Social media sites are awash with an undated viral video of RJD MLA Satish Kumar Das from the Makhdumpur assembly constituency of Jehanabad district of Bihar where he is seen making derogatory remarks on Hindu deities. Das expressed shock over people worshipping Shivaling and made disparaging remarks against Goddess Durga and Holika.
In the viral video, reportedly old, Satish Kumar Das is heard asking if there is any shame left in the society for worshipping Lord Shiva’s penis(Shivaling). Speaking on the Hindu festival of Holi, Das said the daughter of a Dalit house, Holika was raped by a handful of people who later burnt her alive. He further added that people now mark the event by celebrating Holi and applying colors to each other. Das said Holi is such a festival in which the father-in-law and the brother-in-law do not hesitate from touching their daughter-in-law and sister-in-law while applying colors.
Source: YouTube
RJD MLA Satish Das also allegedly made objectionable remarks on Goddess Durga
Besides, Das also made controversial remarks on Goddess Durga. He reportedly said that in a country where 6-year-old, 8-year-old girls are raped, Goddess Durga merely sitting on a lion won’t work. It cannot be established when and in which rally did the RJD leader make such remarks.
The video has, nonetheless, created a stir and discontent among people, with various organizations hitting the streets protesting against the RJD MLA for his objectionable statements. Many organizations also burnt his effigy at Arwal turn and demanded stringent action to be taken against Das for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. Notably, MLA Satish Kumar Das is a resident of Gaya district, who won the assembly elections in 2020 from Makhdumpur Assembly constituency on an RJD ticket.
Note: OpIndia cannot confirm the authenticity of the viral video.
Parler, the social media platform with a commitment towards Freedom of Expression, will be forced to go offline after Amazon Web Service announced that Parler will be removed from its web hosting service. It was after Google and Apple had already removed social media platform from their app stores.
Latest comments by CEO John Matze reveal that Parler has also been dropped by related services such as texting and email. In addition, their lawyers have dropped them as clients. Matze told Fox Newx, “We are gonna try our best to get back online as quickly as possible but we are having a lot of trouble because every vendor we talk to, they say they won’t work with us because if Apple doesn’t approve, Google doesn’t approve, they won’t.”
VIDEO: Parler CEO admits his comment yesterday about “many competing for our business” was wrong, says no one wants to host website after being dropped by Amazon.
“Every vendor, from text message services to email providers to our lawyers, all ditched us too, on the same day,” Matze said.
Parler has maintained that they won’t give in to such politically motivated threats. “Apparently they believe Parler is responsible for ALL user-generated content on Parler,” Matze has said previously. “Therefor (sic) by the same logic, Apple must be responsible for ALL actions taken by their phones. Every car bomb, every illegal cell phone conversation, every illegal crime committed on an iPhone, Apple must also be responsible for,” he wrote.
The future course of action for Parler is not yet clear. They are slated to go offline by today. It is not yet clear when they will return, if they do at all.
Hearing a clutch of petitions seeking the removal of people participating in the ‘farmers’ protests near Delhi borders owing to the Coronavirus outbreak and petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of the three new farm laws, the Supreme Court bench led by CJI SA Bobde raised apprehensions that the farmers, who have been camping at the border areas of Delhi, agitating against the three new farm laws, might create situations which might breach the peace.
It might be intended or unintended, said the SC asking the people who are protesting to follow guidelines. “We don’t want anybody’s injury or blood on our hands!”, observed the CJI.
Senior Adv Vikas Singh: There needs to be guidelines for protesters.
CJI: the people who are protesting are not reading guidelines. We don’t want anybodys injury or blood on our hands!
“Responsibility is on all of us. Any stray incident can spark violence. All of it cannot be achieved in a single order. As a court we will not pass any order saying that you cannot protest. But we can say that it is not the only place to protest”, said CJI SA Bobde while hearing a bunch of petitions seeking removal of farmer protesters near Delhi borders.
The apex court opined that it was not in favour of the annulment of the new farm laws, however, its implementation could be put on hold until a committee with ICAR members is formed to tackle the “delicate situation”.
CJI: This whole thing has been going on. What negotiation has been going on?
AG: Farmer unions are saying either repeal the #FarmActs or protest will continue
CJI: We are not on repeal. This is delicate situation.
Speaking about the efforts the central government has so far made and is further ready to make to resolve the deadlock, senior Adv Harish Salve appearing for the centre, said: “On Minimum Support Price we have agreed upon. All areas on which they are not agreeing with the centre can be resolved by judicial orders. The objectionable parts of law can be stayed”.
On this, the bench comprising of CJI Bobde Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian opined that the talks between the Centre and farmer unions on the new agriculture laws failed to make any headway even after the eighth round of talks because the Centre wants to discuss point by point of law and farmers want it to be repealed.
Owing to this, the SC observed that the implementation of the new agricultural laws be kept on hold until the committee does not find a middle path. “If laws are put on hold, then negotiations will have a chance to work out”, observed the apex court.
CJI: talk are breaking down because centre wants to discuss point by point of law and farmers want it to be repealed. We will stay the implementation of the #FarmActs
Though the court said that it would not like to comment on the on going protest as they did not wan’t anyone to point fingers at them accusing them of stifling the protest, the SC bench observed that there was urgent need to relocate the protesters as a precaution to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
It raised apprehension at the way Centre was handling the entire fiasco.
Almost in a threatening tone, the CJI did say that if the Centre did not constitute a committee, the Court will stay the farm laws.
CJI: we propose to form a committee and if government does not then we will stay the implementation of the farm acts. #FarmBills
The CJI said, “We propose to form a committee and if the government does not (stay the law), then we will stay the implementation of the Farm Acts. We are extremely disappointed with the way Centre is dealing with this. We are doing this because you have failed to solve the problem. Union of India has to take responsibility. The laws have resulted in a strike and now you have to solve the strike,” the Court said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta vehemently argued that the Centre has done its best to resolve the deadlock and said that observations by the Court in that regard were “harsh”.
The Court did not pass any order on Monday but remarked that it is likely to pass its order later today or tomorrow.
“We might pass the order in part today and in part tomorrow,”
The Court also said that it will do its job as the apex court of the country.
“We are the Supreme Court of India and we will do our job“, said CJI Bobde.
Further, CJI said, “Our intention is to see if we can bring about an amicable resolution to the problem. That is why we asked you why don’t you put the Farm Bills on hold. You want time for negotiation. If there is some sense of responsibility showing that you will not implement the laws, then we can form a committee with ICAR members to look into this. Till then, you can continue to put the law on hold. Why will you insist on continuing the law anyhow”.
Attorney General KK Venuogapal, representing the Centre, objected to the stay stating that the laws are within the legislative power of the Parliament.
Several commentators have criticised the approach of the Judiciary saying that the Judiciary cannot wade into Legislative powers and curb the laws passed by a democratically elected government, thereby, effectively infringing on Legislative discretion.
Supreme Court raises concern over ‘farmers’ protests turning into another superspreader Tablighi Jamaat event
Prior to this, the Supreme Court bench had raised concerns while drawing equivalences between the ongoing ‘farmer’ protests and the controversial Tablighi Jamaat congregation in the capital last year that went on to become one of India’s biggest clusters of coronavirus cases. Observing that the same problem may arise from farmers’ protests too, the apex court had asked the Centre to file a report on the steps taken so far to contain the pandemic and ensure guidelines are strictly followed.
It may be recalled how the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, which took place in Nizamuddin Markaz in the first half of March, became the mega-spreader of coronavirus in India, as many as more than one-third cases in India are linked to that event now. Now, with thousands of ‘farmers’ camping at the border areas of Delhi for over 45 days, chances are extremely high that this could emerge as a second Nizamuddin Markaz.
Even as the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra reduced the security cover of former CM Devendra Fadnavis and his family, Union Minister Ramdas Athavale, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, as well as removed the cover for state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil and former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, it has not shied away from providing the government security cover for relatives of its leaders.
As per the new directives by the Maharashtra government, Varun Sardesai, Secretary, Yuva Sena, has been provided with ‘X’ security cover. It is pertinent to note here that Sardesai is the nephew of Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray. The government also newly granted security cover to Shiv Sena MLA Vaibhav Naik, who defeated Rane in the assembly polls in 2014.
Besides Sardesai, the wife of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Sunetra Pawar has also been provided with the ‘X’ security cover.
Relatives of Maha Vikas Aghadi government leaders provided with government security
Former Maha CM Devendra Fadnavis, Raj Thackeray, Ramdas Athavale among leaders whose security has been scaled down
In a notification issued on Thursday last week, the Maharashtra state government made 16 withdrawals, 13 new protectees, 11 downgrades and two upgrades. The changes in the security cover triggered a political row, with the Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhyay accusing the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of practising “vendetta politics”.
A former Governor, two former CMs, two serving Union ministers and the Maharashtra BJP president were among those whose security cover was either withdrawn or downgraded by the Maharashtra government. Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s security cover was reduced from earlier ‘Z+’ cover to ‘Y+’ with an escort. Similarly, the government also lowered the cover extended to his wife, Amruta, and daughter, Divija, from ‘Y+’ category to ‘X’ category while withdrawing the security cover of his aunt, Shobhatai Fadnavis—a former minister and a sitting MLC.
Maharashtra government issues a notification informing about the changes in security cover
After Maharashtra government reduced Devendra Fadnavis’ security, the former chief minister said that he had never asked for one and his movement won’t be affected by the downgrading of his security detail. Fadnavis said, “I never demanded security even as party chief, it was only as CM, when there were threats, I was given security. This won’t affect my movement at all. We are not the kind of leaders who depend on security, we work among the people.”
Among BJP leaders whose security detail has been withdrawn include—Union Minister Raosaheb Danve, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil, former Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade, former state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, former social justice minister Rajkumar Badole as well as legislators Ram Kadam and Prasad Lad.
Furthermore, the government also reduced the security cover of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray from ‘Z’ category to ‘Y+’ with an escort. Union Minister Ramdas Athavale’s security detail was also scaled down.
State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh refutes opposition allegations
Responding to the allegations of vendetta politics against the government, State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh claimed the downgrading was as per a routine threat perception review. He added that NCP chief Sharad Pawar had called him, offering to lower his security cover. “Pawar is a national leader but he has barely used any security in the last four years. Even Ajit Pawar had no escort,” Deshmukh said.
The conversation around the tyranny of big-tech has now taken centre stage after President Donald Trump was suspended from using all social media platforms following the Capitol Hill riots. Alleging that the President of the United States was fomenting violence, several platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and even other platforms like PayPal, Pinterest etc banned Trump. The alternate platform that the American right-wing had created called Parler, was also de-platformed by Apple and Google. As the conversation raged, many started talking about an Indian social media platform called Tooter, urging fellow citizens to join the platform to avoid big-tech tyranny.
Mr Nanda, who is evidently the CEO of Tooter took to Twitter and urged people to join Tooter.
We weren’t colonized by the british in a day. So how did it happen? They came to Bharat for business in early 1600s but their rule began in 1757. It happens so slowly you won’t even notice. It is happening now. Digital colonization. Fight back Twitter #Tooter@TooterDotIn
While appealing to join Tooter, Nanda said that Twitter has banned Donald Trump in 2021, and it could just as easily ban PM Narendra Modi in 2024. Hence, people should join Tooter.
Twitter banned the still sitting president of USA. Guess what they will do to our beloved Pradhan Mantri Shree @narendramodi ji in 2024. I will not let this happen. I will put my last paisa into #Tooter to stand up against Twitter’s hegemony. Are you with me Bharat? @TooterDotIn
One of the elements because of which Tooter ended up getting a lot of coverage in the media, was that it was believed that the platform even got the endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Tooter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have a verified account.
PM Modi account on Tooter
There are several ‘Toots’ from his account too, that mirror the ‘Tweets’ that he posts on Twitter.
This fact was covered by several media houses, giving legitimacy to the fact that PM Modi indeed had an account on Tooter. Several media houses like Indian Express, Times of India and even The Quint reported that celebrities such as Virat Kohli, Deepika Padukone, Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, several ministers and even Prime Minister Modi have an account on Tooter.
However, now several doubts have come to the fore. BJP spokespersons Tajinder Bagga and Suresh Nakhua took to Twitter to announce that PM Modi has not really joined Tooter and that Tooter has themselves made an account of PM Modi and verified it to give the impression that he has indeed endorsed the platform.
When OpIndia tried to confirm from its source, OpIndia too was told that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had indeed not joined Tooter and neither had the ministers who purportedly have a verified account on Tooter now.
It appears as thought the Tooter team has created an account of PM Modi and several other ministers and coded their platform in a manner that pulls the tweets from Twitter to their current account on Tooter.
A confirmation of that fact was also hinted at when Mr R Vaidya asked Mr Nanda why he had a verified account on Tooter and how people were being made to follow him, since he himself had not made an account yet.
Tweet exchange between R Vaidya and Nanda (CEO of Tooter)
As this report was being written, IT Cell Head of BJP also took to Twitter to tweet that none of the BJP units, PM Modi, HM Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda or other functionary had accounts on Tooter.
Please note that neither the BJP or any of its state units, nor Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President J P Nadda have a presence on Tooter.
PM Modi not on Tooter, but what is Tooter all about?
Tooter, in its ‘About Us’ page says, “We believe that India should have a Swadeshi social network. Without one we are just a digital colony of the American Twitter India Company, no different than what we were under the British East India Company. Tooter is our Swadeshi Andolan 2.0. Join us in this Andolan. Join us!”.
Interestingly, the moment someone joins Tooter, they are automatically made to follow three accounts – that of the CEO of Tooter, Mr R Vaidya and one ‘news’ handle.
Who Tooter makes you follow by default
A detailed report by Inc24 highlights how privacy policy page mentioned that it wouldn’t provide a user’s data to any person “unless compelled by a court order issued by a US court, except in cases of a life-threatening emergency.” Another passage under the header “Children Under the Age of 18” read, “California residents under 16 years of age may have additional rights regarding the collection and sale of their personal information. Please see Your California Privacy Rights (below) for more information.”
In fact, the ‘Terms of Service’ mentioned that in matters relating to the website, any disputes or claims shall be governed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Pennsylvania, a state in the US.
It would appear that when Tooter launched, they had mostly copied their terms and conditions from another website. However, after this was covered by Inc24, Tooter had updated their policy.
Tooter also says that its codebase and ‘free and open source’.
Source: Tooter
While Tooter relies on open-source and free codebase, it used to charge its users Rs 1,000 to ‘upgrade’ their account to get a verified badge, post rich text etc, at least November end when this article was published.
The Directors of Tooter Private Limited are Naresh Vankayalapati and Rameshwar Rao Vankayalapati. Not much is specifically known about them, or the CEO Mr Nanda.
While an Indian alternative to all social media platforms, including the information hub Wikipedia is the need of the hour, having verified accounts of people without their knowledge, especially of ministers and heads of states like the Prime Minister, poses a significant risk since information tweeted from the handle could be misconstrued as authentic.
While Prime Minister Modi may join Tooter or any other made-in-India platform in the future, one can safely conclude that he is not on Tooter just yet, and neither are several other celebrities whose verified accounts appear on Tooter now.
A game of cricket is not over until the last ball is bowled. And nothing can be truer in the context of the much anticipated 3rd Test match between India and Australia at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). With a target of 407 runs in front of India in the 2nd innings, Australia was hoping for a comfortable victory at the end of the 4th day.
But the tide turned in India’s favour on the 5th day. With Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant setting the momentum early in the game, an injured Hanuma Vihari and tailender RS Ashwin took the match away from Australia. In an extraordinary display of resilience, grit and determination, the two players battled for 3 hours against Australia’s top pace and spin bowling attack to draw the match. As the game progressed, an impatient and ‘frustrated’ Australian side resorted to on-field shenanigans and unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Unsportsmanlike behaviour of Matthew Wade
Cricket is regarded as a gentleman’s game but Australian player Matthew Wade took to unsportsmanlike behaviour in the hopes of making his team win. When Ashwin steered the ball to him, Wade started acting in a creepy and hysterical way to mock Ashwin’s resilience.
However, Wade did not stop here. He then resorted to physically attacking an already injured Hanuma Vihari by intentionally throwing the ball at his body from close quarters.
Another hit on Hanuma Vihari’s body, with a throw from Matthew Wade yet again. Vihari, who has a hamstring injury, didn’t say a single word on both occasions, and just smiled.#INDvAUS#AUSvINDpic.twitter.com/SlH7pz1Yd5
Far from apologising, he instead repeated his notorious act and kept smiling.
Unwarranted sledging by Tim Paine interrupts the match
While Australian bowlers failed to make an impact, the captain decided to take the matter in his own hands. In an unwarranted episode of sledging, Tim Paine tried to distract Ashwin’s concentration with his continuous chatter. “Can’t wait for Gabba mate,” Paine said. In a classic response, Ashwin replied, “Come to India, and it would be your last series”.
At one point, the banter reached such an unprecedented level that Ashwin refused to take the strike and directed to the umpire to intervene.
Tim Paine was distracting Ashwin, and said – “Can’t wait for Gabba mate.”
Ashwin replied – “Come to India, and it would be your last series”. Ashwin then refused to bat, until Paine stopped his blabbering.
While the intention was to distract Ashwin, Tim Paine ended up losing his own focus in the game. Even though a victory for Australia seemed implausible with just 5 overs remaining, Mitchelle Starc was able to create an opportunity for his team.
Paine, however, dropped a simple, plump catch after Hanuma Vihari nicked off to Starc’s ball and thereby diminishing any chances of a comeback in the match.
Steve Smith removes Rishabh Pant’s guard marks
During the match Australian cricketer, Steve Smith has been accused of shadow-batting at the crease and scuffle out the guard marks made by Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant, forcing him to retake the same. The snippet of the video was shared on Twitter by cricket fan @cricket_badger. The incident happened after the drinks break when the stump camera caught Smith doing the unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Pant had to mark his guard all over again. Cricket fans were upset over Steve Smith’s action. They slammed the Australian cricketer who was earlier found tampering ball and subsequently banned from all forms of domestic and international cricket for a year in 2018.
Racial abuse by Australian fans
During the 3rd day of the Test match, Indian cricketers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were subjected to racial abuse. An official stated, “BCCI lodged a formal complaint with ICC match referee David Boon about two of their players, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, being abused by a drunk spectator.” Such a spectacle was yet again witnessed during the 4th Day of the 3rd ODI match between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday.
After a section of ‘drunk’ Australian supporters hurled racist slurs at Mohammed Siraj, he promptly complained to the on-field umpires. Siraj was supported by all his teammates, including the captain Ajinkya Rahane. The match came to a halt temporarily, with the authorities and security officials desperately trying to find the accused. When Mohammed Siraj pointed in the direction of the stands, the officials quickly investigated the matter and kicked out a group of 4 men, followed by two others, from the stadium.
Japan, which is already grappling with soaring cases of the Wuhan coronavirus might be in for new trouble. The country’s Health Ministry has now found a new strain of Coronavirus in four passengers arriving from Brazil.
The information about the new variant of the pathogen is limited to its genetic make-up, and it’s tough to immediately determine how infectious the strain is or the effectiveness of current available vaccines against it, Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases said in a statement.
While some news reports suggest that this mutated strain bears similarities to those found in the UK and South Africa, some have reported otherwise.
Meanwhile, Japan’s institute, in a separate statement, confirmed that the 4 passengers, who were diagnosed being infected with the variant of the virus, had arrived at Japan’s Haneda airport from Brazil on January 2. One of the four was asymptomatic. The man, who was in his 40s was admitted to the hospital after his respiratory problems increased.
According to a local newspaper, the NIID informed the World Health Organization of this new strain and are now investigating if the variant causes more severe cases.
Meanwhile, the UK and South Africa had also reported the emergence of new strains of the Wuhan coronavirus last month. While the authorities in the United Kingdom had confirmed the new strain of the pathogen on December 21 2020, South Africa broke the news of identifying a new variant of the novel coronavirus on December 25, 2020.
With this highly transmissible new variant of the virus surging across Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed a third national lockdown in England – its most populous region – to try to stem the pandemic before the most vulnerable are immunised.
India’s health ministry on Saturday also said that the total number of cases of the mutant strain of Covid-19 in India, first found in the United Kingdom, has gone up to 90. Govt of India had confirmed that the current vaccines will work against the Covid-19 variants detected in the UK and South Africa.
In a video that has now gone viral on social media, two women were seen being kicked out off a Delta Airlines flight for allegedly being supporters of Donald Trump.
“They are all on a no-fly list for being radical White terrorists,” claimed a man in the background. The women kept reiterating ‘freedom of speech’ and their rights under the First Amendment of the Constitution while they walked out of the flight. The other passengers were seen mocking and telling them to ‘get out.’ Some passengers were also hurling abusive words towards the two women.
In another video, a man was seen have a public outburst after he was supposedly not allowed to fly. He alleged that he was called a ‘terrorist’ and vilified by the airlines. The man was then comforted by another woman, who said that she was also kicked out of a Delta flight earlier. The video was posted on Twitter by a handle (@RayRetracted) who claimed that the man was put on a ‘No Fly List’ for participating in the US Capitol riots.
People who broke into the Capitol Wednesday are now learning they are on No-Fly lists pending the full investigation. They are not happy about this. pic.twitter.com/5GfHo1eVU8
Passengers denied entry for expressing support for Donald trump privately
In another video, several passengers were barred from boarding their flight for expressing their support for outgoing US President Donald Trump. According to a man in the background, over 30 police officers were called in to pacify the situation, even though the passengers were not a threat to security.
Delta Airlines kicked these people out from their plane. They were not trying to hijack the plane.They were just having a private talk and expressed their support for Trump.Globalism is turning America and the world into a dictatorship much more criminal than Nazism and Communism pic.twitter.com/kiaESAgTKx
While posting the video, a user wrote, “Delta Airlines kicked these people out from their plane. They were not trying to hijack the plane. They were just having a private talk and expressed their support for Trump. Globalism is turning America and the world into a dictatorship much more criminal than Nazism and Communism.”
Trump supporters attack US Capitol Hill
On January 6, The supporters of the outgoing US President Donald Trump had wreaked havoc in the nation’s capital leaving four people dead. The police in Washington DC, have arrested as many as 52 people after supporters of US President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol Hill building and disrupted proceedings. Amidst the chaos, visuals had emerged where the frenzied pro-Trump mob were seen attacking media crews.
Many videos had surfaced on Twitter, where the protestors, amidst “go back” slogans, are seen breaking the cameras and vandalizing other types of equipment of the media, outside the US Capitol Hill building in Washington DC.
Even as a large number of farmers from Punjab are protesting against the newly introduced Farm Bills, an RTI response by the Agriculture Ministry revealed that Punjab farmers form a major chunk of the total undeserving beneficiaries to receive payouts under the PM KISAN scheme. The RTI response revealed that the government had paid Rs 1,364 crores to 20.48 lakh undeserving beneficiaries under the ambitious PM-Kisan scheme.
The RTI was filed by applicant Venkatesh Nayak of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative(CHRI) seeking the list of beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sammann Nidhi(PM-KISAN) scheme which was launched by the central government in 2019. Under this scheme, income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal instalments is paid to small and marginal farmer families having combined landholding or ownership of up to 2 hectares.
In its response to the RTI application, the Union Agriculture Ministry stratified into two categories of undeserving beneficiaries who received PM-KISAN payouts as “ineligible farmers” and “income tax payee farmers”. The RTI response mentioned that more than half of the undeserving beneficiaries belong to the “income tax payee category”. Institutional farmers, farmer families holding constitutional positions, serving or retired government employees as well as professionals are ineligible under the scheme.
“The remaining 44.41% belong to the ‘ineligible farmers’ category’,” Nayak said. He also cited media reports to contend that proceedings have been initiated to recover the funds transferred to undeserving beneficiaries.
Punjab farmers highest among the list of 20 lakh undeserving beneficiaries
As per data, a major part of these unqualified recipients belongs to five states—Punjab, Assam, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. However, Punjab tops the list accounting for 23.16 per cent(4.74 lakh) of total ineligible beneficiaries across the country who received payouts. Trailing Punjab is Assam with 16.87 per cent(3.45 lakh) and then Maharashtra where 13.99 per cent of 2.86 lakh beneficiaries have wrongly received the payouts.
Gujarat is the fourth position with 8.05 per cent(1.64 lakh beneficiaries), followed by Uttar Pradesh at fifth position with 8.01 per cent or 1.64 lakh beneficiaries. Sikkim has registered the lowest figure with just one undeserving beneficiary.
“The total amount of ₹1,364.13 crores was paid to recipients across the states in 68.20 lakh instalments (where each instalment of ₹2,000 paid out per recipient is counted separately). Out of this, 49.25 lakh instalments were paid to ‘IT payee farmers’ while 18.95 lakh instalments were paid to ‘ineligible farmers’ across the country,” Nayak said quoting the RTI data.
PM Kisan scheme launched to provide income support to small and marginal farmers
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sammann Nidhi is an initiative launched by the central government under which an amount of Rs 6,000 per year is transferred in three instalments of Rs 2,000 each every four months through direct benefits transfers(DBT) directly into the bank accounts of the farmers, based on exclusion criteria related to higher-income status.
The scheme excludes several categories of farmers such as institutional landholders, farmer families in which one or more members is among beneficiaries, former and present holders of constitutional posts; former and present ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, mayors and chairmen of district panchayat; serving and retired government employees; pensioners receiving over ₹10,000 monthly pensions; income tax payees and professionals such as doctors, engineers, chartered accountants and architects etc.
On January 7 in Rajasthan, the CID in a joint operation detained the husband of a former sarpanch, identified as Satyanarayan Paliwal, based on intelligence input. As per the reports, he was honey-trapped by the women wing of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI. During his interrogation, Paliwal confessed that he had shared confidential documents on social media. He was taken to Jaipur for further interrogation.
A report by Bhaskar states since he was the husband of village Sarpanch, the ISI agent contacted him on social media few years back. She introduced herself as an Indian and would chat with him. Soon she started doing video calls with him. Citing sources, Bhaskar report states that she then started getting nude on video chats. After taking him into confidence, she started extracting sensitive information from him.
As per reports, Paliwal has been shared information with ISI’s agents for the last one year. The information included the Indian Army’s confidential positioning and movements etc. The region comes under Lathi police station. The information was shared with the police by Indian intelligence and security agencies. Paliwal has now been arrested.
Paliwal was in contact with two women from Pakistan
As per reports, the ISI hone-trappers sent Paliwal a friend request on social media and honey-trapped him. He had got two friend requests from women living in Pakistan. One of them identified herself as a journalist while others said she was working with a private company.
A report in TOI has stated that the ISI has been trying hard to get details of troop movements and positioning around the Pokhran Field Firing range in Jaisalmer, close to the Pakistan border.
Paliwal has allegedly been communicating with the women on a regular basis. One of the women had also contacted him over WhatsApp from an Indian number. Being the husband of the sarpanch, it was easier for him to get information about the Army’s activities as the sarpanch has to give certificates to regiments for firing and other activities. He took advantage of his wife’s position and started collecting confidential information to pass on to the women.
As per the reports, the intelligence bureau got a tip about the honey-trap after which vigil on Paliwal was increased. After confirming the fact that he was passing on the information, he was detained and inquired. During the probe, Paliwal confessed to sharing information but insisted that he has not taken any money for it.
Umesh Mishra, ADG Rajasthan intelligence confirmed the case and said that Paliwal was detained on suspicion of passing on strategic information from Lathi area. He was taken to Jaipur for intensive investigation.
Meerut honey-trapping case
In another such case, one Saurabh Sharma is also arrested on spying charges. As per the report, he was staying away from his wife after they separated due to incompatibility issues. Last week, UP ATS raided places in Hapur and in Gujarat’s Godhra where one retired jawan of the Indian Army was arrested. He is accused of sending sensitive information to Pakistan spy agency.
As per report, he got in touch with a Pakistani woman in 2014. He shared some sensitive information with her till 2016 through text and audio files and would use WhatsApp to make calls. For this, the handler would pay him money.
How honey-traps work?
Honey-trapping someone to get strategic information is not a new strategy. As per the experts, trained agents, even men pretending to be women, use social media platforms to trap naïve men. Pakistan’s ISI has been allegedly using the strategy against India on a large scale. Women agents of ISI contact people working in different fields on social media and befriend them. Once the men start to have faith in them or fall in love with them, they begin to gather strategic information. In case the men try to get out of their trap, they start blackmailing them that they will reveal their name to the security agencies.
