Home Blog Page 4912

“Dawood Ibrahim administrating legal, financial and mental attack on Republic TV, Arnab Goswami may face physical attack”: Former Bureaucrat RV Subramani

OpIndia Staff
-
0
“Dawood Ibrahim administrating legal, financial and mental attack on Republic TV, Arnab Goswami may face physical attack”: Former Bureaucrat RV Subramani

As Republic Media Network’s CEO, CFO, journalists, investors and editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami himself continues to be hounded by the Maharashtra coalition government and the state machinery, including the Mumbai Police, a former bureaucrat of the Indian government has said that Arnab Goswami could face a physical attack on his. RV Subramani, a former bureaucrat who held the office of the Under-Secretary, Internal Security Department, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), while speaking to Goa Chronicle has issued this warning as Arnab Goswami has touched the wrong nerve of Mumbai’s underworld organized criminal syndicate run by the global drug kingpin and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, many politicians, the drugs and Bollywood nexus.

Dawood is administrating the legal, financial and mental attack on Arnab Goswami and Republic TV, so there is a bright possibility of a physical attack on Arnab Goswami, said RV Subramani, throwing light on what he feels had led to the vicious attack on Arnab Goswami and the Republic Team.

It is pertinent to note here that earlier Goa Chronicle’s chief had claimed that USD 50 million is the ‘Supari’ out from Dawood to stop Republic Media Network and Arnab Goswami.

RV Subramani in conversation with Goa Chronicle’s chief Savio Rodrigues

Bollywood and Drugs are like the “umbilical cord relationship”, which Arnab Goswami has dared to expose

The bureaucrat in conversation with the Goa Chronicle editor-in-chief Savio Rodrigues said that Bollywood and Drugs are like the “umbilical cord relationship”, which Republic TV has dared to expose in front of the public. Arnab Goswami is in the radar for his channel’s extensive coverage of the lynching of Hindu Sadhus in Palghar and moreover for his overwhelming digging into the Bollywood drug nexus following Disha Salian and Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. This he opined has ruffled the powerful and influentials in India as well as outside India.

“We know that Dawood is the key person in drug trafficking. Bollywood starlets like Ranbir Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt have been involved in money laundering. Superstar Sharukh Khan’s wife-Gauri Khan, Farha Khan’s husband, Ranbir Kapoor all these big stars have been at different point of times been caught trafficking drugs in Dubai, which I believe they were doing as couriers of D-Company”, said Subramani.

He opined that Dawood might be the quid pro quo as money generated from drugs trafficking is a major source for sponsoring terrorist activities in Kashmir. Earlier the total infusion of these funds in India was around 20 per cent, now, he said it has increased to almost 27 per cent as terrorist activities have increased in the country. More and more funds are being pumped in to mobilise and fund activities like the Bengaluru riots and the Hathras type incidents in India, said the former bureaucrat.

Mumbai PC Param Bir Singh working on instruction from Dawood Ibrahim

Speaking on the unprecedented terror Mumbai Police under its Commissioner of Police- Param Bir Singh have unleashed on Republic TV and its team, Subramani said that Param Bir Singh might be getting support from this source (the D-Company), on whose instructions he and his team, including ex-encounter specialists- Sachin Vaze and Pradeep Sharma, once conducted encounters.

Pertinently, Sachin Vaze who has been leading the investigation against Arnab Goswami is the same police officer who was facing murder charges in a 2003 custodial death case and was reinstated by Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh earlier in June this year. Vaze, popularly known as ‘Encounter Specialist’, was suspended from the police force about 16 years ago and his suspension was revoked by a committee headed by Param Bir Singh.

Subramani opined that Vaze and Pradeep Sharma had conducted encounters at the behest of Dawood Ibrahim and other gangsters belonging to the Mumbai underworld. Trying to connect the dots, RV Subramani asks Savio- “why do you think Vaze was reinstated into the Mumbai police in 2019? He was brought on to go after Arnab”, claimed the ex-government employee.

“What could be the possible reason that a tainted officer, who has not been in touch with any sought of investigation in the last 11 to 12 years has been reinstated in the crime branch? To my knowledge, any such officer with a questionable past is never posted back to sensitive departments like the ATS or the crime branch. They may be given traffic, logistics etc, but never ATS or the crime branch”. This Subramani said was enough reasons to believe that the Maharashtra state machinery is working at the instruction of the source. (By ‘source’ RV Subramani meant the D-Company).

Adding to this one of these officers is a Shiv Sena member and Shiv Sena is at the helm of affairs in Maharashtra currently. These things just add up, suggested Subramani.

“Outside interventions” prompting Mumbai Police chief to target Arnab Goswami and his channel

The bureaucrat said that the chronology of events that preceded Param Bir Singh’s October 6th interview to the media where he falsely accused Republic TV of being involved in the TRP scam case, goes to prove beyond doubt that there were some “outside interventions”, following which Singh went hammer and tongs after Arnab and his channel.

The former official revealed that prior to Param Bir Singh’s interview, he had received some phone calls. This information he said has been leaked by some of Singh’s own serving officers. It was after these phone calls that the witch-hunt against Republic commenced.

Subramani said that the information he shares further is all verifiable as it is all on the public domain. At this point, he claims that Pakistan’s ‘Maroon Berets’ commanding officers had called up certain numbers in Mumbai’s Fort area, where incidentally Mumbai police headquarter is also located. Besides, certain Pakistan numbers have also been floating. Some VOIP numbers have also been calling up people in Mumbai. And if one understands the chronology, the witch-hunt against republic TV started after these alleged phone calls.

The former official informs that Pakistan’s ‘Maroon Berets’ officials are primarily ISI operatives working on the instructions of the Pak Army. They were essentially behind all the recent terrorist attacks in India-be it the Pulwama, Uri or the Pathankot attack.

Maha Vikas Aghadi Government in Maharashtra is an engineered coalition from across the border: RV Subramani

What is concerning here is that if this is at all true and that actually Param Bir Singh had received orders from these “sources” then this itself should have been investigated. This is where the ham-handedness of the Maharashtra government lay exposed, claimed Subramani. If true, these facts should have been enough for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to take action against Param Bir Singh. He should have been removed from his post and charged with treason, but nothing of this sought happened.

In a no-holds-barred attack against the Maha Aghadi government in Maharashtra, the former bureaucrat claimed that it is an engineered coalition from across the border. Here Subramani recollects how in June 2019, he had warned the Union Home Affairs Ministry that Rs 500 crores had been floating for the appointment of a former Mumbai commission by a corporate firm, whose one of the directors is incidentally Param Bir Singh’s wife. Not surprised by Congress being a part of this coalition, Subramani said that he was certain that certain members of the Congress party are the recruits of the ISI in Pakistan.

Emphasising further on the deep-rooted nexus between the D-Company, Maharashtra Government and its state machinery including Mumbai police, the Subramani said that we must not forget that the Shiv Sena chief has played a stellar role in exonerating Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt in the drugs and the arms case. “Courtesy the Thackeray’s Sanjay Dutt got away very lightly”, said Subaramani to the Goa Chronicle editor-in-chief.

Interventions from somebody powerful has prompted media giants like Times Now to change its stance

“It cannot be a mere coincidence that a media giant like Times Now- which had on one occasion inculpated certain Bollywood actresses of drug charges (the ones who had overtly taken an anti-India, anti-CAA stance in JNU), have now suddenly exonerated them of any drug charges”.The same source who is funding a lot of Bollywood films, he who has explicated many Bollywood celebs of drug charges, he who has been funding terrorist activities in India is behind this game plan.

Asked on whther he tries to infer that reputed media houses like Times Now, that was once going after the Disha Salian and Suahant Singh Rajput’s murder case and the drug lobby has suddenly decided to go quiet because of an intervention by somebody powerful, the ex-bureaucrat opined that otherwise he sees no reason behind this sudden shift in Times Now’s stance.

He throws light on how media giants such as India Today and Times Now have been compromised on their reportage on the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and the investigations into the Bollywood Drug connections. According to Subramani, this browbeating against republic TV by its media colleagues cannot be out of professional rivalry. He said he has his suspicions whether it’s individual targeting or media houses like India Today and Times Now have been instructed to do so by some powerful external source.

India Today known to share a friendly relationship with Imran Khan

Castigating India Today, Subramani said that this media network which was originally named in the TRP scam in the Hansa report has its own track record of sharing a cosy relationship with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. “When the scars of the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack had not healed, India Today had gone on to interview the then Pakistani budding politician Imran Khan, who people knew was in an informal partnership with the designated terrorist and the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack-Hafiz Saeed”, exclaimed RV Subramani.

The raging conflict between Arnab Goswami and Mumbai Police

Arnab Goswami and Republic TV have maintained that they have been systematically targeted through a witch-hunt by the Mumbai Police. Goswami has claimed that ever since his channel covered the lynching of Hindu Sadhus in Palghar and asked uncomfortable questions of the Mumbai Police and the state government, they have been subjected to an unmitigated witch-hunt campaign.

Arnab Goswami and the Mumbai Police are at loggerheads since the prime time show aired on Republic Bharat over the lynching of Hindu sadhus in Palghar. Several FIRs were filed against the news anchor and he was called to the police station in Mumbai where he was grilled for more than 11 hours. A case was also filed against him and his channel Republic TV for broadcast on April 14 and 15 regarding the Bandra migrants incident.

Arnab had also alleged that one of his reporters and the camera person was unlawfully detained by the Maharashtra government when they were on a trail of an investigative story in Navi Mumbai. Another Republic TV journalist Pradeep Bhandari was recently encircled physically by the Mumbai Police and was detained illegally. It was alleged that Pradeep was assaulted as well and was not provided with access to lawyers.

A few days back, Republic TV was also targeted in a TRP manipulation case when the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh convened a press conference and insinuated that Republic TV paid bribes to manipulate its TRP. However, hours later Republic TV cited Hansa Research’s report to allege that the complaint of TRP manipulation carried the name of India Today and not Republic TV.

Watch: Pro-India accounts disrupt Pakistan’s anti-India online meeting on Zoom, play pro-Hindu and Indian nationalistic songs

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Watch: Pro-India accounts disrupt Pakistan’s anti-India online meeting on Zoom, play pro-Hindu and Indian nationalistic songs

A group of Indic social media users caused a massive embarrassment to Pakistani authorities and diplomats after they raided their online event that was organised to peddle anti-India rhetoric. The pro-Hindu accounts also disrupted the event by playing pro-Hindu and nationalistic songs on the video conference organised on Zoom.

On Tuesday, a group of Pakistani diplomats, along with some self-proclaimed human rights ‘activists’ and pro-Pakistan trolls had organised an event on online meeting platform ‘Zoom’ to discuss the so-called ’72 Years of Indian Occupation of Kashmir’. Interestingly, CJ Werleman, a US-based pro-Islamists sympathiser, was also part of the show to discuss the alleged Indian atrocities in Kashmir.

As the anti-India event progressed, pro-Indian accounts appeared on the event and attempted to stop Pakistani diplomats from speaking lies on Kashmir issue. The pro-Indian users raided the show and played some Hindu nationalistic songs to stop Pakistanis from peddling their usual anti-India narrative.

At first, around 16:55 mins, the pro-Hindu participants of the event put out a Hindu religious song dedicated to Lord Hanuman. For a few seconds, Pakistani organisers and other guests present in the event were perplexed to understand from exactly such pro-Hindu content were being telecast.

As the host Malik Nadeem Abid realised that some pro-Indian accounts are present at their meet, he began to lament by saying that he knew this would happen. “I knew they would sabotage the event,” cried Ambassador Abid.

For the next half hour, the Pakistanis continue to peddle lies on Kashmir. However, the patient users yet again raided into the event at around 47th minute to play the famous song – “Ek hi naara, Ek hi naam, Jai Shree Ram Jai Shree Ram”.

This song then continued to play during the Pakistani Zoom meet for over the next two minutes forcing Pakistanis to remain silent. Meanwhile, the enraged Pakistani participants continued to lament over repeated disruptions and also blamed India of disrupting their meetings in order to hide their ‘atrocities in Kashmir’.

Again at 50th minute, a burqa-clad woman appeared on the live video meeting to advise to end the event after failing to stop pro-Indian social media users from telecasting pro-Hindutva songs during their event.

A compilation of pro-Indian accounts playing Hindutva songs in an attempt to disrupt the false propaganda of the Pakistani establishment can be seen below.

The event that was organised by Pakistanis to remember the day of the so-called occupation of ‘Indian occupation of Kashmir’ was observed on October 27.

In reality, it is a day to commemorate the landing of first Battalion of Sikh Regiment of Indian Army in Srinagar on October 27 to stop Pashtun tribal intruders from invading Jammu and Kashmir. On this day in 1947, the Indian forces successfully stopped these Pakistani tribals from unleashing their terror, who intended to plunder, rape and destroy the people of Kashmir. In India, this day is celebrated as ‘Infantry Day’.

Lord Ram’s effigy burnt in Amritsar on Dussehra, case registered after BJYM and VHP members held protests

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Lord Ram’s effigy burnt in Amritsar on Dussehra, case registered after BJYM and VHP members held protests

In a condemnable incident that took place at Manawala village in Lopke police station area of Amritsar, Punjab, some miscreants reportedly burnt an effigy of Lord Ram on Dussehra. According to Jagran, a case was filed by police yesterday for hurting religious sentiments against Angrez Singh, son of Chandan Singh, Agrez Singh, son of Tarlok Singh, Jitendra Singh and 10 unknown people. A video of the incident was received by Sub-Inspector Harpal Sigh on his phone on Tuesday night in which some people were seen burning an effigy of Lord Ram. According to DSP Guru Pratap Singh Sahota, the culprits have been identified from a video of the incident.

As soon as the news of the incident broke out, some Hindu organisations took cognisance of the matter. Sunil Arora, leader of All India Hindu Taksali Dal gave an ultimatum to the local administration that if action was not taken against the culprits, he would block the roads.

BJYM and VHP leaders protested in Jalandhar

Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) members held protests at Saheed Bhagat Singh Chawk on October 23 against the burning of Lord Ram’s effigy and demanded stringent action against the culprits. BJYM member Pradhan Baljeet Singh Prince asked the Congress government in Punjab to ensure that such an incident did not happen again. BJYM members said that miscreants have become active in the state and the Congress government became a mute spectator.

Members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) also condemned the incident and handed over a demand letter to ADC Jasbir Singh demanding justice. The VHP leaders present at the moment said that the incident has hurt the collective religious sentiments of Hindus and that the culprits should be brought to book.

Sub-Inspector Mukesh Kumar, Jalandhar police station said that the police have received a complaint by Advocate Ashok Sarin against the video of the incident. The police have lodged a complaint at the Jalandhar police station and further action will be taken after investigation.

TeleMedicine: Technology bridging the doctor-patient gap to strengthen public healthcare system

OpIndia Staff
-
0
TeleMedicine: Technology bridging the doctor-patient gap to strengthen public healthcare system

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 24 inaugurated one of the biggest super-speciality cardiac hospital in the world. He also launched a mobile application for telecardiology at the civil hospital in Ahmedabad. Telecardiology helps connect cardiologists and patients in remote areas so that they could get timely report leading to proper diagnosis.

What is telecardiology mobile app

Telecardiology mobile app gives doctors accessibility to patient data from anywhere and assists them by providing them all the necessary details about patient’s history, the present condition, progress chart and all the reports and radiology imageries. It provides specialists ubiquitous access to patient information 24×7 to enable doctors to provide better patient care. As a telemedicine platform helping doctors to take patient care beyond the four walls of the hospital, it gives doctors access to the EHR system that keeps them updated about the patient’s condition. This in-turn allows them to make quick remediation in treatment if and when required. 

To extend the care further for critical care patients Tele-ICU platforms have been introduced in public healthcare system. It overcomes the barriers of distance and to strengthen the communication between the main hospital and its remote centres.

Tele-ICU redefining critical care in public healthcare space in India 

As per reports, there are around 94,961 ICU beds in India and only 4,500 specialists who can provide critical care. Every year, around 5 million patients require ICU care every year (NCBI). A majority of India’s population resides in rural areas and the number of intensivists to cater the growing demand for critical care is meagre. 

Hence, to bridge the widening gap and to provide critical care in the farthest corners of a region, most states in India have already started utilising tele-ICU solutions. Chinese coronavirus pandemic has shifted the spotlight on tele-ICUs which provides real time, remote consultation. They play a critical role in addressing the shortage of ICU specialists in remote areas.

As per the study published by ICMR and the University of Toronto, heart ailments are the primary cause behind the most urban deaths. Timely treatment plays a critical factor and so does time and distance for a heart patient. Most deaths occur on the way to hospital. Hence, to combat this, tele –ICU can be utilised as an enabler to provide timely treatment at the remote centres by connecting, monitoring and initiating treatment before the patient is shifted to the main hospital. It is an effective platform to reduce on road mortality and morbidity especially for the patients suffering from heart ailments and adverse conditions.

Tele-ICU wheeled robot – a decentralized platform 

Tele-ICU wheeled robot, first of its kind tele-ICU decentralised platform, enables clinical transformation by connecting offsite team to the bed side team for real time consultation on patient care. It provides adequate support to the remote centres and allows bedside team access to offsite supervision of the specialists, reducing possible wait time for procedures and treatment.

Tele-cardio monitoring

A wheeled robot is integrated with tablet and PTZ camera equipped with pan, tilt and zoom functionality. This allows an offsite doctor at the command centre to interact with patient, monitor details and listen to the minutest sound.

Tele cardio monitoring

Equipped with obstacle detection capabilities, a wheel robot can freely move in the COVID wards and can easily take medical rounds for the patients, along with providing a bird eye view to the specialists at offsite command centre. It is ideal in scenarios where there is shortage of staff and it limits the medical staff from exposing to the virus. It has access to centralized command center team that makes remote care accessible and helps in reducing patient transfers and optimization of bed utilization at the remote centre.

Technology and patient care

Technology has steadily improved the public healthcare system in India and helped a great deal in providing better patient care. The new age care facilities such as Tele-ICU robot and telecardiology app enables hospitals and government to address the issues created by time and distance that acts as major impediments in providing timely care. 

These tele medicine applications and platforms will enable hospitals to reduce transfers, improve patient care, reduce LOS, optimize bed utilization and last but not the least, reduce the clinician burn out ratio.

Adivasis and family of Gond tribal leader Komaram Bheem objects to his Muslim look in the upcoming ‘RRR’ movie

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Adivasis and family of Gond tribal leader Komaram Bheem objects to his Muslim look in the upcoming ‘RRR’ movie

The controversy surrounding SS Rajamouli’s upcoming magnum opus – ‘RRR’ does not seem to be slowing down as Adivasis have now opposed the depiction of their revolutionary tribal leader – Komaram Bheem as a Muslim in the movie.

A controversy had erupted after the latest teaser of multi-lingual movie ‘RRR’ introducing the character of Komaram Bheem, played by Jr NTR, was released on October 22. In the teaser, Komaram Bheem was seen wearing a skull cap and applying Surma to his eyes.

Following the launch of teaser, the makers of the movie have been receiving severe backlash not only from the fans, social media users but also from the family of the tribal leader and the Gond tribal community.

Komaram Bheem slams moviemakers, says it is nothing but distortion

Lashing out moviemakers, Komaram Bheem’s grandson Sone Rao pointed out the glaring errors in the ‘RRR’ movie teaser and mentioned that representing their ‘hero’ as a person from the Muslim community is nothing but a ‘distortion’. 

Rao added that the film has offended the community and he further requested Rajamouli to withdraw the scene in which Komaram Bheem is shown in a Muslim outfit. Bheem never looked like a Muslim and there is no record of the same, said Komaram Bheem’s grandson.

In a video, Sone Rao said that had the director and writers consulted them for research information about our hero, they would have helped them out. “Bheem fought for the land, water and other resources of tribals. Representing him as a minority community member is nothing but a distortion,” the grandson of the tribal leader said.

“By misrepresenting a hero we all worship as a god, the film has offended us Adivasis. We request Rajamouli to withdraw the Muslim get-up,” he said adding that if the director of the movie does not withdraw the look, the community will surely protest against the movie.

Tribal communities object to depiction of tribal leader as a ‘Muslim’

Not just his family, the Gond tribals of Adilabad are up in arms after the moviemakers depicted the tribal leader as a Muslim. Komaram Bheem is regarded as a hero to the Adilabad tribals, who believe that his depiction is an ‘insult’ to their hero who led an uprising against the last Nizam.

The tribal leaders have also threatened to file a case under the SC/ST Atrocities Act if certain scenes are not deleted with immediate effect.

An Adivasi leader from Adilabad expressed his opposition to such portrayal and questioned Rajamouli’s intentions saying that the director had never visited the area or the Gond community or consulted with the community leaders before making the movie.

”For us, Komaram Bheem is our deity. We even pray to him and observe Aswayuja Powrnami commemorating his life. Portraying Komaram Bheem as a Muslim is an affront to his family and the entire Gond tribe. If they are doing it just for money, they can make other kinds of films. They must not misrepresent an Adivasi leader who fought for our rights,” he said.

Speaking to the media, Kanaka Venkateshwar Rao, a teacher from the Raj Gond community, said that the members of the community are indeed upset with the way their leader has been represented in the video.

“All these days, the revolutionary leader was only known within Telangana. Through this film, we thought he would become known throughout the world. But it looks like they are only using the name of Komaram Bheem, but don’t really seem to be talking about his struggle for Adivasi rights over land, water and other resources,” he said.

He said that depiction of Komaram Bheem in such an attire, who fought against the Nizam rule at the time, has bothered the community a bit. It is not right to steer him towards any one religion. “We wonder why there was a need to show him that way since no historical records mention that he ever disguised himself as a Muslim man to fight against the Nizams,” added Venkateshwar Rao hoping that the film explains this distortion.

Controversy over wrong depiction of tribal leader Komaram Bheem

The distortion in the history was first flagged by popular historian True Indology, who revealed how the moviemakers had resorted to spread blatant falsehood in the name of history.

He added that Komaram Bheem fought against Nizams and ‘Jihadi’ Razakar army and added that there is no evidence to suggest that he had ‘disguised’ as a Muslim during his fight against Nizams as depicted in the movie.

The multi-lingual movie ‘RRR’ is a fictional tale of friendship between two freedom warriors – Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sita Ramaraju – belonging to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states. NTR plays Komaram Bheem while Ram Charan is portraying the role of Alluri Sita Ramaraju.

The movie is an adaption of the life story of two legendary revolutionaries and their journey away from home before they started fighting for their country in the 1920s. 

The much-anticipated film is produced on a massive budget of Rs 450 crores and the movie will release in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil on January 8, 2021.

Bihar: The shocking story of Jungle Raj hidden in voter turnouts

Abhishek Banerjee
-
0
Bihar: The shocking story of Jungle Raj hidden in voter turnouts

Bihar is voting today in the first phase of three-phase election. Across the state, men and women are lining up at the voting booths to exercise their franchise. When they go behind that partition and stand before the EVM, they can press any button they want. It doesn’t matter whether they are rich or poor, male or female, from an “upper” caste or a “lower” caste, Hindu or Muslim or Jewish. They can stand behind that partition and give the finger to the highest and mightiest in the land. It is the most sacred ritual of democracy.

The high and mighty wait outside, with folded hands. No politician or pundit can claim with absolute certainty to know the mind of the voter.

But there is one thing that every voter in Bihar today knows with certainty. Their vote will be counted.

But was it always like this? Were votes always counted? Here is the shocking story of jungle raj they never tell you.

In 2005, Bihar saw not one but two state elections. The elections in Feb 2005 threw up a badly hung assembly. After a spell of President’s rule, there were elections again in October that year. This time, the BJP+JDU alliance won a clear majority. Even so, both elections in 2005 were landmarks in the history of Bihar. India’s poorest state had just put “Jungle Raj” behind.

We know one basic symptom of watershed elections. Big voter turnouts. When people want to speak out loudly, they come to the booth in large numbers. It doesn’t necessarily have to be anti-incumbency. When the voter is fierce and opinionated, whether with the government or against it, they hit the voting booth.

So how much do you think was the voter turnout in the historic 2005 Bihar elections? 75%? Perhaps 70%? Surely, at least 60%?

What if I told you it was just 46%? In exact numbers, it was 46.5% in the February election and 45.85% in the October election.

What! How can such a famous watershed election witness such a low voter turnout? In the 2010 Bihar Assembly election, the voter turnout increased to a more respectable 53%. Again, in 2015, the voter turnout increased to 57%. This is in keeping with nationwide trends. Voter turnout has been increasing everywhere, in elections at all levels, showing the health and strength of our democracy.

But what about 2005 in Bihar? Why so low? Just 46% in such a historic election?

Okay, but low compared to what? Maybe voter turnout in Bihar used to be even lower and it got better in the historic 2005 election? So let us pull out the voter turnout figures from the 2000 Bihar election. How low was it?

Well, it was 63%!

Well, isn’t that mind blowing? On paper, the historic 2005 elections in Bihar actually saw a massive drop in voter interest. By as much as 17%! Forget Bihar, has it ever happened in any election anywhere in India that voter turnout dropped by 17% between two elections? That too in an election that supposedly brought in sweeping change.

Go back to the 1995 Bihar Assembly elections. Again, the voter turnout is 62%. What does that tell you?

You now have two options regarding what to believe. On one hand, you can believe that the historic 2005 Bihar elections had the least amount of voter interest in a decade. Not just by a little. By a lot. As much as 17% of voters who voted in previous elections were just too bored to show up and vote in 2005.

Or you could believe that there was widespread booth capturing in those earlier elections. So much booth capturing that it pushed voter turnout from a real figure around 46% all the way to 63%. This means that 17/63 or more than 1 in every 4 votes cast in Bihar could have been fake!

Say it with me. Say those words with the shudder they deserve: Jungle Raj.

No, there was nothing funny about it. Some privileged people in Delhi thought that the rustic sounding, quick witted man who headed Jungle Raj was a comedian. But he wasn’t. Few people remember today the historic triumph of the Election Commission in holding perhaps the first free and fair elections in Bihar, back in 2005.

But that’s okay. We are all proud of a stronger, better India that does not even remember the dark ages. Bihar is voting again today. Much of the electorate, mostly young people, have only seen free and fair elections as far as they can remember. It is a wonderful thing. And so the election raths are rolling across Bihar again. Some have promised to give 10 lakh jobs and others have promised to create 19 lakh jobs. Let’s see who the electorate chooses to believe. But I’m sure nobody wants to return to the era when kidnapping and ransom was the biggest industry that Bihar’s rulers had to offer to their people.

CIC issues show-cause notice and summons after NIC, IT Ministry said in RTI reply that they do not have information on creation of Aarogya Setu App

OpIndia Staff
-
0
CIC issues show-cause notice and summons after NIC, IT Ministry said in RTI reply that they do not have information on creation of Aarogya Setu App

In a strange development, the National Informatics Centre has said in an RTI reply that it does not have any information on the development of the Aarogya Setu app, inviting sharp criticism from the Central Information Commission. The CIC has issued show-cause notices to Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), National Informatics Centre, and National E-Governance Division (NeGD), asking them why penalty should not be imposed on them for prima facie obstruction of information and providing an evasive reply on an RTI application related to Aarogya Setu App.

The CIC was responding to a complaint filed by one Saurav Das, stating that the NIC, MeitY and NeGD had failed to provide information related to the process of creation of the Aarogya Setu app. The complainant said that when he had filed a RTI with the NIC, he got a respond saying that it does not have any information, which was surprising as NIC is the developer of the app. He added that MeitY and NeGD also failed to provide any information to the creation of the app.

Responding to the complaint, CIC has asked NIC to explain when the website of Arogya Setu mentions that it is designed, developed and hosted by it, then how is it possible that it does not have any information regarding to creation of the app. “The Commission directs the CPIO, NIC to explain this matter in writing as to how the website https://aarogyasetu.gov.in/ was created with the domain name gov.in, if they do not have any information about it,” Information Commissioner Vanaja N. Sarna further ordered.

The CIC order stated that none of the CPIOs (Central Public Information Officer) was able to explain anything regarding who created the app, where are the files, saying that the same is extremely preposterous.

The Commission observed that the authorities transferred the RTI application to one-another, but didn’t provide any information as sought by application. “Denial of information by all the concerned authorities cannot be accepted at all…Sec 6(3) of the RTI Act cannot be used by public authorities to push off the matter,” the order stated. The CIC also said that the creation of the app is a recent development and it not possible that there were no files related to it.

CIC criticised the NeGD for taking two months to reply that the matter is not related to them. The ministry also could not submit any information related the development of the app, except informing that there were some inputs from NITI Ayog. The ministry CPIO could not explain why it does not have information regarding the app.

Although the applicant had raised the matter of privacy concerns related to the app also, the CIC refrained from making any remarks on the privacy aspect, while pulling up the authorities for evasive replies to the RTI application. “The addressees cannot simply wash their hands off by stating that the information is not available with them. Some effort should have been put in to find out the custodian(s) of the information sought, by the concerned public authorities when apparently they are the relevant parties,” the order stated.

Saying the behaviour of the three organisations is “extremely preposterous”, the CIC issued summons to the CPIOs of MeITY, NeGD and NIC to be present before it on November 24. Apart from that, the CIC asked the MeitY to inform which official is responsible for maintaining the app, as the website of the app mentions that its content is owned, updated and maintained by the MyGov, MeitY. The Commissioner further ordered the registry to send an email to [email protected], the ID mentioned in the website, directing them to send the concerned authority to be present before the Commission on the next date of hearing.

Nitin Gadkari was invited to inaugurate a building, and he came with a bulldozer, well, not literally. Here is what happened

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Nitin Gadkari was invited to inaugurate a building, and he came with a bulldozer, well, not literally. Here is what happened

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari was on Monday invited for the virtual inauguration of the newly constructed National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) building in Dwarka.

The NHAI officials were possibly expecting a word of praise from the Union Minister for the completion of the project. But little did they know that the Union Minister had decided to go all guns blazing against them, exposing them for their “perverted ideology”, “unworthiness” and “corruption”. Nitin Gadkari was not happy that the completion of the building took 9 years, and he decided to use this opportunity to roast the officials for delays in completing projects.

Taking a swipe at the NHAI officials, Gadkari said, “During a ceremony like this, the convention says that one should congratulate people involved in the completion of the project. But I don’t know how should I do that. The plan of the construction of the building was ready by 2008 and in 2011 it won the tender for the construction. It took 9 years for the completion of this Rs 200-250 crore project. It took two central governments and 8 chairmen to ensure that the work is completed.”

Gadkari slams NHAI officials for inordinate delays

Gadkari was visibly unhappy that the NHAI was celebrating the mediocrity of the organisation as the project which should have been completed in 2-3 years took more than 9 years for its completion. It is to highlight this inefficiency that the Union Minister made sarcastic jibes at the organisation and those responsible for this predicament.

In a bid to (dis)honour the officials responsible in the construction of the NHAI building, Gadkari mockingly suggested the current chairman of the agency to put up the photos of the CGMs and GMs in the new office for taking 9 long years for its completion.

Perhaps, a ‘wall of shame’ with the portraits of the NHAI officials responsible for the delay of the building construction was what the Union Minister was suggesting.

Gadkari even scoffed at the NHAI’s decision of setting the highly ambitious deadline of 3 years for the completion of Mumbai-Delhi highway. “When the NHAI building project worth Rs 200-250 crores took 9 years for completion, I really doubt how the Mumbai-Delhi highway project that is pegged at Rs 80,000 crore- Rs 1,00,000 crores be completed in just 3 years,” Gadkari sharply noted.

The culture at NHAI breeds “perverted ideology” and inefficient officials embody ‘Vish Kanyas’: Gadkari

If this was not enough, Gadkari even proceeded to take potshots at the culture of the agency that promoted and preserved people with “perverted ideology” who not only remained indecisive but also created hurdles and complications in the work.

“Such people with perverted ideology, who stick to their positions for more than 12-13 years in the organisation, ironically also become philosophers and guides to the chairman of the agency,” Gadkari sardonically noted while ridiculing the culture that has rewarded inefficient officials and their tardiness.

Gadkari continued flaying the officials, likening them to “Vish Kanya” (Venomous people) and expressed his astonishment over why such individuals are still treated as “philosophers” and “guides” from top to bottom in the agency.

Mincing no words, Gadkari said the excessive delay in construction of the NHAI building demonstrated the unworthiness and depravity of the agency’s tradition of CGMs and GMs.

The tradition of CGMs and GMs is unworthy, corrupt and useless: Gadkari

Furthermore, Gadkari highlighted some instances when the indecisiveness of the NHAI officials had caused an additional burden on the public exchequer. In one instance, a contract which was initially quoted to be completed in 400 crores, ended up being finalised by the organisation at Rs 1400 crores. In another such instance, the NHAI had rejected the idea of continuing a project’s second leg with the same contractor. A new tender was floated and the same contractor was awarded the construction work at a premium of Rs 400-500 crore.

Calling them “unworthy”, “corrupt” and “useless”, Gadkari said, “The committee of CGMs (Chief General Managers) and GMs (General Managers) have never taken a decision. All they do is spread negativity and add unnecessary laws to cause interminable delays in the projects.”

Inefficient officials of NHAI were further castigated by the Union Minister and were called as “non-performing assets” and incapable of performing even vermiculture properly.

Gadkari did not stop at that. He continued laying into the officials, suggesting a research paper should be done to highlight the reasons for the delays in the project.

The Union Minister warned that if things continue like this, he will have no option but to evaluate the performance of the officials. “I will have no other option to assess the performance of the officials. I need to resolve this issue and get rid of unwanted non-performing officials that are incapable of making quick decisions which ultimately delays the projects,” Gadkari said.

You could watch the full video here.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath vows to save cows at any cost, warns of stern action against those indulged in cow slaughter

OpIndia Staff
-
0
UP CM Yogi Adityanath vows to save cows at any cost, warns of stern action against those indulged in cow slaughter

Addressing a rally in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh yesterday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that strict action would be taken against those involved in cow slaughter. “Those involved in such an act will go to jail. We will save cow at any cost”, he said. CM Yogi was speaking in Bangarmau assembly seat where by-polls are going to be held on November 3 since the seat was vacated after the sitting BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted for the rape of a minor.

Expressing commitment to protect cows, the Chief Minister said that the government would not allow anyone to play with the lives of cows. Adding that cow protection was everyone’s responsibility, he informed that cow shelters were being constructed in every district for the protection of bovines with the aide of the state government.

On Non-Discrimination along religious lines

CM Yogi said that his government did not discriminate on the basis of caste or religion while implementing government schemes and that development work was carried out by the government even during the pandemic. He said that Uttar Pradesh was the key to the progress of the country.

On dealing with Criminals

The Chief Minister said that earlier criminals used to get political patronage but now their illegal properties are being demolished by the state government. He said that miscreants can no longer to stir up communal tensions in the state as they knew that they would be put behind the bars if they did so.

Swad Official’s Gaurav Wasan refutes allegations of fraud levelled by YouTuber Lakshay Chaudhary, says he has given all the donations to ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Swad Official’s Gaurav Wasan refutes allegations of fraud levelled by YouTuber Lakshay Chaudhary, says he has given all the donations to ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’

Two days after YouTuber Lakshay Chaudhary and many others levelled serious allegations of fraud and embezzlement of funds against him, Swad Official’s Gaurav Wasan, whose video of the octogenarian owner of ‘Baba ka Dhaba’ had gone viral on the internet, has uploaded a video, presenting his side of the story and rubbishing the allegations as baseless and motivated.

Gaurav Wasan responds to allegations levelled by YouTuber Lakshay Chaudhary

In the video, Wasan emphasised that he was stirred by the plight of Kanta Prasad and his wife, after which he decided to create a video and appeal to his viewers to support the duo’s local eatery in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar. The video went instantly viral with a torrent of support pouring in from the people, including celebrities who shared the video and urged people to help ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’.

Scores of Delhites then flocked to ‘Dhaba ka Dhaba’ and from once being a moribund eatery, it transformed into a bustling local food joint, having serpentine queues of people waiting to order their choice of food. Help also came online, with many people making generous contributions to the bank accounts shared by Gaurav.

Gaurav shows details of his bank passbook to declare his innocence

Wasan shows his ICICI bank’s passbook details in the video, though the particulars were grainy and illegible. While scrolling through his passbook, Wasan said that he had uploaded the video on October 7 and on the same day he started receiving monetary donations from the people. He contends that his books are clean and that he is soon going to release his bank statement.

Gaurav further mentions that on October 8, Kanta Prasad started sharing his bank accounts with others. The support he received from his well-wishers was so overwhelming that within a day, he received donations into the tunes of lakhs and therefore his account was seized.

“On October 8, people started making donations to Baba (Kanta Prasad)’s account directly. Within hours, he was receiving not in thousands but in lakhs. The bank therefore seized his account because of such huge donations,” Gaurav said.

Money collected through online campaign given to Baba: Gaurav Wasan

Gaurav adds that he has so far collected Rs 3.35 lakhs through the campaign, and this amount was provided to Baba in the form of a bank cheque. However, he acknowledged that he was late in transferring the amount to Baba.

To defend his tardiness, Gaurav also added an old clip where he is seen requesting people to stop donating to ‘Baba ka Dhaba’ since they have achieved their target. The clip features Kanta Prasad who is seen humbly asking people to support others in need.

Regarding the allegations of online scamming levelled against him, Gaurav said that the accusations against are motivated and done with the express purpose to pull him down. However, he added that food vlogging is his passion and he would remain resilient against such attempts made to slander him and spread negativity about him.

“Against the wishes of the donors who did not want their details be made public, I will release my bank statement tomorrow. I have nothing to hide. I am thankful to those who have come out and supported our initiatives and I would request others to stop spreading negativity,” Gaurav said.

Wasan also embedded a small video of Kanta Prasad admitting to him that the money pooled is safe with the food vlogger and that whenever he would feel the need for money, he will ask Gaurav to transfer the amount to his account.

Towards the end, he shared transactions of amounts he had received during the online campaign. Curiously, the transaction IDs of all the three transaction details he had shared bore the same number.

Several netizens pointed this out, given that transaction ID is a unique alpha-numeric string, separate for each transaction. With the transaction IDs being same, many social media users have alleged that something is amiss.

YouTuber Lakshay Chaudhary makes explosive allegations of fraud against Gaurav Wasan

On Monday this week, video was released by a YouTuber called Lakshay Chaudhary in which he raised awareness about online scamming done by individuals who run online donation campaigns by uploading emotional videos. In his video, Chaudhary had alleged that Gaurav Wasan of ‘Swad Official’ sought donations from people on the pretext of helping ‘Baba ka Dhaba’ owners. But the money was not shared with him.

In his interview with Chaudhary, the 80-year-old ‘Baba ka Dhaba’ owner Kanta Prasad admitted that he had so far not received a single dime from the donations sought by Gaurav for ‘Baba ka Dhaba’.

Chaudhary alleged in his video that Gaurav Wasan, who ran an online campaign seeking monetary assistance for ‘Baba ka Dhaba’ did not transfer the collected amount to Kanta Prasad. He further added that Gaurav had asked people on his YouTube channel to contact him for helping Kanta Prasad and shared his personal bank accounts for donations, instead of providing Kanta Prasad’s bank details for people to contribute.

1...4,9114,9124,913...7,650Page 4,912 of 7,650