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Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, J-K, and Gilgit Baltistan: Here are 10 points that prove which government treats its people better

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, J-K, and Gilgit Baltistan: Here are 10 points that prove which government treats its people better

Kashmir has been a constant subject of conflict between India and Pakistan. While for India, Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan are all part of India, for Pakistan, PoK is a territory that it has claimed is ‘azaad’, however, it is firmly under the rule and occupation of Pakistan. Gilgit Baltistan, similarly, is also under the Pakistani occupation. The three regions have seen an extremely different growth trajectory and standard of living indices under the direct rule of India and Pakistan.

A study released by organisation Law and Society Alliance lists the comparison between PoJK, JK and Gilgit-Baltistan as far as the condition of living is concerned. The study was a mapping exercise of human development and human rights conditions existing in J&K and PoJK along with G-B, followed by a comparative analysis of development components under various categories. Most of the data relied upon by the organisation are open-source data like media reports, government reports, research carried about local, national and international NGOs etc.

There are several aspects that were compared in the report as far as the living conditions, human rights conditions and development in the respective regions are concerned.

Here are the 10 main points that have been highlighted in the report:

1. Budget allotted to PoJK by Pakistan and JK by India

According to the report released by Law and Society Alliance, the PoJK government allocated PKR (Pakistani Rupee) 12,156 crore or US$773 million for its 2019-20budget.1 On the other hand, J&K spent INR (Indian National Rupees) 88,911 crore or US$12.4 billion in the fiscal year 2019-20.

Essentially, India allocated funds which as 16 times higher compared to the amount spent by Pakistan in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

2. Education and literacy

The literacy rate in Gilgit-Baltistan is at an abysmal stage, per the report. The report cites Pakistani non-profit organisation Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, Islamabad (PIPS) to say that the literary rate in the area is a abysmal 14% for men and 3.5% for women.

In Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, the literacy rate is far better, standing at 60%.

The report states that there are currently six small and big universities in PoJK. Except for the University of Azad Kashmir, all other universities were founded in the 21st century and are yet to be fully developed. Besides, there are two small universities in G-B region with small numbers of student enrolments. The Karakoram International University has a comparatively higher number of enrolments than the Baltistan University – which was founded recently in 2017. 

The literacy rate in Jammu and Kashmir, on the other hand, is 67.16%. As of now, there are ten major State Universities and two major Central Universities in J&K: one Central University in each part of the state – Central University of Jammu and Central University of Kashmir. In addition, there are four premier Institutes of National Importance including Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Jammu, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar and National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Srinagar. 

The spending by the respective governments on education is also a telling market of how seriously the governments view education and literacy in the respective regions.

Education indicators in the three regions (Table source: Report by Law and Society Alliance

According to the report, India spent $1.55 Billion on education in JK, has 12 Universities and a literacy rate of 67.16%.

In Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan spent $173 million, has 6 universities and a literacy rate of 60%.

What is worse is that there is no record per se of any expenditure in Gilgit Baltistian. It has only 20 Universities and the literacy rate is less than 20%.

3. Health condition and government expenditure

The budget of Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir for health in the fiscal year 2019-20 was US$62 million.14 Whereas, India allocated $ 618 million for health in year 2019. The comparison of relative health expenditures of both the governments reflects a similar trend observed in education expenditure, as the budget allocated by India in Jammu and Kashmir is approximately 11 times more than that by Pakistan in PoJK.

Interestingly, while Pakistan infant mortality rate is 62 per thousand infants, it does not even include PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan while measure IMR. Considering the undevelopment of these regions, the IMR is expected to far greater in these regions, according to the report.

The report says, “available statistics suggest that G-B’s maternal mortality ratio hovers between 250 and 600 per 100,000 live births – among the highest in Pakistan”.

Health indicators in the three regions

According to the report, the number of hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir stands at 5,534 while in PoJK, the number of hospitals is only 73. The situation is far worse in GB where the number of hospitals is only 33. The infant mortality rate also shows a massive difference. In JK, the IMR is 23 while in PoJK, it is 62.

4. Per capita income

The report states, “According to Agha Khan Rural Support Program Survey, the annual per capita income of G-B is less than US$268, which is one-quarter of Pakistan’s national average per capita income. The per capita income of PoJK is US$1,512, which is around six times higher than the per capita income of G-B and substantially higher than that of J&K. Per capita income of J&K is US$1,000 per annum. Despite a moderate per capita income, the poverty rate in J&K is extremely low and currently stands at 10.35 per cent, which is almost half of the national average of around 21 per cent.

According to the latest data available, the unemployment rate in PoJK is higher than the national average of Pakistan, measuring 10.3 per cent. Whereas it stands at 5.3 per cent in J&K, measuring lower than the national average”.

5. Ethnic demography

Gilgit-Baltistan has seen a massive decline in the Shia population over the years, as per the report.

Declining Shia population in Gilgit-Baltistan

The report attributes the decline to several reasons. One is the concerted ethnic cleansing of Shias in GB. Further, the report says, “Besides numerous violent attempts of ethnic cleansing in these regions, Pakistan government and military, under the leadership of Zia-ul-Haq, made several continuous attempts to alter the ethnic demography of the region. Post-1980s, Sunni Muslims from hegemonic Pakistani provinces like Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa started to make an influx through business routes and started to gradually settle in the region.

In this regard, researcher and activist Samuel Baid argues, “the influx of outsiders has created two problems, depletion of employment opportunities for the locals and brutalisation of sectarian tension. Along with this, there has come along a gun culture and gradual replacement of spiritual values by class materialism of the new middle class. The outsiders grab land and government jobs. It is not only the jobs that the outsiders grab, but they also plunder upon forest and natural resources in the region. The funds allocated for the development of G-B are spent on the Army deployed there”.

According to the report, Jammu and Kashmir (both regions combined) have a majority Muslim population.

According to the last census of 2011, Muslims are the majority in the state, constituting 68.31 per cent of the total population. Muslims are in a majority in 17 of the 22 districts of the state. Whereas, Hindus are in a minority in J&K forming 28.43 per cent of the total population, with the majority in four districts. Other minorities in J&K are Sikhs (1.87 per cent), Buddhists (0.9 per cent) and Christians (0.28 per cent).

While Pakistan has tried to fester communal tension and terrorism in Kashmir which led to the genocide and ouster of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990-1991, the Jammu and Kashmir region combined has seen a steady increase in population.

Population of Jammu and Kashmir (combined)

The report says, “Interestingly, there has been a remarkably steady, stable similarity in the population growth of all the communities for more than five decades in J&K. In 1961, Muslims with a population of 2.4 million, constituted 68.31 per cent of the state’s population of 3.6 million and Hindus with a population of one million made up 28.45 per cent. It reflects that the ethnic and religious demographics of the state has been absolutely sustained and constant. It also gives a strong rebuttal to the contentious allegations of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on India, of trying to alter the religious demography of the state”.

6. Language in PoJK, JK and GB

The inhabitants of G-B speak a combination of languages and dialects including Balti, Burushaski, Shina, Khawer, Wakhi, Turki, Tibeti, Pashto, Urdu and Persian. Shina language, majorly spoken in Gilgit is a Dardic language, similar to Kashmiri and the two languages have a close affinity. Kashmiri is the language spoken by the majority population of PoJK. Unfortunately, neither of the languages – Kashmiri as well as the ones spoken in multilingual G-B – have been placed among the list of ‘National Language’ or at least ‘Official Language’ by the Pakistani government.

Interestingly, the national language opted by Pakistan in Urdu, which is only spoken by 8% of the population. English is also used for official purposes in Pakistan, other than Urdu.

Interestingly, with Pakistan pandering to China, a resolution was passed in the house in Pakistan to adopt mandarin as one of the official languages. “This House recommends that, in view of the growing collaboration between Pakistan and China under the CPEC, courses of the Official Chinese Language should be launched for all current and prospective Pakistani CPEC human resources in order to overcome any costly communication barriers.” The resolution was passed and adopted by the House. With this resolution, Mandarin, along with Urdu and English, has become one of the official languages of Pakistan.

As far as India is concerned, however, out of the 22 languages in the official language list, 3 of them are from Jammu and Kashmir – Kashmiri, Dogri and Urdu.

7. Freedom of religion

The discrimination on the basis of religion is rather rampant in Pakistan and all territories under its illegal occupation, such as PoJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

In the June 2018 report, OHCHR drew attention to the provision in PoJK’s Interim Constitution, which in similarity with Pakistan’s Constitution, defines who may be considered to be a ‘Muslim’ and uses this definition to discriminate against the minority Ahmadiyya community. The amended Interim Constitution of 2018 has made no changes to this discriminatory provision and declared the Ahmadiyya to be non-Muslims. Other than this, the strict blasphemy laws have also been widely criticised as being discriminatory and draconian.

On the other hand, the report says, “Islam has been flourishing in the Kashmir valley in J&K. According to the Centre for Policy Analysis, Kashmir Valley of J&K has witnessed a doubling number of births annually since Census 2001, despite being affected by Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. “Of the children born in the Valley, 99.13 per cent are Muslims. The spurt in live births in J&K is such that an average Muslim woman in the Valley can now expect to produce 1.34 extra children over her lifetime compared to what she could have expected in 2001,” highlights the report”.

In Jammu, the Buddhist, Sikh and Hindu communities have also grown in strength.

8. Other Human Rights

The report analyses how CPEC has been forced on the inhabitants of Gilgit-Baltistan despite disenchantment and resentment.

The report says, “According to an International Crisis Group (ICG) report, the people of G-B are resentful because they feel CPEC projects were designed and implemented without their input and will be of little benefit to them. The report further said that it “could also affect G-B’s delicate Sunni-Shia demographic balance.” The ICG concluded, “the State’s response to local dissent and alienation has been an overbearing security presence, marked by Army checkpoints, intimidation and harassment of local residents and crackdowns on anti-CPEC protests”.

Further, the communities of PoJK and GB have little to no rights and control over the natural resources of their own land since it is the Federal Govt that controls both the areas.

Journalism has also taken a hit since the Pakistani state often threatens journalists to not report the truth, especially any negative news about the CPEC.

In Jammu and Kashmir however, women’s rights and the rights of indigenous people were restored after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A.

The report notes:

Article 35A had barred a female citizen of the state from any property rights if she married a person from outside the state. The provision also extended to the children of such women as they do not have any succession rights over the property. Through the abrogation of Articles 35A and 370, the Government of India has ensured the entitlement of property rights to women of the state and ended the decades-long anti-women discriminatory process. It has also entitled liberty to women of the state with the choice to marry citizens outside the state, without losing rights of inheritance in ancestral property.

Within a month of abrogation of Article 370, the Government of India received at least 44 proposals from companies to make investments worth INR 15,000 crore (over US$2 billion) in J&K. The business leaders also expressed optimism of growth and development in the region, besides evincing interest to invest in the Union Territory.

Through passage of the Central Labour Laws (Extension to J&K) Act 197096, the Government of India entitled the citizens of J&K with a number of vibrant and liberal labour laws, which were unavailable to them. These include the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, the Trade Union’s Act, 1926, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Employment of Children Act, 1938, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, besides other binding labour laws. Introduction of this legislation opened up the dynamic trade unionist culture for J&K.

Besides this, in Gilgit-Baltistan and PoJK there is a rampant issue of forced disappearances and abductions by the security forces to crush dissenting voices.

9. Restrictions of the rights to Freedom of Expression and Association

According to the report by Law and Society Alliance, the PoJK Interim Constitution (13th Amendment) Act, 2018 entitles the Pakistani government to authoritatively suppress dissenting voices. It states, “No person or political party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted to propagate against, or take part in activities prejudicial or detrimental to, the ideology of the state’s accession to Pakistan.”

Further, members of nationalist and pro-independence political parties claim that they regularly face threats, intimidation, and even arrests by local authorities or intelligence agencies, for their political activities. They said that threats are also directed at their family members including children. Such intense pressure has reportedly forced many to either flee Pakistan, and continue their political activities in exile, or stop them completely, according to the report.

There are several incidents cited in the report, where Pakistan targeted and even convicted journalists from PoJK for carrying out their regular duties.

According to the International Crisis Group (ICG), Pakistani intelligence officials have also warned journalists in G-B against criticising the CPEC projects.

10. Laws leading to Human Riots Violations

The report states:

The Pakistani government, under the Karachi Agreement with the PoJK government, divided the natural resources-rich and fertile G-B from PoJK and renamed it as Northern Areas. Since then, Pakistan has been directly ruling G-B through provisional orders/ordinances, where every new order replaces the previous one. Unlike PoJK, it does not have an interim or permanent constitution.

The State Subject Rules of 1927 – the land ownership act entitling land rights to the locals – was annulled by the Pakistani government in 1974, which opened the door for the influx, settlement and subsequent dominance of the Pakistani community in G-B.

There are several other laws and acts pertaining to PoJK and Gilgit Baltistan that perpetuate human rights violations and does not accord the people equal rights that have been enumerated in the report.

Uttar Pradesh administration demolishes illegal property of Mukhtar Ansari, gangster to bear the cost of demolition

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh administration demolishes illegal property of Mukhtar Ansari, gangster to bear the cost of demolition

The Lucknow administration has demolished an illegal property owned by gangster Mukhtar Ansari near Dalibagh Colony in the city on Thursday. It is being reported that gangster Mukhtar Ansari will bear the cost of the demolition. Heavy police force was present outside the premises during the demolition process.

Lucknow Administration said, “Gangster Mukhtar Ansari’s illegally owned property demolished near Dalibagh Colony. Expenses of demolition will be recovered from him. FIR will be registered. Responsibility of officials under whom this illegal construction took place will be fixed.”

On 17th July, it was reported that the Uttar Pradesh government was coming down hard on the gangster. The administration seized several properties worth Rs 3.17 crores of aides of Mukhtar Ansari in Jaunpur. Varanasi Police confiscated properties of Shriprakash Mishra alias Jhunna Pandit, another aide of Ansari, worth 50 lakhs on 11th July under Gangster Act.

The Police also suspended arms licenses of Ansari’s four aides in July. Superintendent of Police Ghazipur OP Singh said, “In an action against mafia and top criminals here, the arms licenses of aides of Mukhtar Ansari were suspended on the orders of District Collector, Ghazipur, the arms have been deposited in the police stations’ armoury.” Police seized six weapons and 4,431 cartridges from the residence of Abbas Ansari, Mukhtar Ansari’s son. He alleged procured all weapons on a single license.

AIMIM wants NEET/JEE postponed because of COVID, but threatens to offer Namaz on roads if mosques are not opened

OpIndia Staff
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AIMIM wants NEET/JEE postponed because of COVID, but threatens to offer Namaz on roads if mosques are not opened

On Wednesday, AIMIM Member of Parliament Imtiyaz Jaleel issued a warning to the Maharashtra government saying that Muslims will occupy the streets to offer Namaz in coming days if mosques are not allowed to open in the state.

Speaking to ABP News, AIMIM parliamentarian Imtiyaz Jaleel demanded that the Maharashtra government should open the religious places, especially mosques, which are currently closed in the state due to coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Pointing out that Hindus will be visiting temples to offer prayers the occasion of Ganesh Visarjan on September 1, AIMIM MP Jaleel asserted that Maharashtra government should also open up mosques in the state from September 2 to allow Muslims to offer prayers, failing which they would be occupying streets to offer Namaz.

“On September 1, Ganesha Visarjan is scheduled. On that day Hindus should make sure that the temples are opened up for prayers. On September 2, we will call for opening up of mosques too. If it does not happen then we will offer Namaz on the roads itself,” said Aurangabad MP Imtiyaz Jaleel.

The threats by AIMIM lawmaker Imtiyaz Jaleel to occupy streets to offer Namaz failing to open mosques came after one of his fellow party colleagues was protesting against the Modi government demanding the postponement of the NEET-JEE exams citing coronavirus pandemic.

Waris Pathan wants NEET-JEE exams postponed due to coronavirus

On Wednesday, Waris Pathan, a former AIMIM legislator took to Twitter to claim that the Modi government, which had come to power by promising to empower youths of the country, has now betrayed them by deciding to conduct NEET-JEE exams.

AIMIM leader asks NEET-JEE exams to be postponed, party retweets his demand

The contention of the former AIMIM legislator Waris Pathan was that the NEET/JEE exams which are scheduled to be held in the first week of September should be postponed as the country is yet to return to normalcy. According to the likes of Waris Pathan, the NEET/JEE exams at this juncture could be worrisome for the students as the country is yet to recover from the Chinese pandemic.

Pathan’s tweet was retweeted by the official handle of the AIMIM party.

Imtiaz himself wants NEET-JEE postponed but mosques opened

Ironically, Imtiaz Jaleel himself has asked for the postponement of the NEET/JEE exams, a day before going ahead and tweeting that the government should open all mosques.

Imtiaz Jaleel on Twitter

At a time when one of party’s senior leader is demanding the postponement of NEET/JEE exams fearing coronavirus, despite the fact there have been severe opposition from students and parents against the cancelling of the already scheduled exams, AIMIM MP Imtiyaz Jaleel has issued a warning to the state government demanding the opening of mosques in the state.

Rajdeep Sardesai insinuates Sushant Singh Rajput was suffering from ‘bipolar disorder’ despite evidence to the contrary, interviews prime accused in the case

OpIndia Staff
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Rajdeep Sardesai insinuates Sushant Singh Rajput was suffering from ‘bipolar disorder’ despite evidence to the contrary, interviews prime accused in the case

In an interview with India Today, Rhea Chakraborty HAS said that she realised Sushant Singh Rajput had ‘mental health problems’ during their trip to Europe. The interview is going to be aired on 27th August at 9 PM.

Though the full interview will be aired at 9 pm tonight, in the clip shared by India Today, Rajdeep Sardesai seems to operate on the premise that Sushant Singh Rajput’s alleged “mental health issues” are an established fact. However, in reality, the actor’s family have been vehemently denying it and no evidence of expert opinion and medical history has been revealed so far.

The only people alleging Sushant had ‘mental health issues’ are the deceased actor’s live-in partner whose involvement in the case is already under probe, and some Bollywood personalities and their media counterparts who were not even associated with the actor.

The only ‘claims’ of mental issues that were ‘revealed’ was by a councillor who was not medically equipped to make that decision and had breached patient confidentiality while speaking to Barkha Dutt.

In the exclusive interview, Rhea talks about her trip with Sushant to Europe. She said when they were leaving for Europe, Sushant said that he feels claustrophobic in a flight. He had medicine for that without any prescription. Though Sushant was excited about the trip, he did not leave the room in Paris for three days. Rhea said, “He told me that he is very excited for the trip as he will show me his true side during this trip. He will walk on the streets and have fun with me, which he couldn’t do in India. We were really happy. I was wondering what happened.”

She added that Sushant became normal when they reached Switzerland, but things got weird while in Italy. They booked a hotel that turned out to be Gothic. She said that their room had a dome-like structure with weird pictures. She asked Sushant if he wanted to change the hotel, but he insisted on staying there. His health deteriorated and he had anxiety attacks. She said, “Then he told me that in 2013, he had a depressive episode and he told me that he met a psychiatrist called Haresh Shetty. He told me that the same doctor advised him to take the medicines he took on the flight. He told me that he was fine after that. After that, now, he was feeling more depressed and anxious. Then we cut short the trip and returned.”

Showik’s presence on the Europe trip

In another clip, Rajdeep asks Rhea why her brother Showik has accompanied them on the Europe trip. Rhea says that Showik had a great bonding with Rajput. “It was Sushant who insisted that he should join them on the Europe trip. They often joked that Showik is her “sautan”. She mentioned that it was Sushant’s idea to name the company Rhealityx in which Rajput, Showik and Rhea were partners. Rhea claimed she paid for Showik’s share in the company as at that time he did not have any job.

“He loved to live life king size” claimed Rhea

Rhea Chakraborty claimed that the allegations that she was living on Sushant’s money are false and they were living as a couple. She said, “I had a fashion shoot by the clothing brand Shein in Paris. The company sent me business class tickets. Sushant said it was a good chance for us to spend time together. He cancelled my tickets and booked first-class tickets for us. He loved to live King size.” She added that she realized he was spending a lot of money during the trip, but he was like that. Even before the Europe trip he went to Thailand with his male friends and spent around 70 lakh on the trip. He loved living like a star.

Rajdeep’s assumptions in the case

It is notable here that TV anchor Rajdeep Sardesai has been very critical of a police investigation into the suspicious death of the actor. Earlier he had asserted that Sushant’s family should “mourn in peace” and raised objections when a police investigation was initiated. However, when he was told by IPS officers that it is the law to investigate every unnatural death, he had deflected his assertions.

Rajdeep’s tweet

Later, when the CBI was asked to take up the probe, Rajdeep had again tweeted saying that while the nation battles floods and the coronavirus pandemic, CBI is being asked to investigate Sushant’s death. In his attempts to insinuate that state resources are being wasted, Sardesai had probably ignored that the pandemic and floods are not the CBI’s concern, but crimes are.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Jadhav sends letter of resignation to Maharashtra CM, alleges party leaders sidelining workers

OpIndia Staff
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Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Jadhav sends letter of resignation to Maharashtra CM, alleges party leaders sidelining workers

In a major embarrassment to Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, senior party leader and Member of Parliament from Parbhani – Sanjay Jadhav, has tendered his ‘resignation’ from membership of Lok Sabha on Wednesday saying he was unable to do justice to the party workers of his area.

According to the reports, Sanjay Jadhav sent his resignation letter to Sena chief and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday stating that he had no right to be a Member of Parliament representing the Shiv Sena as he was unable to do justice to the workers of the party.

A report by Hindustan Times stated that the appointment of a non-governmental administrator of Jintur Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Parbhani District had irked the MP, leading to his resignation. The Maharashtra government had apparently appointed an NCP worker as the co-ordinator leaving the Shiv Sena red-faced.

Shiv Sena leaders sidelining party workers, says Sena MP

In an abrupt decision, the Shiv Sena MP sent the resignation letter after claiming that the party leadership was systematically sidelining its workers by favouring ruling ally Nationalist Congress Party.

“I have been following the matter for the last 8-10 months. Now a person from NCP has been appointed as non-governmental administrator and this is an insult to Shiv Sena workers,” the Shiv Sena MP, who is known as ‘Bandu’, said.

Sanjay Jadhav is also a member of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Interestingly, Jadhav has sent his resignation letter to party President and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and not to the Lok Sabha Speaker, who is the final authority on accepting the resignation of an elected Lok Sabha member.

Delhi Riots: Court dismisses Brinda Karat’s plea seeking FIR against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Riots: Court dismisses Brinda Karat’s plea seeking FIR against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma

On Wednesday, a Delhi court dismissed a petition seeking an FIR against Union Minister Anurag Thakur and BJP Delhi MP Parvesh Verma for allegedly making hate speeches in relation to anti-CAA protest.

According to the reports, a petition was filed by CPI-M leaders Brinda Karat and KM Tiwari had demanding the court to direct the Parliament Street Police Station to file FIRs against the two BJP leaders for allegedly promoting enmity and for committing acts that intended to outrage religious feelings.

The petitioners had sought registration of FIRs under various sections, including 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.), 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC.

No requisite sanction obtained, says Delhi court

Reportedly, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja dismissed the application saying that requisite sanction from the competent authority was not obtained under the law.

Communist leader Brinda Karat had filed a petition in the court after her written complaints to the Commissioner of Police and the SHO, Parliament Street, did not get any response. She informed the court that she had written to the commissioner on January 29 and subsequently on 31, while the letter to the SHO Parliament Street was sent on February 2.

The plea was filed after the BJP leaders had allegedly raised few slogan at a public rally in January in Delhi.

The petitioners had claimed that Anurag Thakur, the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, at an election rally in Rithala, had allegedly asked the crowd to raise slogans after lashing out at anti-CAA protesters. Similarly, in the application, Karat had mentioned that Verma had on January 28 had also allegedly made provocative comments against the anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh.

Sushant Singh Rajput case: Experts were called to destroy data in 8 hard drives before Rhea left, actor’s flatmate tells CBI

OpIndia Staff
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Sushant Singh Rajput case: Experts were called to destroy data in 8 hard drives before Rhea left, actor’s flatmate tells CBI

A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has questioned Siddharth Pithani, friend and flatmate of Sushant Singh Rajput in connection to his death. During the questioning, he told CBI that on 8th June, eight hard drives were destroyed before Rhea Chakraborty left the house.

In a report, Republic TV claimed that experts were called to destroy the data on the eight drives. They said Sushant tried to protest, but he helplessly watched all the data being destroyed from his personal gadgets, including a computer, laptop and phones.

On the other hand, India Today in its report said that they might have decided to delete the personal pictures and videos as a part of “digital breakup”. While the duo never mentioned they were in a relationship, but they were living together and spotted on several occasions.

It is not clear who had called the experts to destroy the data, but Pithani said that both Rhea and Sushant were present in the room along with househelp Dipesh Sawant and his cook Neeraj Singh. CBI will question Pithani further in the case. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of CBI has questioned Siddharth and Neeraj twice till now. They have also questioned Sandeep Sridhar, Sushant’s CA and his former accountant Rajat Mewati.

It earlier reports, it was revealed that Rhea left Sushant’s house after an argument. It has been alleged that Mahesh Bhatt suggested her to leave the house. In the complaint filed by Sushant’s father, it was alleged that she left the house with Rajput’s laptop, cash and jewelry etc. Rhea’s advocate had said in a statement that she left the house on Sushant’s request as his sister was coming to stay with him.

Lawyer or Sushant’s father, Vikas Singh, said that if this information is true, there must be a larger conspiracy behind Sushant’s murder. He said, “I think there’s something very sinister in this entire episode and it appears that there is the involvement of some big people in the case. The first thing that should happen is the suspension of Mumbai Commissioner of Police and DCP of that area.”

The revelation of the drug angle

The Enforcement Directorate is also investigating the case as there were allegations by Sushant’s father that Rhea misappropriated Rajput’s money. During the investigation, ED found evidence of drug dealings in the case. It led to initiation of a new investigation by the Narcotics Control Bureau. The NCB has filed a case in Delhi and booked Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik Chakraborty and others under Sections 20, 22, 27 and 29 of the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act.

Hindustan Times quoted NCB director Rakesh Asthana who said, “We received a letter from ED on Tuesday evening, stating that during their probe into the financial aspects, they found that drug was supplied to Rhea and Sushant. An NCB team will now conduct an inquiry, and people involved will be questioned.”

Sushant Singh Rajput’s death

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput was allegedly found hanging in his house on 14th June. After his death, a lot of questions were raised related to his death and involvement of Rhea and her family in Sushant’s alleged emotional and financial exploitation was mentioned in a complaint filed by Sushant’s father KK Singh in Patna. The case eventually got transferred to CBI on Bihar Police request and the Supreme Court’s orders. The case that was intended to be a simple open and shut for Mumbai Police has turned into a much bigger conspiracy that includes drug dealings, money laundering and the alleged murder of the actor.

JEE-NEET row: Congress IT cell indulges in ridiculous rumour-mongering to coerce the government to postpone the examinations

OpIndia Staff
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JEE-NEET row: Congress IT cell indulges in ridiculous rumour-mongering to coerce the government to postpone the examinations

As the controversy surrounding the postponement of competitive exams JEE and NEET swells, with the central government refusing to defer the exams any longer, IT cell of several opposition political parties, most notably Congress have sprung into action, attempting to corner the government by hijacking the issue concerning students.

A large number of inflammatory social media posts have come up, demanding the deferment of the competitive exams that are scheduled to happen early next month. Through these posts, the rabble-rousers are attempting to whip up anti-government sentiments, piggybacking on the discontent surrounding the government’s denial to adjourn the exams further.

Congress IT cell ran a propaganda campaign to malign the Modi government as anti-student

Congress IT cell seems to be at the forefront of this online campaign to project the Modi government as anti-student. It has brazenly indulged in fear-mongering to stop the examinations from happening. Fake videos and pictures of students allegedly traumatised and distressed by the government’s decision to continue with the examinations are being shared by the members of the Congress IT cell.

Dubious Twitter accounts, some of which were created only recently in August 2020, have indulged in making false claims and sharing old images to contribute towards the Congress IT cell’s campaign against the Modi government. A Twitter user who went by the handle @AnanyaS06358832, with the date of joining Twitter in August 2020, shared an image of a slit wrist to allude that she is committing suicide against the government’s decision to persist with the examinations as per schedule.

Tweet against the government decision to continue JEE NEET exams on schedule

However, on reverse searching the image, one finds that the picture has been on the Internet since aeons and it has been shared multiple times on Twitter itself. When several Twitter users pointed out that the image has been lifted from Google, the Twitter user promptly deleted the tweet.

Another Twitter user shared yet another picture of a hand dripping with blood, alleging that many students have attempted to commit suicide after the government decided against postponing the examinations. The Twitter user also alleged that students are facing depression and mental stress because of the centre’s decision. The presence of #AntiStudentModiGovt hashtag in the tweet indicates that it is a tweet by a Congress IT cell members as the hashtag has been used by several Congress functionaries in their tweet against the Modi government.

However, what is interesting that several other Twitter users have also shared the same image, alleging that their friends had attempted to commit suicide after the government did not budge from its position of postponing the competitive examinations.

Here is another tweet by a Twitter user who has uploaded the same picture of blood dripping from the wrist as shared by the above Twitter user. Interestingly, even the text of this tweet is an exact replication of the previous tweet, indicating that bots may have been employed to promote the propaganda campaign.

In one instance, a student of Political Science has posted a tweet alleging that he could not give the examinations of JEE and NEET because of the raging coronavirus pandemic and floods. It may be noted that JEE is an entrance exam for engineering courses and NEET is the entrance exam for medical courses.

Some of the IT cell members have not even bothered to mask their real agenda in opposing the JEE-NEET examination. One such Twitter user, tweeting with hashtags such as #AntiStudentModiGovt and #PostponeJEE_NEETinCOVID, has called for students to hit the streets and hurl stones on the authorities to register their protest against their decision.

A Twitter user trying to incite students to come on roads against the government decision

With the government resolute on its decision to conduct the examinations as per schedule, the Congress party has tried to tap the incipient resentment among a small section of students and leverage it to force the government to backtrack on its decision. It is to this end that Congress IT cell members have unabashedly employed fear-mongering, peddled old pictures as recent ones, made fake claims and blatantly called for fomenting unrest in the country.

Most article on Scots Wikipedia written in mangled English by an American who can’t speak Scots: Reddit user makes explosive revelation

OpIndia Staff
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Most article on Scots Wikipedia written in mangled English by an American who can’t speak Scots: Reddit user makes explosive revelation

As if Wikipedia’s editorial shenanigans were not already exposed, an extra-ordinary revelation recently made by a Reddit user once again brings to fore the malpractices carried out by the organisation. According to this disconcerting discovery, almost all the articles on Scots Wikipedia, approximately 60,000 of them, were written, edited or overseen by a single user with a poor understanding of the language.

A Reddit user had alleged that every single article on Scots Wikipedia was written by a single person, presumably an American with little to no knowledge about Scots, a West Germanic language variety spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in Ireland. He also said that most articles on Scots Wikipedia are written in the English language with just some Scots words thrown between, and they are not written in native Scots Language.

One-third of the total article on Scots Wikipedia written by a single user with no understanding about Scots

The Reddit user had chanced upon the discovery while checking the edit history of one article. The Redditor claims that Wikipedia User with the username AmaryllisGardener has written more than over 23,000 articles on the Scots Wikipedia and done well over 200,000 edits in six years. The Redditor also alleges that since 2013 the Wikipedia user, who lives in North Carolina, has simply written articles that are written in English, throwing around some Scots words here and there haphazardly.

As per Redditor who exposed AmaryllisGardener, an admin of the Scots Wikipedia, the Wikipedia user was responsible for over one-third of Scots Wikipedia articles in 2018, they have since then stopped updating their milestones. The Reddit user suspects that about almost all articles written on Scots Wikipedia in the span of 2018 to 2020 could be attributed to the aforementioned user.

“I find it insulting that you would pass this off as our native language which you clearly don’t speak,” the user wrote. “Again, as a native Scot and native speaker, no one where uses this site as it isn’t close to resembling any Scots language. The language you use here is English with some changes in spelling and passing it off as the real deal harms the already derogatory view of Scots languages.”

The Reddit user went on to allege that even common elements of Scots that are found in Scots English like “syne”, “an aw” have been misused by the Wikipedia admin. The user asserts that sometimes entire English phrases and sentences are copy-pasted without any attempt at “Scottifying” them. Scots Grammar is also hardly used by the Wikipedia admin, with only Scots words randomly inserted in the sentences.

It is interesting to note that the user page of AmaryllisGardener informs that his native language is English, and he has medium level proficiency in Scots.

Reddit user accuses Wikipedia administrator of engaging in cultural vandalism by purveying mangled Scots

“There is almost no difference from standard English and very few Scots words and forms are employed,” the Reddit user lamented. “What they seem to have done is write out the article out in English, then look up each word individually using the Online Scots Dictionary (they mention this dictionary specifically on their talk page), then replace the English word with the first result, and if they couldn’t find a word, they just let it be.”

The Redditor pointed to use of “an aw’ in Scots for the English word “also”. While “an aw” cannot always be used in place of “also” in Scots, the Wikipedia user seemed to have used it uniformly in all their mangled translations. When someone highlighted this error to them on their talk page earlier, the primary administrator for the Scots Language Wikipedia for 7 years responded: “Never thought about that, I’ll keep that in mind”.

Levelling serious allegations against Wikipedia, the Reddit user alleged that the organisation had engaged in “cultural vandalism on a hitherto unprecedented scale”. He added that the Wikipedia page has done more damage to the Scots language than anyone else in history. The sheer volume of the mangled Scots peddled by the Wikipedia admin, the Reddit user alleges, would drown any sincere attempts made by others at uploading content in genuine Scots.

“Potentially tens of millions of people now think that Scots is a horribly mangled rendering of English rather than being a language or dialect of its own, all because they were exposed to a mangled rendering of English being called Scots by this person and by this person alone,” the Reddit user sharply noted.

Wikipedia admin has no problem if controversial edits are removed

The revelation caused a massive outcry on the Scots Wikipedia, with editors taking various stands. Some said that the entire Scots Wikipedia site should be deleted and it should be rebuild from scratch, while others suggested that only the AmaryllisGardener should be deleted. Some others suggested that every edit in the site since 2012 should be deleted, retaining the older ones, and rewriting the deleted articles. One admin on the site warned that if the entire site is deleted, it will be impossible to build it again. Some editors also defended AmaryllisGardener, saying that he made the edits only in good faith, and he had no evil intention.

Replying to the debate, the user at the centre of the controversy said, “Honestly, I don’t mind if you revert all of my edits, delete my articles, and ban me from the wiki for good. I’ve already found out that my “contributions” have angered countless people, and to me that’s all the devastation I can be given, after years of my thinking I was doing good (and yes, obsessively editing). I was only a 12-year-old kid when I started, and sometimes when you start something young, you can’t see that the habit you’ve developed is unhealthy and unhelpful as you get older. I don’t care about defending myself, I only want to stop being harassed on my social medias (and to stop my other friends who have nothing to do with the wiki from being harassed as well). Whether peace can be achieved by scowiki being kept like it is or extensively reformed to wipe my influence from it makes no difference to me now that I know that I’ve done no good anyway.”

Narcotics Control Bureau registers case in the Sushant Singh Rajput death matter after drugs angle come up in ED probe

OpIndia Staff
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Narcotics Control Bureau registers case in the Sushant Singh Rajput death matter after drugs angle come up in ED probe

After CBI and ED, now another central law enforcement agency has got involved in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. After a new angle involving use of drugs emerged in the case during the probe, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) registered a case in the matter.

Earlier, it was reported that the Enforcement Directorate had written to NCB to probe the drug angle in the case. It has been found that several people linked to the Sushant Singh case are drug users, and they have regular contacts with drug dealers. That is the reason why the NCB will investigate the matter.

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) director Rakesh Asthana told media that ED has found evidences that drugs were supplied to the late actor and his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, after which ED sent a latter to the NCB. “We received a letter from ED on Tuesday evening stating that during their probe into financial aspects they found that drug was supplied to Rhea and Sushant. An NCB team will now conduct an inquiry and people involved will be questioned,” he said.

The drugs angle came up after WhatsApp messages sent by Sushant’s former girlfriend actor Rhea Chakraborty were recovered by ED, where use of drugs like MDMA, marijuana etc were discussed. The chats were deleted, but they were recovered by the probe agency. One such message, Rhea was advised how to give someone drug mixed with tea. The messages also contained communications with a drug dealer named Gaurav.

Before that, Sushant Singh Rajput’s former housekeeper had also claimed that the late actor used to smoke marijuana. He had said that Sushant used to party once or twice every week with Rhea, Anandi, and Ayush at home, where they  used to consume liquor and marijuana cigarettes.

After the chat messages came to light, Sushant’s father KK Singh alleged that Sushant was administered drug without his knowledge, which ultimately led to his death.

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