link a Google Doc, ungratefully asking Cummins to donate to organizations listed in the Google doc, instead of the PM Cares Fund.
The ESPN journalist later deleted his baseless allegations, however a screenshot of the same was saved for posteriority.
Source: Twitter
Another Liberal, trying to conceal his inner anguish by writing “such a heartwarming gesture” proceeded to link so-called “deserving, authentic movements” where he thinks Pat Cummins should actually donate. Another example of ungratefulness.
Hi Pat! Such a heartwarming gesture!
Here is a list of deserving, authentic movements that are fighting covid in India. Please consider donating to one of them instead. https://t.co/Vf4VuuR68v
A self-identified Congress supporter informed Pat Cummins that his generosity is “immensely appreciated” but he has given it to the “wrong hands”. Then the person baselessly claims that the PM Cares Fund is “mainly used for winning elections”.
Your generosity is immensely appreciated @patcummins30 But you’ve given it to the wrong hands. #PMCaresFund is a private, unaudited fund. It was made in the backdrop of #COVID19 but mainly used for winning elections.
Saif Alam, a self-described “unapologetic Muslim” from Mumbai and founder of a Non-Profit smugly writes, “Hey Pat, could have donated to my cause, PM cares doesn’t care.”
— ????? ??????? | Cʜɪᴇғ SG (@tamizhsudhakar) April 26, 2021
Pearl Shah, some sort of influencer on Twitter, thanked Cummins for the “nice gesture” but questioned the funds going to PM Cares Fund instead of a so-called “genuine charity”.
What a nice gesture. But I wish it wasn’t the unaudited PMcares fund and a genuine charity. https://t.co/uAY6I7TdMy
Another Twitter user, who incidentally is a supporter of the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, the team Cummins plays for, wrote off Cummins’s donation as a “noble intention wasted”. The user then claims that Cummins contribution will end up “buying West Bengal MLAs” without any basis in fact.
PM cares fund? A noble intention wasted. Cummins contributed for Covid resources but it ended up buying WestBengal MLAs https://t.co/tWDSYmWE1b
Abijit Ganguly, a liberal stand-up comic, actually tried to forcefully request Cummins to donate to other charities that are “accountable”, instead of the supposedly unaccountable PM Cares Fund.
Thank you Pat. You’re a great guy. Just that don’t put the money in PM Cares. Repeated RTIs have led to the open announcement that it’s not accountable to anyone and any funds allocation won’t be disclosed. Pls donate to any of the other numerous charities that are accountable.
Sucharita Tyagi, a small YouTuber who reviews movies and somehow is verified on Twitter, also felt the need of making her sentiments known by urging Cummins to not donate to the PM Cares Fund. She later deleted her tweet.
Source: Twitter
The writing on the wall is clear, it appears that liberals seem to have no concept of national solidarity, and cannot look past political differences in order to deal with the pandemic. The message from Pat Cummins was pure, genuinely seeking to help out a country which he has visited multiple times over the years.
Pat Cummins also called upon fellow cricketers to donate and help out India during this coronavirus pandemic. It is sad to witness that non-Indians can look past differences in order to help India as a common good, however our fellow liberal Indians can not.
On April 25, a hacker group identified as ShinyHunters allegedly released data of 20 million Big Basket users for free on a hacker forum. The hacker wrote that the data file contains email, password (hashed), name, phone number, address, order details and other information of the users. It is believed that the data is from the infamous October 2020 breach. The information security firm Cyble Inc. had identified the breach and published a post on November 7 on its website.
Post by Shinyhunters on hackers’ forum
What had happened in 2020?
As per a detailed report published by global threat intelligence SaaS provider Cyble, the alleged data breach happened on October 14, 2020. Cyble detected the breach on October 30 during its routine Dark Web Monitoring. The data was available for $40,000. Cyble validated the data, and on November 1, they informed BigBasket about the breach. The company urged them not to disclose the breach. Cyble advised them to let the customers know as they have the right to know about the breach.
On November 2, Cyble started informing the customers about the breach. VP-Engineering, Big Basket, approached Cyble for support and service, but Cyble refused, stating it was a high-risk engagement. However, later Cyble agreed to provide free/non-obligatory services. Big Basket was supposed to disclose the agreement between Cyble and Big Basket, but nothing happened from Big Basket’s end.
On November 7, Cyble made a public disclosure about the breach. On November 9, Big Basket acknowledged that the data was leaked. It has to be noted that not only the data of Big Basket but other companies were also compromised. Cyble later found out that the infamous hacker group ShinyHunters was behind the breach. On November 12, it was revealed that a threat actor identified as The Polaris had paid ShinyHunters $40,000 for the data.
Cyble named in FIR by Big Basket
Interestingly, Big Basket named Cyble in its FIR registered on November 6, 2020, with the cyber cell of the Bengaluru Police against the data breach. Cyble said, “Ironically, it appears that the complaint has made against Cyble itself – who was the informant of the breach aka “shooting the messenger. Cyble reportedly handed over the matter to its legal team to take appropriate action against Big Basket over alleged false accusations.
Disclosure by Big Basket
On November 10, Big Basket made a disclosure statement on social media platforms and said that as the company has been using OTP for login, there was no need to change the password. However, the company did not say anything about the other information like name, address, phone number etc., getting leaked.
Dear bigbasketeers,
Here is an update on the alleged cyber breach issue. We will keep you updated on developments. Thank you for your continuous support and trust.
“The only customer data that we maintain are email IDs, phone numbers, order details, and addresses, so these are the details that could potentially have been accessed. We have a robust information security framework that employs best-in-class resources and technologies to manage our information. We will continue to proactively engage with best-in-class information security experts to strengthen this further,” Bigbasket said.
After the recent uproar, the company again issued a statement and said that no further action required. However, it does not mention that the data leaked has personal information including name, address and phone numbers that can be used by scammers.
Dear bigbasketeers,
Here is an update on the alleged cyber breach issue. Thank you for your continuous support and trust.
The SQL file that is available for free to download on the hackers’ forum allegedly contains full names, email IDs, password hashes (potentially hashed OTPs), pin, contact numbers (mobile + phone), full addresses, date of birth, location, and IP addresses of login among many others. OpIndia’s sources have revealed that the data made available by ShinyHunters on the hackers’ forum is legit, and it has all the information mentioned in the description. We cross-checked the information provided by our sources who had access to the data and confirmed it was true.
Experts’ views on the data breach
Alon Gal of UnderTheBreach said in a tweet thread, “To better understand how bad this type of hash is for the passwords, I can test 700,000,000,000 (700 billion) attempts at a password per minute with my RTX 3080.” “These passwords are essentially plaintext,” he added.
To better understand how bad this type of hash is for the passwords, I can test 700,000,000,000 (700 billion) attempts at a password per minute with my RTX 3080.
— Alon Gal (Under the Breach) (@UnderTheBreach) April 25, 2021
While talking to OpIndia, Sourajeet Majumder, Independent Security Researcher, called it shocking and disappointing. He said, “The leaked dataset includes phone numbers and other details of many famous personalities as well who are possibly users of Big Basket. I even found my own PII data as a part of the dataset, which was quite shocking and disappointing for me.”
The leaked dataset includes user’s names, SHA-1 hashed passwords, address, emails, phone numbers, IP address besides other details (screenshot attached). Fortunately, it doesn’t include any Credit Card details. (2/3) pic.twitter.com/H6PjCSqnBy
He added that there are high chances that this dataset which has been publicly dumped, is the same dataset for sale a few months back. “Since the scale of this data breach is quite alarming, Big Basket must look into this asap and notify it’s users about this breach so that they can stay alert from any scam calls or phishing campaigns,” he added.
I believe this can be the same dataset which was being sold by “ShinyHunters” in 2020 for ₹30 lakhs. However, the scale of the breach looks quite alarming and @bigbasket_com should look into this asap !@troyhunt you may want to add this at @haveibeenpwned 🙂 (3/3)
To stay on the safer side, user’s too must change the passwords of their social media accounts, if they have been using the same password which they once used to sign up on Big Basket. Additionally, they can visit haveibeenpwned.com to check if their PII data was leaked in this breach.
Sunny Nehra, Admin at Hacks And Security, told OpIndia that Big Basket should come forward and inform its users about the corrective steps it has taken since the breach. He also insisted that users should change their passwords to be on the safer side. “As the data has a lot of personal information, I would advise Big Basket users to stay cautious of the malicious links in emails and messages. Scammers, hackers and threat actors can use such data breach to initiate scams that can lead to financial losses.”
Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned said that the 52% of the breached data information was already available on the website. Additional information has been added, and users can check if their information was leaked.
Where to check if your information has been leaked?
Cable made the breached information available on AmiBreached.com. Android and iOS users can get full access to their services by downloading the mobile application. You can also check it on HaveIBeenPwned.com.
About ShinyHunters
The group has been active since 2015. Other aliases of the group are Shiny Hunters, #TheDarkOverlord, Gnostic Players. NightLionSecurity reported that in 2016 they started began terrorizing and extorting organizations. It gained popularity due to the extortion of medical providers and the sale of stolen medical records. In 2017, they started extorting companies like Disney, Netflix and others, saying they will release advanced copies of their productions if their ransom demands were not met. In January, they announced a “change of ownership” on Twitter. NightLionSecurity said that the actions taken as part of The Dark Overload can be traced back to a hacker identified as Christopher Meunier of Calgary from Canada.
Ways to avoid cyber attacks
Do not click on any unverified or unidentified links in emails, messages or on social media platforms.
Do not open attachments from untrusted senders.
Download media from websites that you trust.
Do not plugin unfamiliar USBs into your computer.
Keep your security software updated and backup your data regularly.
Keep your passwords unpredictable. Do not use names, birthdates and other identifiable information. Change passwords regularly.
On Sunday (April 25), NDTV invited ‘epidemiologist’ Eric Feigl-Ding to discuss about the 2nd wave of Coronavirus in India.
During the interview with journalist Vishnu Som, Eric Feigl-Ding claimed, “The data in India is very poor. The number of deaths is not being reported properly. India is well on its way to million deaths by August 1.” He also predicted that the death toll might not even be 1 million but surpass 5 million by August as well. He asked the Indian government to splurge free aid to people and enforce curfews in the country. An ‘epidemiologist’ by profession, Eric Feigl-Ding also called for a ban on political rallies.
Screengrab of the tweet by NDTV
The ‘expert’ also claimed that there is a 20 times to 50 times deaths in crematoriums than what is being reported by the Government. He does not appear to be aware that Covid-19 is not the only cause of death in the world and people can die from other diseases as well.
For further context, around 27,000 people die in India every day from all causes. Between now and August, there are three months which is roughly 90 days. That is, on average, roughly 2,430,000 will die between now and August from all causes in India. According to the expert, Covid-19 deaths alone could surpass 5 million by August.
During an interview with India Today on April 16, the ‘epidemiologist’ went on to claim that the total number of cases in India could actually be 5-10 times higher than it was being recorded.
(Video Courtesy: Youtube/ India Today)
Who is Eric Feigl-Ding?
According to the Harvard TC Chan School of Public Health, Eric Feigl-Ding is a public health epidemiologist, nutritionist, and health economist. But there is more to him than what meets the common eye. His prolific rise as a ‘star expert’ on Coronavirus was uncharacteristic of any health researcher/epidemiologist or scientist. He chanced upon to read a research paper on Coronavirus and predicted the outbreak of a pandemic in January last year. He is also not an infectious disease expert, he is a chronic disease epidemiologist.
In a tweet (which now stands deleted), he wrote, “HOLY MOTHER OF GOD—the new coronavirus is a 3.8!!! How bad is that reproductive R0 value? It is thermonuclear pandemic level bad—never seen an actual virality coefficient outside of Twitter in my entire career. I’m not exaggerating.” The tweet went viral and the number of followers rose from a paltry 2000 to 1,60,000. Thus, Eric Feigl-Ding surpassed all other epidemiologists, featured in CNN and other liberal TV networks, and talked at lengths about the Coronavirus pandemic.
After his rise to fame, several epidemiologists have come forward to question his credentials. Under the condition of anonymity, one epidemiologist told the Chronicle of Higher Education that Eric Feigl-Ding has zero background in infectious disease research. He accused Ding of peddling a ‘bunch of half-truths’. Another epidemiologist regretted, “Everyone is very frustrated with him and regretting that we didn’t band together to discredit him.” Marc Lipstisch, the Harvard professor of epidemiology, has even labelled him as an ‘unqualified publicity seeker’.
On March 19 last year, Lipsitch tweeted that epidemiologists such as him don’t like a ‘charlatan exploiting a tenuous connection for self-promotion.’ In a now-deleted tweet, he opined that Ding’s analysis of Coronavirus was based on 80% conventional wisdom, 20% promotion of pseudoscience, and 100% derivatives. He added, “To be fair, given % above, most of what he says is not wrong. But he gets something spectacularly wrong sufficiently often that you just should find other parts of the firehose of info to drink from, and you will get better water.”
Screengrab of the tweet
Nutritionist turns Coronavirus expert: The case of Eric Feigl-Ding
Lipsitch further emphasised, “There are dozens of good lists of actual experts in some relevant topic out there to listen to on COVID. Eric is an expert on nutrition. Eric does have training in epidemiology, but it’s a big field.” Interestingly, the Chronicle of Higher Education also found that all of Eric Feigl-Ding’s academic articles focused on the health effects of exercise and diet. One of his listed research papers was about wearable devices that could help track physical activity. His scholarly articles were also based on the effects of childhood obesity, consumption of red meat and cancer risk, etc.
His academic interests centered around nutrition, for which he was appointed as an ‘unpaid visiting scientist’ in the Nutrition Department of Harvard University. Interestingly, such appointments last for only about a year. Nevertheless, he was warned ‘many times’ to stop promoting himself as someone equipped with ‘specialised knowledge’. However, the pandemic proved to be a perfect opportunity for Eric Feigl-Ding to taste success and fame.
Harvard Epidemiologist continues to shine despite several U-turns
To make things worse, Eric Feigl-Ding was not even the first to warn netizens about an impending pandemic. While speaking to NPR the previous day, Epidemiologist W. Ian Lipkin cautioned, “The outbreak is going to be much larger…we need to move very quickly if we’re going to contain this virus.”
But, Ding got the recognition only because he happened to quote excerpts from the research paper mentioned earlier. And even in the said tweet, he falsely claimed that R0 of SARS-Covid-1 (which led to pandemic in 2003) was 0.49 compared to the realistic figure of around 3. He had to later explain to his ‘new followers’ that he was not an infectious disease expert or epidemiologist.
Eric Feigl-Ding was forced to delete the very tweet that made him famous, owing to serious questions posed by netizens about his credibility. He also had to delete other tweets, suggesting genetic similarities between HIV and Coronavirus. He also once ended up equating ‘re-infection’ with that of ‘virus reactivation.’ He had also suggested that N-95 masks cannot prevent healthcare workers from contracting the flu and is of no use against the Wuhan Coronavirus as well. However, just weeks later, he was at the forefront of the Twitter campaign #masks4all.
Eric Feigl-Ding and ‘damage control’ mechanism
The Harvard ‘epidemiologist’ has tried to whitewash his double-speak or his sudden U-turns on his claims (such as the one on masks.) “We all misread a detail or a Y axis or an X axis. I feel like I’m pretty good at synthesizing what I read and trying to be able to translate it for the public,” he justified. Eric Feigl-Ding also took offence to comments made by Marc Lipsitch. “It’s pretty insane to make a claim that 20 percent is pseudoscience. I do not want to dignify all this pettiness in the middle of a pandemic,” he said in his defence.
Not an expert in infectious diseases but still felicitated as top Covid healthcare professional
Eric Feigl-Ding also said that he was not an expert in infectious diseases and that he had never misrepresented his credentials. Furthermore, he said that his knowledge is based on his degree as a ‘general epidemiologist.’ While talking about his Twitter theatrics, he said, “A lot of my followers, unless you spoon-feed it to them, they won’t read it.” Despite no background in infectious diseases, Eric Feigl-Ding was placed second on the Covid list of top 100 Healthcare professionals.
Screengrab of the tweet
He also enjoyed considerable support from the President of the Federation of American Scientists named Ali Nouri. “I think some of the criticism has to do with his style rather than the substance…It’s not typically what scientists do, but it’s been working for Eric,” Nouri emphasised. Even the Democratic Governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy had vowed to take his help to flatten the Curve in New Jersey.
NDTV, Harvard, and a non-expert in Coronavirus
His outspoken nature, lack of domain expertise, his association with the Harvard University, and the ability to make outlandish claims such as 5 million Covid-19 deaths by August in India made him an ideal guest for NDTV. For Indians, who require continuous brainwashing from foreigners to understand their own problems, Eric serves as the right candidate.
While India is facing a surge in Coronavirus cases, a ‘non-expert’ in Coronavirus was thus the need of the hour for NDTV. With his political commentary feeding the anti-Modi lobby, Eric set the platform to peddle more fear in the minds of the Indians distraught for the Chinese virus.
OpIndia columnist Abhishek Banerjee is the new target of Congress trolls and ‘journalists’. He is being targeted because for some inexplicable reasons, they have confused him for Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee. Anyone with the reading faculties of a 5 year old would have realised that there is a difference between Abhijit and Abhishek but not Congress sympathisers.
OpIndia did not claim anywhere that Abhishek Banerjee is a Nobel laureate and we cannot comprehend why they would drag in OpIndia over the matter if not for their morbid hatred. Nonetheless, the article they are outraging over was published on News18.
Congress sympathisers demonstrate their stellar reading abilities
In the said article, Abhishek Banerjee argued how data could be tortured enough to reach a desired conclusion. Towards that end, he highlighted multiple facts about the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic in India. The article was published on the 17th of April, 2021.
Banerjee states in his article, “In this forest, the data snipers will thrive. Because it is only too simple to pick up say state-level data from somewhere along with some metric and tell you how bad things are. Then, you can pick up another metric and maybe country-level data from somewhere else and reinforce the same feeling of hopelessness.”
He drives home his point describing how New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden became a sensation through her management of the Covid-19 pandemic but has managed to vaccinate only 2 per cent of the population in her country as compared to 7 per cent in India. He says that the comparison does not make sense because the population of India is vastly larger and that’s precisely why her management of the pandemic should not be compared to India’s as well.
Similarly, the article mentions that on the 16th of April, France recorded 400 Covid-19 deaths and Germany recorded 250. Factoring India’s population which is 20 times larger than France’s, it would take 8000 deaths for India to be considered on the same level as France. But India is seeing vastly fewer deaths.
On vaccination, he wrote, “In both France and Germany, around 16 per cent of people have received at least one dose of vaccine. While there is much to be desired regarding vaccine distribution in India so far, the numbers from India’s western states are definitely in the same ballpark as Western Europe. Rajasthan, which has a population of around 7 crore, has administered 1 crore doses as well, or roughly 14 per cent. The country of Italy also has a population of around 7 crore and has reached a coverage of around 17 per cent. While 14 per cent is less than 17 per cent, it is again in the same range. Did we mention that the World Health Organization had designated France as having the best healthcare system in the world, followed by Italy?”
Abhishek Banerjee concludes, “How has India fared during COVID-19? The pandemic hit us hard, because it hit us where we were weakest of all, in healthcare. But we made it through the first wave. Like everywhere else in the world, there were surprises, a lot of driving blind and getting blindsided. When you fix any state or country and compare on all metrics, India’s numbers look fair enough. There isn’t a model out there yet for stopping the pandemic, at least not in any free country.”
“If it did, the West would not be dealing with second or third waves. Our economy suffered heavily in one quarter, but it recovered smartly and ultimately our GDP contraction for the whole year was less than that suffered by countries with advanced healthcare systems. As of now, India is running the world’s biggest vaccination programme. We are giving more vaccine jabs a day than most European countries give in a week. And absolute numbers matter,” he added.
The overarching argument Banerjee makes is that when it comes to vaccination, critics are using percentage of the whole population as a metric but when it comes to Covid-19 cases and deaths, the same people are using absolute numbers. This is by design as the whole objective from the very beginning is to paint India in poor light.
For instance, the USA has 1,762 Covid-19 deaths per million population, France has 1,573, the United Kingdom has 1,869, Italy has 1,974, Spain has 1,659, Germany has 979, the Netherlands has 993 and Canada has 630 deaths per million population (Worldometer data). The same number for India is 140.
Note: Abhishek Banerjee’s article was published on News18 on the 17th of April. Therefore all data quoted in his article is reflective of that time period.
Perhaps the biggest bane afflicting the Congress party is not the leadership crisis in its ranks but a raft of low-IQ sycophant supporters that form a loyal support base of the party. To a great extent, these half-witted supporters, and their leaders who complement them with their equally low-IQ, are the reason why Congress has been reduced to an inconsequential political party from once being a force to reckon with.
Recently, one such low-IQ Congress supporter who goes by the name Nikhil J Alwa, who was accused of sexual harassment and reportedly takes care of Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter handle, took to Twitter to mount an attack against OpIndia. However, in doing so, he exposed his own stupidity and embarrassed himself.
In a Twitter post, Alwa sounded a fake news alert while sharing a picture of a Whatsapp forward that contained a link to a News18 article talking about India’s management of the COVID crisis. Beneath the link, another message read that the article is written by one ‘Abhijit Banerjee’ from IISC. Alwa shared another picture in his tweet, which carried the details of author Abhishek Banerjee who had authored the article in question, who is also an OpIndia author.
Based on Whatsapp forward, Alva foolishly sounded fake news alert, alleging that the article was not written by Abhijit Banerjee but by Abhishek Banerjee.
“Fake News Alert! An article purportedly written by Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee, twisting data to show India is managing the Covid crisis well, is written by PooP India columnist, Abhishek Banerjee & NOT the Nobel Prize-winning economist. BJP IT Cell working overtime,” he tweeted.
Source: Twitter
The WhatsApp messaged shared by Nikhil Alva actually had an article written by Abhishek Banerjee, an author who also writes at OpIndia.com, however, the accompanying message read that it was an article by Abhijit Banerjee. Alva, being a Congress supporter, which essentially means being weak in comprehension skills, shared that forward with a snapshot of Abhishek Banerjee’s OpIndia author profile claiming that the News18 article was ‘purportedly written by Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee’.
Instead of correcting the misguided person on Whatsapp who might have mistaken Abhishek for Abhijit, Alva took to Twitter to accuse OpIndia of publishing fake news. Even incorrect Whatsapp forwards by private individuals are now being attributed to OpIndia. This is yet another instance that illustrates how logic and rationality continues to elude Congress supporters.
When Saket Gokhale, whose IQ is probably lower than the freezing point of water, saw Alva giving him a tough competition for the title of being the most foolish Congress supporter, he took his stupidity quotient several notches higher by blindly attacking OpIndia without bothering to check if Alva’s claims add up.
“OpIndia is now down to writing fake bylines of Nobel Laureates claiming it as “satire”,” the Congress supporter tweeted.
Source: Twitter
First things first, the News18 article was not a satire, as claimed by Gokhale in his tweet. And neither was the article attributed to Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee. The byline mentions Abhishek Banerjee as the author unless Congress supporters think Abhishek Banerjee and Abhijit Banerjee are the same, which they are entitled to feel because being associated with Congress can obviously have a deleterious impact on one’s neurological senses.
Being intellectually challenged as they are, Congress supporters fail to fathom that OpIndia could not be held responsible if some random person on Whatsapp referred to Abhishek Banerjee as Abhijit Banerjee. Given their low IQ, one cannot rule out the possibility that for Congress supporters, anyone who suffixes Banerjee after his name is impersonating Nobel Laureate, Abhijit Banerjee.
While the exact cause that drives Congress supporters to act brainless is difficult to determine, many people claim that Congress supporters deliberately portray themselves as stupid so that their supreme leaders, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, can appear relatively more intelligent.
Recently, after massive criticism and NSA-level talks, the United States administration has announced that they would allow the export of crucial raw material required to produce the vaccine in India. Amidst all the lobbying, political, diplomatic and ‘intellectual’ talks over raw material, for the layman, and sometimes for “experts”, it gets difficult to understand why India needs Covid-19 vaccine ingredients from the US.
What was so crucial that India cannot produce or procure from other country? Was there any patent issue or some IP issue, or it was just like the PPE kits that we used to import till the time there was no way to import it anymore? To make things clear, the situation in the case of vaccines is completely different from PPE kits.
Vaccine production requires 9,000+ materials from 300 suppliers from 30 nations
According to World Trade Organization’s (WTO) information note about issues with trade impact titled “Developing And Delivering Covid-19 Vaccines Around The World”, vaccine manufacturing across the world is supported by complex upstream raw material and component value chains. Any typical vaccine manufacturing plant will use approx 9,000 different materials that it source from some 300 suppliers across approx 30 different countries. The estimate is based on the data provided by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations.
In the first six months of 2020, the demand for critical raw materials for vaccine production, including nucleic acids, amino acid phenols, acyclic amides, lecithins, and sterols, grew by 49% and reached a value close to USD 15.5 billion. The United States is the largest producer of some of the critical raw materials, especially bioreactor bags, filters, and more.
Adar Poonawalla has been voicing concerns over raw materials supply for weeks. The SII had millions of doses of Covishield ready when the approvals came, an achievement that needed an investment of millions of dollars to ramp up productions and a lot of risks. Unless the US embargo is lifted, the SII’s attempts to stockpile Novavax vaccine doses may be impacted, Poonawalla had said.
As per reports SII currently manufactures over 170 million doses of both Covishield and Covovax.
The raw materials that Indian manufacturers require
Based on the statements made by Adar Poonawalla of SII, Dr. Krishna Ella of Bharat Biotech, Mahima Datla of Biological E, and US officials, the raw materials that Indian manufacturers require include Bioreactor bags, filters, cell culture media, microcarriers, Lipid Nanoparticles, and much more.
Bioreactor bags: These are disposable plastic bags that are used in the process of artificially growing a large quantity of cells required for virus cultivation for the vaccine. These bags are also used to mix various ingredients. These bags are necessary for production only if the company is not using a static stainless-steel bioreactor, such as in the case of SII. Such bags are used in the development of inactivated, viral vector, protein subunit, and mRNA based vaccines. These are produced majorly by American multinational company Baxter Healthcare, Massachusetts-headquartered ThermoFisher and Cytiva.
Filters: These filters can be made out of different materials depending on the requirement. They allow clarification, purification and sterilization of the vaccine after the virus is cultivated. Such filters are available in different pore-sizes. They are used in the production of inactivated, viral vector, protein subunit, and mRNA based vaccines. The filters are majorly supplied by companies like Pall Life Sciences (New York) and Merck Millipore, owned by Germany’s Merck but headquartered in Massachusetts.
Cell culture media: It is a gel or liquid-based material that helps in the growth of the cells in the labs. It provides nutrients and compounds to accelerate cell growth. It is used in the production of inactivated, viral vector, protein subunit, and mRNA based vaccines. Cytiva-owned HyClone and Merck Millipore are significant suppliers from the US, but Germany’s CellGenix, India’s HiMedia and Switzerland’s Lonza Group AG also make these.
Lipid Nanoparticles: Used specifically in mRNA-based vaccines, these nanoparticles are used to encapsulate the drug substance for its delivery. US vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna require this material for the mRNA-based vaccine. Recently, an Indian company VAV Lifesciences has cracked a major deal with American contract development and manufacturing firm for phospholipids which will be used in the production of vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Microcarriers or Microcarrier beads: These are tiny spheres made out of non-toxic material. These are mainly used in the production of inactivated, viral vector, and protein subunit-based vaccines. They are used to grow protein-producing or virus-generating cells. American companies like Pennsylvania’s VWR International and Cytiva, as well as Germany’s Sartorius, make these microcarriers.
Dr. Gagandeep Kang, the vice-chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and a professor at the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, was quoted in an Indian Express report saying that while most of the equipment manufacturing is done in regions like Europe, US companies have a stronghold on the supplies of plastics and the bulk of reagents used in a laboratory.
Understanding US embargo
Biden’s administration has used the US defence Production Act, 1950, to block the export of critical raw material in January. The law was first used in 1950 during the Korean war to ensure supplies and equipment. Since then, the scope of the law has been extended beyond the military to cover natural hazards, terrorist attacks and national emergencies. The aim of Biden’s administration was to ensure the domestic businesses and corporations fulfil their federal contracts.
The law was also used by former President Donald Trump to increase the production of ventilators and limit the export of medical supplies. It also aided in increasing supply for ramping up the production of Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines. In the case of the Biden administration, the act was invoked to ensure the supply of products to ensure 24×7 manufacturing of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
In March 2021, Financial Times quoted Mahima Datla, chief executive of pharmaceutical company Biological E, the company that is producing J&J vaccine and a protein subunit vaccine with Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine. Datla said the US suppliers had shown an inability to fulfil orders to global clients due to the Defense Production Act invoked by the administration.
How the US Embargo is impacting supplies
As per reports, the restrictions imposed by the United States have put pressure on the major suppliers across the world. If the restrictions continue further, there will be a fight for the resources. If the companies like SII are expected to produce over a billion doses every year, they need unrestricted supplies of the raw material which they are unable to procure.
There are some misleading claims that Adar Poonawala had said embargo does not affect the Covidshield production. It only affects the production of Covovax, which is awaiting approval from the government.
Misleading claim by Congress-leaning “Activist” Saket Gokhale
It is true that SII has ‘managed’ to keep producing Covidshield irrespective of the embargo. However, it has to be noted that SII has been making Covidshield much before the approval to ensure there is enough stock available once the approval was done. The same goes for the Covovax vaccine. Though the approval is pending, it is expected that the company will get approval from the government in a matter of few weeks. At that time, to ensure there is enough stock of the vaccine available, the company has to ramp up the production. It cannot wait for the approval to come and then work on manufacturing the vaccine. It is a simple matter of common sense that the alleged ‘experts of all fields’ fail to comprehend.
Poonawala reportedly said in one of his statements that the restrictions imposed by the US government have halved its capacity to stockpile Covovax, which would have added to the problem in the future. He also categorically said that though the shortage of raw material has not impacted the production of Covidshield so far, it may impact “the scaling up of Covishield’s future capacity”.
He said, “This is one thing that would need some discussion with the Biden administration to explain to them there’s enough to go around.” He further added, “We’re talking about having free global access to vaccines but if we can’t get the raw materials out of the US — that’s going to be a serious limiting factor.” Poonawala and other manufacturers in India have been voicing their concerns for the last three months since the ban was imposed.
It is notable here that Adar Poonawalla’s SII is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. It has been signed up by GAVI’s Covax alliance to supply over 2 billion doses of Covishield and Covovax.
SII is not the only company impacted by the decision
The US Act is not only impacting SII’s ability to produce the vaccine but also other companies like Bharat Biotech and Biological E. Dr Krishna Ella, the chairman and managing director of the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech that makes Covaxin had said in March that the restrictions had impacted the supply logistics for vaccine makers.
The US Act seems to be impacting the ability of other Indian companies to make their Covid-19 vaccines in India. For instance, Dr Krishna Ella, the chairman and managing director of the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech that makes Covaxin, said late in March that the restrictions by the US “on some of the materials” have impacted supply logistics for vaccine makers. “You see the supply logistics, where the US has put a restriction on some of the materials (for making vaccines). They cannot be exported to other countries. Actually, one of the raw materials we need to get, we are not able to get it from the US and Sweden,” said Dr Ella.
Datla, while talking to Financial Times, had said that it has become extremely difficult for the vaccine manufacturers to not only produce Covid-19 vaccine but routine vaccines as well. Her company is expected to make a billion doses of the J&J vaccine and scale up production of its recombinant protein vaccine with Baylor College to a billion doses over an unspecified time period. She added that it was not clear how the restriction would impact the production in future as the company was testing the recombinant protein vaccine in India.
WHO had also expressed concerns over export embargo
SII’s Adar Poonawalla has been repeatedly making appeals at international forums for nations to not impose export restrictions. Speaking at an World Bank event in March 5, Poonawalla had stated that US embargo over key raw materials will cause severe bottlenecks for vaccine production.
If we are talking about building capacity all over the world, the sharing of these critical raw materials is going to become a critical limiting factor. Nobody has been able to address this so far.”
Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the WHO, had also expressed concern over the availability of raw materials. “There is a shortage of raw materials, of products that you need for the manufacturing of vaccines. This is where you need global agreement and coordination not to do export bans.”
There are other suppliers, but the situation is complicated
Though there are other companies in the world that can provide the raw materials, but, at this time, due to the surge in demand, logistics, and regulatory issues, it is difficult to hunt for another suppliers. Moreover, unlike other medical devices, when materials for the vaccine are sourced from another supplier, the drug controller has to be informed. That means if any of vaccine manufacturer wants to change the suppliers, they would need permission from the drug controller that is a lengthy process. Even the standard manufacturing protocols will need changes in certain cases, further causing regulatory concerns, not to mention the impact on the production process and quantities. Thus, getting permissions in time for a change of suppliers is not feasible, especially at the time when India is facing an unexpected surge due to the second wave of the Covid-19.
At a time when India is reeling under the coronavirus pandemic, several parties are leaving no stone unturned to turn the crisis into a political drama.
Gujarat Congress MLA, Jasu Patel staged a ‘dharna’ by sleeping in front of a health officers cabin in Aravali to register his protest on the shortage of essential medical supplies needed to treat Covid-19.
અરવલ્લી: ધારાસભ્યનો ઇન્જેક્શન અને ઓક્સિજન મામલે વિરોધ, આરોગ્ય અધિકારીની ઓફિસ સામે સુઈ ગયા pic.twitter.com/wKPyPanZJp
The Congress MLA claimed that there is an acute shortage of Remdesivir injections, oxygen supply and testing kits in the state. He also accused the state government of not tending to the requirements and leaving its people to die.
He claimed that he has been getting multiple distress calls to make arrangements of essential supplies.
He also urged the state government to make sufficient arrangements for oxygen and critical drugs for the state at the earliest.
It is imperative that earlier this month, he was booked in a robbery case after he created a ruckus at bank meeting. He and his family members were accused of robbing a victim of their gold chain in the ruckus. Subsequently, thousands of his supporters marched to police station demanding the FIR be quashed. In March this year, he had threatened to jump off the balcony in Gujarat Vidhansabha after district health officer did not pick up his call.
Gujarat installs oxygen plants
To meet the growing requirement, the Gujarat government inaugurated a 280-litre per minute capacity PSA oxygen plant at a Covid-19 hospital at Kolavada in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar.
11 more PSA oxygen plants have been sanctioned for the state of Gujarat under the PM Cares Fund to ensure uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen.
Additionally a 1,200-bed hospital for Covid-19 patients will soon be readied in Gandhinagar.
Days after the Vedanta-owned Sterlite Copper offered to restart production at its two oxygen plants in the now-defunct copper smelter at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, the State government has allowed it to restart its operations for a period of four months. Sterlite Copper had appealed to the government to allow it to produce oxygen to help the nation in need.
Tamil Nadu Government allows to reopen Vedanta’s Sterlite plant in Tuticorin for four months only for the production of Oxygen.#COVID19pic.twitter.com/0o6ctCoXAw
The decision was taken following an all-party meet chaired by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami at the secretariat in Chennai on Monday. Considering the acute shortage of medical oxygen faced by the nation, the state government decided to reopen the Sterlite copper smelter plant at Thoothukudi for a period of four months to ensure adequate supply.
The representatives of recognized parties such AIADMK, DMK, BJP, PMK, DMDK, Communist parties and officials from the Director General of Police and Health Secretary were a part of the meeting.
The decision to reopen the plant for manufacturing medical oxygen was taken unanimously as informed by Chief Minister Edappadi.
Highlighting the resolutions passed at the meeting, he informed, “The copper smelter plant at Thoothukudi would be allowed to reopen for a period of four months only to manufacture oxygen. Under no circumstance will Vedanta be allowed to open or operate other plants that would be used for copper production. Based on the requirement of oxygen, the period might be extended. The electricity supply to the oxygen plants would be cut by the government after the specified period.”
The order further stated that the oxygen to other states will be sent only after Tamil Nadu’s requirements are met completely.
Other resolutions include:
Technicians of the copper smelter unit alone would be permitted to enter the area with proper admission cards.
The government would provide adequate security to the unit.
A committee under the leadership of the district collector would be set up to monitor the manufacturing activities.
District SP, officials from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, district environmental officer, local representatives, environmental activists, three people from anti-sterlite organization would be part of the committee.
Speaking to the reporters, Thoothukudi MP and the party’s women’s wing leader Kanimozhi said a resolution has been passed in the meeting to reopen the copper plant temporarily for producing oxygen alone and there should be no electricity supply for the rest of the plant. Power to the plant should be supplied only by the state government, she demanded.
Vedanta’s plea
India reported a seven time increase in the requirement of medical oxygen after being hit by the second wave of coronavirus pandemic.
In order to bridge this demand and supply gap, Vedanta-owned Sterlite Copper had offered to restart production at its two oxygen plants in the now shut copper smelter at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu. Vedanta had said that the plant contains two oxygen plants with a combined production capacity of 1,050 tonnes of oxygen daily.
The company has sent two separate letters to the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in this regard.
Supreme Court’s observation
The Supreme Court on April 22 had termed the Covid-19 situation as a ‘national emergency’ while agreeing to hear Vedanta’s plea to reopen the unit for producing oxygen. The apex court remarked that people are dying due to lack of oxygen and asked the state government why it cannot take over the Sterlite Copper unit for producing oxygen. “We are not interested that Vedanta or A, B or C runs it. We are interested that oxygen should be produced,” a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde had said.
Hinting at the law-and-order issue, the state resisted reopening of the Sterlite Copper plant on April 23. Dismissing the concern, the top court stated that some states are in dire need of oxygen and the resources should be distributed equally.
As per reports, tension prevailed at the Thoothukudi collector’s office on Friday during a public hearing which led to heated arguments between the pro and anti-Sterlite groups. The police had to intervene to bring the situation under control.
