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‘Comedian’ Munawar Faruqui, who mocked Hindu victims of the Godhra riots of 2002 in his shows, sent to judicial custody

OpIndia Staff
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‘Comedian’ Munawar Faruqui, who mocked Hindu victims of the Godhra riots of 2002 in his shows, sent to judicial custody

Munawar Faruqui, the controversial ‘stand-up comedian’, who was arrested on Saturday by the Indore police along with four others for passing indecent remarks about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a show in the city, has been sent to judicial custody.

According to the reports, a local court in Indore rejected the bail pleas of the accused and sent them in judicial custody. Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Aman Singh Bhuria refused to grant bail to Faruqui and other four and remanded them in judicial custody till January 13.

Congress leader Anshumaan Shrivastava defends Faruqui

Advocate Anshumaan Shrivastava, representing Farooqui, claimed the FIR had been registered with a political motive and claimed that the accused had constitutional provisions of freedom of speech. Shrivastava is former Deputy Advocate General of Madhya Pradesh government and state spokesperson and secretary of legal cell of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.

However, opposing bail applications, lawyer Dinesh Pandey said the show was held without the administration’s permission and it hurt religious feelings.

Kamlesh Sharma, the in-charge of Tukoganj police station said that a case was filed late on Friday night against Munawar Faruqui, a resident of Junagadh in Gujarat and four Indore-based persons based on a written complaint filed by Hindu activist Eklavya Singh Gaur.

As per the complaint, ‘Comedian’ Munawar Faruqui had passed indecent remarks were passed against Hindu gods and goddesses and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the show, Sharma said. The other arrested persons were identified as Edwin Anthony, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas and Nalin Yadav. The controversial comedy show was held at a cafe in 56 Dukan area of Indore on Friday.

The Madhya Pradesh police also picked up one of the accused to a police station on a motorbike on Saturday after a complaint was registered against the self-proclaimed comedians for making indecent comments on Hindu gods.

All of them have been booked under IPC sections 295-A (outraging religious feelings), 269 (unlawful or negligent act likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and other relevant provisions. Section 269 was invoked for allegedly ignoring COVID-19 safety protocol, the official said.

Hindu activists handed over Munawar Faruqui to the police

Eklavya Singh Gaur, an activist and the chief of Hindu Rakshak Sangathan, filed the complaint about the show after they had gone to watch the show. When they heard the “indecent” comments, they forced the organisers to stop the program.

The Hindu activist Gaur also submitted video footage of the show. Gaur had said he and his friends went to watch the show where Faruqui was performing as the main comedian.

“The show mocked Hindu deities by passing indecent comments. The Godhra incident and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were also mentioned inappropriately. We shot a video and stopped the show by taking the audience out of the cafe. Then we caught the comedians and organizers of the show and took them to Tukoganj police station,” the Hindu activist said.

Gaur also said that no physical distancing was maintained at the venue and the show had no permission from authorities. At least 100 viewers were sitting in the small hall of the cafe, he said. Gaur denied media reports that Faruqui was beaten up by the activists of Hind Rakshak.

Munawar Faruqui on 2002 Godhra Carnage, Amit Shah and Hindu Gods

During a show in April last year, Munawar Faruqui mocked the 2002 Godhra carnage where 58 Hindus returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive by a Muslim mob. In a part of the clip that had gone viral on social media, one can hear him refer to the carnage as a fictional film ‘directed’ by Amit Shah and ‘produced’ by RSS.

“I was watching The Burning Train on TV. My father came and told me not to watch such nonsense and turned off the channel. I was like, ‘why so?’ He was like this is the video of Godhra kaand. And this is a news channel. I thought it is a movie directed by Amit Shah, produced by RSS… I don’t know…,” he said. Munawar Faruqui then referred to the news about 2002 Godhra carnage as ‘cartoon’.

In a complaint filed with the police, Shivam Rawat, the founder of Pen of Dharma, he emphasised how the comments made by Faruqui hurt the sentiments of millions of Hindus including him. Rawat has stated how Faruqui had used Bollywood songs to make crass, disrespectful remarks on Hindu gods and belief system. He also pointed out how he mocked the brutal massacre of Hindus in the Godhra carnage by claiming, “Marney ke baad jaltay hai na? (Hindus get burnt anyway after death).”

Ho ja Rangeela re! After ditching Congress for Shiv Sena, Urmila Matondkar buys Rs 3.75 crore office space

OpIndia Staff
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Ho ja Rangeela re! After ditching Congress for Shiv Sena, Urmila Matondkar buys Rs 3.75 crore office space

Just weeks after joining the Shiv Sena, Urmila Matondkar has purchased a brand a new office space in Mumbai. The actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar has bought new office space in an upscale commercial complex in Khar area in Mumbai.

According to the reports, the former actress had finalised the property deal in the last few days of 2020. The new property spans a little over a 1000 square feet and is considered to be prime property due to its location.

The office building is located on Linking Road in Khar west and the usual rent for office spaces is reportedly anywhere between Rs 5 to 8 lakhs a month. The Rangeela actress bought an office on the sixth floor of the building and shelled out Rs 3.75 crore for her brand new office. 

According to the people who were part of the deal, the Shiv Sena leader has paid Rs 36,000 per square feet. Matondkar bought the property from businessman Rajesh Kumar Sharma.

Just a few weeks ago, the actress was inducted into the Shiv Sena and is now one of the 12 candidates who has been recommended by the state government to the state Legislative Council from Governor’s quota.

Urmila Matondkar joined Shiv Sena after quitting Congress, to be made an MLC

Bollywood actress-turned-politician Urmila joined Shiv Sena a few weeks back, a year after she resigned from the Congress party.

In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Urmila Matondkar had joined Congress and had contested the elections on party ticket. However, she had lost the elections. Five months later she resigned from the party citing petty politics as the reason.

In her statement, Urmila Matondkar had said, “My political and social sensibilities refuse to allow vested interests in the party to use me as a means to fight petty in-house politics instead of working on a bigger goal in Mumbai Congress.”

Urmila Matondkar had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai North seat as a Congress candidate and had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of BJP leader Gopal Shetty.

However, now she has joined Shiv Sena.

India becomes the first country to culture the new viral strain UK-variant of Chinese coronavirus successfully

OpIndia Staff
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India becomes the first country to culture the new viral strain UK-variant of Chinese coronavirus successfully

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday said that India has successfully isolated and cultured the new strain of coronavirus that causes Covid-19. ICMR further added that no other country has yet reported successful isolation and culture of the UK-variant of SARS-CoV-2.

In a tweet shared by ICMR, the institution said, “SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, was being tracked through a countrywide network of ICMR-laboratories since the early days of the epidemic in India. UK-variant of the virus, with all signature changes, is now successfully isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from the clinical specimens collected from UK-returnees.”

Viral culture is a laboratory technique in which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside their natural environment.

ICMR said that the Vero cell lines were used by the scientists of ICMR-NIV to culture the UK-variant of the virus.

UK-variant is a highly transmissible strain of Covid-19

A few weeks back, it was confirmed that the new more transmissible strain of the Covid-19 virus is behind the spike in infections in the United Kingdom. The experts are suggesting that it is more transmissible than the other SARS-CoV-2 variants. As a precaution, India had suspended all flights originating from the UK to India on December 21 until December 31, which was later extended January 7, 2021.

The central government and state governments are on high alert due to the new strain, and they are working on tracking, testing and isolating patients from the UK since the last week of November. Earlier, there were reports that some of the flyers were untraceable due to wrong addresses, old addresses on passport, wrong contact information and switched off mobile phones. So far, 29 cases of the new strain have been discovered in India.

Protest fallout: How opposition’s dangerous game of fuelling farmers’ protests threatens to leave deep scars on the country’s next gen

Jinit Jain
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Protest fallout: How opposition’s dangerous game of fuelling farmers’ protests threatens to leave deep scars on the country’s next gen

The central government in September 2020 made a bold move of initiating the much-needed reforms in the agriculture sector that were marred with inordinate delays and numerous deferrals. In this context, three new Farm Bills were passed by the government that were aimed at unlocking new opportunities for the beleaguered farmers of the country and help them in raising their incomes and productivity.

However, ever since the Modi government passed the Bills that are intended to benefit the farmers, opportunist opposition political parties and activists harbouring pathological hatred for PM Modi have fallen over themselves to delude the farmers into believing that the reforms would hurt their interests. Elaborate falsehoods, scaremongering, and lies were peddled by the opposition parties and ‘intellectuals’ to make farmers believe that the Farm Bills legislated by the Centre would enable corporates to take over the lands and thereby adversely impact their livelihood.

Opposition political parties and their allies in leftist media join hands to spread lies and misinformation about Farm Bills

The deceit employed by the likes of Congress, Aam Aadmi Party or Trinamool Congress Party to fan an anti-Modi wave is underscored by the fact that each of these opposition parties and several others had promised to bring in a similar set of agriculture reforms in their respective election manifestos.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a desperate attack against the Modi-led government by terming the Farm Bills as ‘Black Laws’ and resorted to fear-mongering on more occasions than one. Besides claiming that the Bills would enable corporatisation of the farmlands, Rahul also stated that the newly introduced agriculture laws would ‘enslave the farmers’. It is a different matter that former PM Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and even Rahul Gandhi had once supported these ‘Black Laws’. It is also worth noting that the Congress party had made similar promises of reforms in its 2019 General election manifesto.

Similar is the case with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party that is perpetually vacillating on the issue of the Farm Bills, trying to have its cake as well as eat it too. In November 2020, the Delhi government led by the Aam Aadmi Party quietly notified one of the three Farm Bills passed by the central government. As protest swept the national capital region, Kejriwal resorted to theatrics and sensationalism when he tore off the newly introduced Farm laws, in a bid to extend their support to the protesters demonstrating along the Delhi borders. 

Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government also passed a resolution demanding the annulment of the three agriculture laws. It is also noteworthy to mention that the Kejriwal-led AAP had vowed to enact similar agricultural reforms in their election manifesto for Punjab assembly elections in 2017.

The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC also has a similar story to that of Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal. The party has been opposing the Farm Bills just because it was passed by their nemesis—The Modi government. Last month, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee asked the BJP government to resign over the Farm Bills. However, she had passed similar laws in West Bengal about six years ago in 2014.

As is evident in each of the cases listed above, the opposition parties did not shy away from sounding the false alarm because it was aligned with their grand scheme of subverting the Modi government, even if that meant undermining the interests of the very farmers whom they claimed to be fighting for. These opposition political parties instigated the farmers to launch protests and pitted them against the central government so that they could revive their dying political fortunes and put the brakes on the BJP’s inexorable rise.

The left-leaning ‘intellectuals’ and commentariats abetted these political parties by adding fuel to the protests and continuing the imbroglio. Despite the Centre’s explicit refusal to include politicians in the farmer-government negotiations , ‘Ichhadhaari protester’ Yogendra Yadav is steadfast in his attempts to be a part of the negotiations. The left media has also bent over backwards to portray the Modi government as insensitive to the farmers’ demands and thereby engender resentment among people against the Centre.

Teenagers subjected to online abuses and harassment for supporting the Farm Bills

The collective efforts by the opposition political parties and their lackeys in the left-leaning media to stoke anarchy and disruption have thrown up a pandora’s box. It has sowed the seeds of discord in the society which now threatens to engulf, arguably, the most the vulnerable section of the society—the teens. Young and impressionable teenagers are now embroiled in bitter quarrelling and sparring on social media websites over their stance on the Farm Bills.

The fact that actors and singers such as Diljit Dosanjh and other prominent personalities have also weighed in on the ongoing farmers’ protests has only served to influence the country’s next generation to have a rigid stance on the farmers’ issue and vigorously defend it, even if it meant resorting to bullying, abusing and harassing the contrarians.

Recently, a series of tweets by a Twitter user against the newly introduced Farm Bills attracted mix reactions—with many opposing her views while several others agreeing with what she was saying about the Farm Bills.

Twitter thread that triggered the online bullying

The user alleged that the GoI had a larger agenda behind passing the Farm Laws which was to create genetically modified organism(GMO) crops to control the population and its health. The user alleged that the promotion of GMO crops was done to make corporates richer and middle class poorer. She also added that GMO would destroy the natural immunity because of consumption of unnatural food.

This wild conspiracy theory naturally drew severe flak on social media, with many rubbishing the user for making incredulous claims to oppose the Farm Bills. However, what ensued later was beyond the imagination of the Twitter users who had interacted on the tweet thread.

Those who had dared to oppose the far-fetched assertions made in the thread were unsolicitedly added to a vile Group Chat where anti-farm bill supporters unleashed a torrent of abuse against them just because they had expressed their support for the Farm Bills.

Supporters of Farm Bills systematically targeted and harassed on Group Chats

The anti-farm bills supporters did not shy away from using nasty invectives, rape threats, sexual innuendos, racist and casteist slurs against those who did not share their views on the Farm Bills. Screengrabs of this gross chat group reveal that not just the Farm Bills supporters but PM Modi, Jain monks, along with other religions were also reviled by the detractors. The chats revealed that even when the victims threatened the online bullies of initiating legal action against them, they did not back off and continued abusing and making vulgar remarks.

Supporters of Farm Bills systematically targeted and harassed on Group Chats

When one of the victims took to Twitter to share her traumatic experience, many responded to her, claiming that they had endured similar ordeal for expressing their views that were at variance with the anti-farm bills proponents.

Opposition political parties and their allies to be blamed for widening the chasm between people in the country

The Group Chat was created with the sole purpose of shaming and abusing the pro-Farm Bills supporters and bullying them into silence. One of the victims revealed that she was added to the group just because she had liked somebody else’s comment on the tweet thread.

Conversation between two social media users who were unsolicitedly added to an abusive Group Chat

It is profoundly disturbing that the fuss over the ongoing farmers’ protests has created a deep fissure within the society and pitted teens against each other. It also highlights how the opposition political parties, in their bid to mount an attack against the Modi government, have turned a blind eye against the social upheaval that their lies and propaganda against the Farm Bills has unleashed.

The objective of this article is not to shame the teenagers for online abusing and bullying but it is meant to reflect on how the unnecessary hullabaloo over the farmers’ protests by the opposition parties and their allies have pulled the country’s next generation in a political maelstrom, leading them to jettison tolerance, courtesy and basic decency against their fellow citizens.

The case evokes the perils associated with online abusing and bullying

This case also brings to mind the ramifications of online abusing and bullying. Earlier in May 2020, a 17-year-old boy named Manav decided to take the extreme step of committing suicide. At that time, the Bois Locker Room controversy was just about gaining steam. An Instagram group had been outed by a girl, where a bunch of teenage boys were seemingly discussing women, sharing their explicit photographs and discussing how to gang-rape them.

Amidst the controversy, a teenage girl took to Instagram and narrated a story about how she was allegedly raped over 2 years ago by a boy named Manav. In her post, she explicitly shielded herself by adding a disclaimer – ‘I don’t have any proof’. This had triggered a barrage of criticism against Manav, who saw his life upended and decided to end his life, to shield himself and his parents from the troubled path that lay ahead.

It is, therefore, all the more important that the teenagers, who are suckered into fighting over the Farm Bills, be nurtured and preserved and there potential be harnessed for the betterment of the society, instead of being used as pawns and foot soldiers by the political parties in their political and ideological battles against their opponents.

Kerala: Four arrested for opposing halal notification in a bakery, had demanded removal saying halal is discriminatory

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Four arrested for opposing halal notification in a bakery, had demanded removal saying halal is discriminatory

A bakery in Kerala, called ‘Mody’, was allegedly forced to remove the ‘Halal’ sticker notifying the availability of Halal food following opposition by Hindu Aikya Vedi activists. The organisation’s Parakkadavu unit president Arun Aravind and secretary Dhanesh Prabhakaran sent a notice to the bakery on the 28th of December saying that halal is discriminatory and amounted to discrimination in the name of food, which is “criminal”.

“The sticker notifying ‘halal’ should be removed within 7 days of the receipt of the notice and such discriminatory descriptions should henceforth be avoided from your future advertisements, failing which the Hindu Aikya Vedi will be forced to boycott the shop and launch protests,” the notice is reported to have said.

As per reports, the matter began after Aravind and a few others visited the bakery for food and insisted on non-halal food. However, they were informed that only halal food was served. “The panchayat does not have enough members of the community to warrant publicising of ‘halal’ food. Those who need it will ask and there is no need for such a notification,” he said.

The notice went viral on social media following which the police stepped in and arrested Aravind and three others. A case has been registered against the four and according to Times Now, they have been released on bail.

Christian groups in Kerala call for boycott of Halal meat

Ahead of Christmas, Christians in Kerala called for boycott of halal meat. Kochi based Christian group Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) urged Christians not to buy Halal food anymore. Hindu groups also extended their support for the call to boycott stating that they are forced to sell Halal meat in the state.

The Indian Union Muslim League had termed the campaign against Halal meat as a controversy to target Muslims. The CASA had announced that Christians would hold protests few days before Christmas. For the protest, they were planning to pool in money for buying and cutting the animals in non-halal manner to oppose halal meat.

What is Halal meat?

Halal can only be performed by a Muslim man. Thus, non-Muslims are automatically denied employment at a Halal firm. There are certain other conditions that must be fulfilled that makes it quite clear that it is intrinsically an Islamic practice.

Guidelines are available at the official website of a certification authority of Halal in India which makes it clear that non-Muslim employees cannot be employed in any part of the slaughtering process. The guidelines of the certification authority of Halal in India expressly mention that people employed to carry out the process of Halal must be Muslims. The guidelines clearly mention that animals slaughtered by a non-Muslim will not be Halal.

Apart from halal meat, halal certification is also available for other products.

Madhya Pradesh police arrest 4 other ‘standup comedians’ along with Munawar Faruqui for mocking Hindu deities and customs

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh police arrest 4 other ‘standup comedians’ along with Munawar Faruqui for mocking Hindu deities and customs

The Madhya Pradesh police arrested five ‘standup comedians’ on January 1 (Friday) for allegedly insulting Hindu gods and goddesses in Indore. Amongst those arrested were Munawar Faruqui, Edvin Anthony, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas and Nalin Yadav.

Based on the FIR filed, the ‘comedians’ have been booked under India Penal Code’s Sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 298 (deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 34 (common intention).

‘Comedian’ Munawar Faruqui and others roughed up for insulting Hindu Gods

They were arrested after leaders of a Hindu group named Hindu Rakshak Sangathan filed an FIR against them for mocking Hinduism and Hindu deities in a stand-up show. The group said that the comedians made “indecent and disgraceful” remarks against Hindu Gods, Goddesses and customs. They also tried to downplay the Godhra carnage and insinuated that Amit Shah was behind it.

We reported how the supporters of Hindu Rakshak Sanstha entered a cafe in Indore, where the comedians were performing at a New Year’s event. On hearing the offensive jokes on Hinduism, the Hindu activists disrupted the program. They allegedly roughed up the comedians before taking them to Tukoganj police station, where an FIR was filed against them.

A purported video of the incident had also gone viral on social media.

FIR filed against the comedians for hurt religious sentiments

In the FIR, it was alleged that the event at the cafe was organised without permission and social distancing rules were violated there. The FIR added that vulgar jokes and provocative remarks were allegedly made at the event to hurt religious sentiments of Hindus.

Deputy Inspector General Harinarayanachari Mishra said the five were arrested on the basis of the FIR. The accused were produced before the court on Saturday. Police is investigating the case.

Subramanian Swamy goes on an anti-vaccine rant to target the Modi government, here is how he is wrong

OpIndia Staff
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Subramanian Swamy goes on an anti-vaccine rant to target the Modi government, here is how he is wrong

It is no longer a secret that BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is turning into a dissident leader. Although he claims to support the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, he has not kept his unhappiness as his wish to join the union cabinet was not fulfilled. Although he has been targeting only specific ministers of the Modi govt, today he went a step ahead in this regard, when he criticised the move to approve the AstraZeneca-Oxford university vaccine for emergency use in India. And in doing so, he resorted to spreading misinformation about the vaccine.

Allegations by Subramanian Swamy

Reacting to Government of India granting emergency use licence for the Coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University, Swamy tweeted that the vaccine has not been cleared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) yet for emergency use, and hence it was incorrect for GOI to do so. He said that Indian people are being made Guinea pigs by approving the vaccine.

When social media users pointed out that the WHO has lost credibility due to its mishandling of the Coronavirus outbreak earlier last year, Swamy alleged that Ratan Tata is involved in the vaccine, accusing him of collaboration with Wuhan University. In a blatant fear-mongering about the vaccine, Subramanian Swamy even compared taking the vaccine with entering a new Gas Chamber.

Swamy also chose to target Dr. Vijay Raghavan, the Principal Adviser on Science in the PMO, alleging that he was Ratan Tata’s “chela” and he was “on the Chinese Wuhan Bat virus project and brought the Chinese to Nagaland to experiment on the Bats without Govt clearance required”. He further claimed that for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, only the vaccine developed by Bharat BioTech is acceptable, and a vaccine from “Bill Gates under a US label” is not acceptable.

Swamy has made several misleading claims while targeting the Modi government over the vaccine.

WHO ‘approval’ not needed to launch vaccines

First, WHO is not a statutory organisation, and its ‘approval’ is not required for deploying a vaccine or medicine in any country. WHO does not ‘certify’ or ‘approve’ vaccines, it only ‘validates’ vaccines. Counties are free to use vaccines not validated by WHO. It is the respective national authorities in each country that approves vaccines, according to regulations of the country.

Not only India, but several countries have started vaccinating people against Coronavirus without any ‘approval’ from WHO on those vaccines. For example, on 31st December 2020, WHO issued its first emergency use validation for COVID-19 vaccine COMIRNATY, developed by Pfizer/BioNTech. But the vaccine was already approved by several countries before that, and is already administered on a large number of people. Almost a month before WHO validation, UK had authorised the use of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and the first shot was given on 8th December.

Similarly, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA)  for the same vaccine on 11th December, more then three weeks before the WHO validation. The COMIRNATY vaccine received authorisation in the European Union on 21st December, also before WHO validation.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been approved by India, has also received emergency use approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the UK. The approval was granted after rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA, which has concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. The vaccine will be rolled out in the UK on 4th January. Following UK, the EU is also expected to approve the vaccine soon, as it is studying the data related to it.

It is important to note that both the FDA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) follows a very rigorous process to approve new drugs, and their approval means that the drug is safe for use on humans, with or without WHO validation.

Therefore, the insinuation by Swamy that the vaccine is not safe because it is not approved by WHO is completely baseless, and it will only add to already spreading fearmongering about a much-needed vaccine against a global pandemic.

AstraZeneca vaccine is being made in India

The second claim, that AstraZeneca vaccine is from Bill Gates and it does not reflect Aatmanirbhar Bharat is also untrue. The vaccine is being produced in India by the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. In fact, SII is one of the success stories of India, which supplies vaccines to dozens of countries across the world.

Coming to the involvement of billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates with the vaccine, it is notable that his Gates Foundation runs vaccination programs in a large number of countries, protecting the lives of millions of people. Gates Foundation is neither making the AstraZeneca vaccine, nor financing its production. Bill Gates only informed that the foundation will share some financial risk the SII will have to face in case the vaccine is not approved.

It is important to note that Serum Institute had started producing the vaccine several moths ago, immediately after it was finalised, and before any trial on it was done. The company had done so to ensure that enough stock is available the moment the vaccine approved, as the manufacturing process takes time. SII has already manufactured more than 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines. It had taken a financial risk by doing so, as if the trials had shown that the vaccine is unsafe or ineffective, it would have to throw away the already produced vaccine doses.

Reacting to this situation, Bill Gates had said that the company will not have to take the entire burden if such a situation arises, and Gates Foundation will bear some of the risk. Basically, the Foundation was providing an insurance against the possible failure of the vaccine.

As per this arrangement, Serum has received US$ 300 million at-risk funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Gavi Vaccine Alliance to develop and make two vaccines, the Covishield by AstraZeneca, and the Covovax by US biotech Novavax. If the vaccines are approved, the company will deliver the vaccines to both the foundations, which will distribute them in poor countries. But if the vaccines fail, the company won’t have to return the money.

As the Covishield has been found to be safe and effective, and it will soon get approval from most major countries, it means SII will deliver the vaccine to the Gates Foundation against the funding. It does not mean the vaccine is coming from Bill Gates as Swamy is claiming.

No Chinese scientist came to Nagaland to study bats

The third claim of Subramanian Swamy about Dr. Vijay Raghavan is also baseless and incorrect. His allegations are based on a fake report by The Hindu which had claimed that researchers from the U.S., China and India had conducted a study on bats in Nagaland. The report had claimed that the study was under the scanner because two of the twelve researchers involved belonged to the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s Department of Emerging Infectious Diseases. But the National Centre for Biological Sciences had denied the claim, and had asserted that no researcher from the Wuhan Institue of Virology was directly involved with the study.

The study was conducted by NCBS and the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, and the report of the study had credited the researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology as co-authors, because they had they supplied reagants critical to the study to Duke-NUS, as is the standard practice for scientific authorship.

The study was on bat antibodies, and it had nothing to with the Coronavirus as The Hindu had alleged. Hence the allegation by Swamy that Dr. Vijay Raghavan was involved in a Chinese Wuhan Bat virus project and brought the Chinese to Nagaland to experiment on bats without require govt clearance is completely false. No Chinese scientist visited Nagaland for the study on bats, they only supplied a critical component for the study.

‘Covid protocol breach’ and outrage over beef: All you need to know about the dining controversy involving Indian cricket team

OpIndia Staff
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‘Covid protocol breach’ and outrage over beef: All you need to know about the dining controversy involving Indian cricket team

Cricket is next to religion for Indians living in the country and abroad. And it is not every day that one gets to see his favourite cricketers from an arm’s length. On Friday, cricket enthusiast and Youtuber Navaldeep Singh chanced upon to meet Indian cricketers at Secret Kitchen restaurant at Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne, ahead of the 3rd Test match. In a tweet, Singh informed that Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma and Navdeep Saini were dining at a table, in front of him.

As an ardent cricket fan of the Indian team, he decided to pay their bill of $118.69 (₹6,681.66). He tweeted, “They are not aware but i have paid there table bill. Least i can do for my superstars.” When the cricketers learnt that Singh had paid the bill, they apparently approached him and requested to take the money.

In his own words, “Pant hugged me and said photo tabhi hogi jab pese loge wapis (We will click the picture together only if you take the money back). I said no bro not happening. Finally sabane photo khichwai..mja aa gya yaar (Finally, we clicked the picture. I am so happy)”

Little did he know that the tweet would soon lend him and the Indian cricketers, especially, Rishabh Pant in trouble.

Australian Media digs a mountain out of a mole

The Australian media, infamous for taking potshots at visiting teams, decided to take the matter to the next level. In an article, The Sydney Morning Herald claimed that Indian nodal cricket body, BCCI, was reviewing the video posted on Twitter by Navaldeep Singh and that the players breached the Coronavirus protocols.

It added, “The Australian and Indian boards are investigating an apparent breach of Cricket Australia’s biosecurity protocols after several Test stars were filmed dining out in a Melbourne restaurant in an embarrassing bubble blunder just days before an already controversial Sydney Test.”

Screengrab of the article by The Sydney Morning Herald

Indian players put under isolation

Quoting Cricket Australia, cricket.com.au wrote, “This will include separating the group of players from the broader Indian and Australian squads when travelling and at the training venue. Players will be permitted to train in accordance with the strict protocols that have been put in place to ensure the ongoing safety of all members of the Indian and Australian squads.” Similar claims were also made by cricket.com.au

Screengrab of the article by cricket.com.au

BCCI slams Australian media

Cricket analyst, Boria Majumdar informed on Twitter that contrary to the social media claims, BCCI was not considering any investigation. “There is no investigation for a breach confirms BCCI and never was such a thing even under consideration,” he added.

Screengrab of the tweet of Boria Majumdar

While speaking to PTI, BCCI stated, “No, there has been no breach in biosecurity protocols. Everyone associated with the Indian team is well aware of the protocols.” Slamming the Australian media, an official said, “We can only term it as a malicious spin by a section of Australian media and this has started after their humiliating defeat…The Australian media at times acts as an extension of their cricket team.”

Cricket fan cites clarification and apology

Following the social media upheaval, Navaldeep Singh took to Twitter to clarify on Saturday morning that he never hugged Rishabh Pant. “Clarification – Pant never hugged me it was all said in excitement we maintained social distance all thru:) Apologies for miscommunication,” he wrote.

Screengrab of the clarification tweet of Navaldeep Singh

Indian fans lambasted Navaldeep Singh for putting the lives of cricketers at risk and ‘breaking’ protocols. In his defence, Navaldeep Singh said that as a Punjabi, he is used to listening to the choicest of expletives. However, he lamented that he was now against his own countrymen for his actions. ” I am really sad that I am against my country people at the moment. I am really sorry people and I just hope ke sab thik ho jaaye (everything is fine),” he tweeted.

Indian cricketers ate beef?

Meanwhile, an image of the full bill that was paid by the fan has gone viral on social media. We cannot confirm whether it is the authentic bill of the dinner consumed by the Indian cricketers. But the content of the bill has sparked a massive controversy on social media. The copy of the bill doing the rounds shows that the cricketers allegedly consumed beef.

It has sparked a massive outrage on social media. We cannot confirm precisely which cricketer ate beef or if any of them ate beef at all.

Rohit Sharma, especially, is coming under intense criticism.

India is set to play against Australia in the 3rd Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on January 7. India has levelled the series against its arch-rival. With the comeback of Rohit Sharma, India is hoping to clinch the series with a victory in the next match.

Spitting numbers like a drunken gambler at a Las Vegas casino: How to be a top economist – Marxist edition

Abhishek Banerjee
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Spitting numbers like a drunken gambler at a Las Vegas casino: How to be a top economist – Marxist edition

If you are anything like me, you have a lot of respect for economists. These extraordinary men and women work with facts and figures that tell of the fortunes of the 7 billion people who share this planet. In the Indian context, every percentage point added or subtracted from GDP growth means a lot. For millions of people, it could mean the difference between having a full stomach and going to sleep hungry. For millions of kids, it could be the difference between education and malnutrition or even death.

Rest assured therefore that these extraordinary men and women take their role extremely seriously. In particular, they would never act as if they are pulling numbers out of thin air. Or throw out numbers like a drunken gambler at a casino in Las Vegas.

Today I would like to profile for you one of the top economic minds of our age – the most distinguished Prof. Arun Kumar, who has taught economics for nearly 30 years at JNU. And not just because it’s Christmas season and Prof. Arun Kumar has a beard that looks exactly like Santa Claus. In the Modi era, with its fanciful ideas like hard work over Harvard, we need intellectuals more than ever before. Since we cannot trust the official numbers, whether from EVMs or CSO or NSSO, we need intellectuals like Prof. Arun Kumar to tell us what is really going on.

First, the credentials. Prepare to be dazzled, folks.

“Dr. Arun Kumar taught Economics in Jawaharlal Nehru University from 1984 to 2015. He was the Sukhamoy Chakravarty Chair Professor in the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU. He is a former Chairperson of the Centre. He was the President of JNU Teachers’ Association in 2014. He has been a Vice President and acting President of the Indian Academy of Social Sciences. He has specialized in Development, Public Finance and Public Policy and Macroeconomics.“

Feeling humbled yet?

Now, we all know that India’s economy was pushed into contraction when PM Modi ordered a lockdown on the entire country beginning late March. But by how much? The official figure is that of a near 24% contraction for the first quarter of FY20-21, i.e., for the period from April to June. You might think that number is rosy enough for the Prime Minister’s critics that they would not haggle with it.

You would be wrong. Stop looking at everything through a political prism. For top economists like Prof. Arun Kumar, it is about truth. And nothing but the truth. Here is the real picture.

Truth hurts. But at least we know the truth.

Make a note of the date. It’s Sep 9, 2020. I insist on that because the truth is about to undergo a major revision. You have to keep revising truth. You know, like history.

Here you go.

If you thought -24% was bad, nothing could have prepared you for the nightmare of -40%. And now it’s -50%. Bitter but true. Prof. Arun Kumar delivered the bad news in a policy speech organized by the Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi.

That was the truth, at least as of Oct 24, 2020.

What’s the latest on the truth? Prof. Kumar has an update.

What could be “worse than war?” Trust a ‘veteran’ to know — veteran economist, that is. So now it is around -40% again. I say ‘around’ because I played the audio and Barkha seemed a little confused by the professor’s responses. At one point the good professor seemed to say -45%; then Barkha asked if it was around -40% and the professor looked like he was agreeing with her on that.

Are you struggling here? Good! Now you have some idea of a man who has presumably read all the books that appear in his background. And many many more.

40, 50, 45, 40 … Folks, this is science and hope you have learned to take it seriously. Remember that each percentage point in India’s GDP growth puts the lives of hundreds of millions of poor and vulnerable people in the balance.

So what have I personally concluded? Something like this:

“precisely when its dubiousness as a pragmatic record is recognised, the narrative reveals its function in creating a people in politics, and history.”

For the record, I have absolutely no idea what that means. But I saw Pratap Bhanu Mehta using this quote from some political theorist the other day. And I thought it sounded smart. And I felt it might impress all of you. It would be otiose to say otherwise. Again, I don’t know what ‘otiose’ means. But Pratap Bhanu Mehta used that word. And P B Mehta is smart, like the thesaurus.

So here is my actual conclusion. Facts and figures don’t really matter. Darr ka mahaul hai.

The Print turns a convoluted case under Love Jihad law into one where it can blame the UP police: Here is what happened

OpIndia Staff
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The Print turns a convoluted case under Love Jihad law into one where it can blame the UP police: Here is what happened

The Print, which has earned a reputation for distorting facts and peddling fake narratives, is back with its sinister agenda. And this time the Uttar Pradesh police is on its hit list. On Saturday morning, the Print published an article titled, ‘UP woman hid Muslim boyfriend’s name to marry him. Now he’s in jail for ‘deceit, conversion’.

The article centred around two individuals, namely 29-year-old Priya Verma and 32-year-old Taufiq. While portraying the latter as the victim, The Print claimed that Taufiq was put behind bars on December 20 by the Gursahaiganj police in UP under the new anti-conversion law enacted by the UP government, despite not trying to convert his Hindu wife Priya. It alleged that Priya had introduced Taufiq as ‘Rahul Verma’ (Hindu-sounding name) to her parents in order to get their marriage approved, and hence no crime was committed by Taufiq even if initially he had introduced himself as Hindu to the girl.

The Print argued that Priya was well-aware of his ‘religious identity’ at the time of their marriage and that he had made no demands for her conversion to Islam. The article stated that two days after their wedding, her family learnt that Taufiq was a Muslim and that they filed a complaint with the police, with the help of a local BJP leader, to ‘falsely’ accuse him of ‘deceit and conversion.’

Screengrab of the contentious article by The Print

With a clickbait headline, the news portal tried to insinuate how a Muslim man is being victimised for being in love with a Hindu woman under the new ‘Love Jihad’ law in the state, even though she was the one who had supposedly engaged in deceit. The article tried to give the impression that the newly enacted anti-conversion law, meant to contain the growing menace of grooming jihad, is directed to harass ‘religious minorities’ and strip them of the right to marry their partners in the BJP ruled the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Taufiq lured Priya into love using a Hindu name

Having said that, nothing can be further from the truth. First, it must be pointed out that Taufiq had initially lied to Priya about his ‘real’ identity. “In the initial days of their courtship, Priya stated, Taufiq did lie to her about being Hindu but later told her the truth himself,” the article itself stated. As such, it becomes clear that Taufiq had engaged in ‘impersonation’ and ‘deceit’. Even though Priya told The Print that the reason for lying was that he did not want to lose her, it however does not change the fact that the courtship was premised on a fraudulent identity.

Excerpts from the article in The Print

Was it a case of police high handedness?

While speaking to The Print, SHO (Gursahaiganj) Raja Dinesh Singh informed that even though Priya claimed to have known about the real identity of Taufiq, she herself had testified against him before the police and the Magistrate. “In these cases, the woman’s statement is the evidence so that will become the basis of the case,” he emphasised.

Singh stated on December 24, Priya was produced before the court, along with the case diary. “The judge said that if the woman supports her statement to police recorded under Section 161, then that will be considered her 164 CrPC statement. Since the woman said she supports whatever she told police in her statement, and since she is not a minor, it was considered as final,” he emphasised.

Now, since the victim herself gave a statement against the accused, both before the police and the Magistrate, therefore the cops had no option but to follow the lawful procedure and act against Taufiq. And this is despite the fact that Priya now claims to have been under pressure and duress while giving her statement.

Why did the local BJP leader intervene?

The Print also attempted to give the issue a political twist by imploring that the complaint was filed in the first place on the directions of a local BJP leader named Vinay. In his defence, Vinay said that he intervened in the matter because the proper procedure for an inter-faith marriage was not followed. He emphasised that he else would not have intervened altogether, if the procedure for interfaith marriage was followed.

“If he wanted to get married to her, he should have given a representation to the DM (district magistrate), waited for two months…We would have had no objection if he had followed procedure and not cheated the family by hiding his identity. Religious deceit will not be tolerated at any cost,” Verma added.

In his own words, Priya’s father thanked Verma for his support. He stated, “We were misled by Taufiq. When no one from his family turned up for the wedding, he told us that his family stays in Jaipur and that he has cut all ties with him. Thank God we were helped by local BJP leaders and now that cheat is in jail.”

Therefore, even though now the girl has said that she knew the real identity of Taufiq, it does not mean no crime was committed and the UP police is showing high-handedness as the Print is alleging. According to the new law, the couple needs to give advance notice, and the fact remains that Taufiq introduced himself as Rahul to the girl and later to her parents, which means the relationship was initiated based on a big lie.

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