Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the second tranche of relief measures under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. The second tranche focused on farmers, migrant workers, small traders and others. The first tranche of announcements on Wednesday had focused on providing relief to MSMEs, NBFCs, MFIs and HFCs, electric distribution companies and others.
Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a scheme will be launched by the Government under PMAY to provide affordable rent to migrant labour and urban poor. Government funded housing in the cities will be converted into Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) under PPP mode through concessionaire. Manufacturing units, industries, institutions and central and state government organisations will be incentivised to develop ARHC on their own land and operate.
Source: PIB/Twitter
In addition to that, migrants will be enabled to avail the Public Distribution System from any Fair Price Shop in India by March 2021. Currently, 20 states have been integrated into the intra-state portability system. By August 2020, 67 crore beneficiaries in 23 states covering 83% of the PDS population will have been covered. The biggest announcement, perhaps, was that migrants who are neither NSFA or State Card beneficiaries in the state they are stationed at will be provided 5 kg of grains per person and 1 kg of Chana per family per month for two months. An estimated 8 crore migrants are expected to benefit. Rs. 3500 crores will be spent on this and the costs will be incurred fully by the Government of India. However, state governments are expected to implement the same.
Source: PIB/Twitter
The Finance Minister also announced that MNREGA will support returning migrants. 14.62 crore person-days of work have been generated till the 13th of May 2020. The actual expenditure till date is estimated to be around Rs. 10,000 crores. Earlier, the Government had permitted state governments to utilise State Disaster Response Fund (SRDF) for setting up shelter for migrants and provide them food and water.
The leftist cabal of media in recent years has made sure that the terrorists who are hailed as martyrs by the Islamic separatists in Jammu and Kashmir are humanised and forcefully fed into our collective memory while the Indian security forces who along with their families are the first victims of the Islamic separatist movement or “Jihad” as Islamists call it are wiped off from the memory of this nation.
Not only this, but the Islamists intelligentsia has also created a narrative and an ecosystem where hatred against the Army personnel is normalised. The recent “sheroes” of Barkha Dutt and Ravish Kumar Ladeeda and Ayesha Renna who celebrated the Pulwama massacre and are ardent sympathizers of Afzal Guru and supporters of the separatist movement in Kashmir have been lifted to glory and are being hailed as ‘Burqa-clad empowered Muslim’ women.
There are multiple such terrorist sympathisers who have spewed venom against the Indian security forces as well as India on multiple platforms labelling the army as “rapist/oppressors” and very recently “war criminals” (by Mehoor Parvez) but the leftist cabal of media always finds a way to justify such hatred against Indian army, resulting in apathy towards the soldiers.
It is the result of this common apathy that the perpetual attacks on Army personnel are forgotten and buried in an unvisited corner of our conscience. The Kaluchak Terrorist attack which took place exactly 18 years back on this same day, 14 of May has been wiped off from our collective memory.
14 May 2002, Kaluchak, Jammu and Kashmir: The Massacre
Mid May is that time of the year when Army children are eagerly waiting to revisit their hometowns and enjoy summer vacations with their extended family members who otherwise are very far away from their parent’s military posting area. May 2002 would have been the same but Operation Parakram, the biggest ever military stand-off on Pakistani border by India as a response to The Parliament Attack of 2001, was still going on and there was a possibility of a full-blown Indo-Pak War.
In the early hours of 14 May 2002, three Pakistani terrorists managed to sneak into Indian territory from Samba region. While wearing Army uniforms, they reached the highway few miles away and boarded a Himachal Pradesh Roadways bus going towards Jammu city. On entering the Jammu district, the armed terrorists masquerading as army-men asked the passengers to disembark from the bus in Kaluchak (about 15km from Jammu).
The passengers mistaking the terrorists for security personnel due to the army uniform assumed that they were being asked to get down because of some security measure. Suddenly, the terrorists started shooting at the passengers and driver. The driver Prem Kumar and 6 passengers (including woman and children) were killed and many others were injured as the terrorists threw a grenade while they were disembarking the bus.
The sounds of the gunshots and grenade explosion diverted the attention of nearby sentries of Army Camp Colony, giving terrorists an opportunity to lob hand grenades towards security perimeter and storm into the nearby family quarters of Khetarpal Vihar Lines of Kaluchak military station. In the Khetarpal Vihar, like most of India, little children were getting ready to go their nearby Army School Kaluchak or Army School Ratnuchak for one of the last few days before summer vacations begin and as a result, many of the army quarters’ front gates were open or unlocked just like any other morning.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t ‘just’ any other morning, the heavily armed terrorists entered the army family quarters, whose gates they found open and brutally shot down whoever they saw in the homes.
A two-month-old infant, Gagandeep, was killed while she was in her sleep, a child was gunned down while in the bathroom, a schoolgirl was shot dead in front of dressing table as she was getting ready for her school. A woman stood at the door to block it, that didn’t allow one of the terrorist to enter their home; another woman dragged away some of the children to a corner, while another faced all the bullets to save her little son. The loss of lives of women and children falling victim to inhumane terrorists (who enjoy massive support from the human rights lobby) added to the agony of their surviving kith and kin.
By the time security forces rushed to the scene and launched the operation to hunt down terrorists, 21 people(8 women, 10 children and 3 army men) lost their lives in the Kaluchak military station, apart from the 7 killed in the bus. Also, 47 people were severely injured in the Kaluchak. Many of the army quarters were partially damaged and carried bullet marks and were bathed with the blood of innocent women and children whose family members stand for the nation’s security. One barrack and several vehicles were destroyed in the ensuing encounter. All the terrorists involved in this attack were 19-20 yrs old and all were from Pakistan(1 from Faisalabad & 2 others from Gujranwala). This attack invited a huge rage from army families across all the cantonments and military stations, particularly in Northern Command, they demanded an attack on Pakistan, as such there was already a massive build-up of troops along the border.
Subedar Attar Singh and his wife were heartbroken and grief-stricken for life as they lost both of their children, Subedar Attar Singh said, “As a father, I can never get over the death of my own children. I only wish they had fired at me and not at my innocent children”. Subedar Gurdev Singh, who was at a forward post on the border ready to sacrifice his own life for the nation when the cowardly terrorist attack took away the lives of his wife and daughter said, “We want war with Pakistan only to reply to the numerous terrorist strikes against our people.”
Brigadier Preeti Arora who was commandant of 166 Military Hospital, Jammu said that she would never be able to forget the scenes on 14 May in her rest of the life. The dying children and cries of the wailing mothers wallowing in pain and loss of their beloved kids still echo in her ears. She further said that the need of the hour is for common people to learn from the sacrifices of defence personnel and stand up against terrorists.
While remembering and narrating the horrible course of events that took place that day Ashish Tripathi whose father was posted on the border during that time for Operation Prakaram says, “I was about their age group (11 years at that time), I wore the same army school uniform like them but while I completed my school in that uniform those children getting ready for the school never made it to school again and left the world. The attack was emotionally traumatizing for all of the Army children and families. We carry immeasurable anguish from the horrific memories of that day. The incident filled our minds with terror, trauma, and loss that we will haunt us for life.”
Timeline of the Kaluchak Massacre
All political parties in India condemned this attack and criticised Pakistan in one voice. (thankfully, no silly theories emerged as all the terrorists were identified as Pakistani citizens, unlike the Pulwama attack of 14th February 2019 in which 40 CRPF personnel martyred and hundreds of soldiers injured and instead of grieving the loss, the media made celebrities out of Ayesha Renna who wrote “Pulwama se panga nahi, bye bye” with an attached image of the list of the martyred CRPF Jawans. And the politicians were busy in indulging in divisive conspiracy theories to link the terrorist attack which was a part of the Islamic, Jihadi movement in Kashmir to the upcoming elections.)
The international leaders condemned this attack in the harshest words including George Bush of USA, European Union Presidency and leaders from Russia, Japan and Germany. Australia listed Lashkar-E-Taiyyaba as a terrorist organisation. Parvez Musharraf taken aback by the international backlash condemned this terror attack and got Hafiz Saeed arrested but ironically he carried on with his warmongering speeches.
Though Indian Army pressed on the government to attack Pakistan for this attack, the government couldn’t proceed with such request as Pakistan was serving as a military base for US troops involved in Afghanistan operations against Al-Qaeda.
The attack was gradually forgotten by the public as the government in states and centre changed in the subsequent elections and affected army persons moved out to different places of postings, yet a handful of us do remember that unfortunate day when Islamic terrorism manifested it’s brutality in this unimaginable and horrific terrorist attack, sparing not even an infant.
The financial assistance for the family who lost their kin at that time was just ₹1 lakh for the dead and ₹75k for the seriously wounded. No amount can ever compensate for the loss of lives of the innocent children, women and duty-bound courageous men, yet this financial assistance is insubstantial.
Reading about this brutal attack I realised that this too has been buried too deep in our memory as a nation to be forgotten like all other countless, incessant and unrecognized sacrifices of our army men. The nation, a youth which will wake up indifferent, unaware of the brutality that our army men have suffered and the loss they have borne to celebrate a social media hashtag of “Thursday Throwback”, and not realizing not all ‘Throw Back Thursdays’ will have happy memories; and somewhere a father, a mother, a family who readily sent their youth to fight for the country on the border will still be carrying the trauma and grief of the loss of their loved ones, how will it ever be able to empathise with them.
The apathy has been systemised but we need to remember that peace reigns because these army men stand its guard and to let their memory fade away, their sacrifices forgotten will make for our collective sin as a nation.
The Delhi Police Crime Branch has recorded the statement of over 166 Tablighi Jamaat members who were present in the Nizamuddin Markaz event in the month of March. Maulana Saad’s sons and relatives have also been interrogated.
As per a report in ABP News, during the interrogation, most of them made this revelation that they wanted to leave Markaz but Maulana Saad had stopped them.
The report also claims that the Crime Branch has revealed that according to the evidence they’ve gathered it divulges that the Jamaatis were intentionally made to stay in Nizamuddin Markaz despite the notice from police.
Passports seized
Earlier, the Crime branch had seized passports and important documents of around 700 Jamaat members. They were also interrogated over their involvement in the case. The motive of the Crime Branch is to know that on what basis they have got the visa and who helped them in getting such a visa. The Home Ministry is notified regarding the case so that further action can be taken against these Jamaatis.
Reportedly, Maulana Saad is intentionally not getting his Coronavirus test done from a government hospital to avoid interrogation from the Delhi police. The Crime Branch is working on all angles to collect evidence against the preacher of the orthodox religious sect.
Last month, the government had blacklisted over 960 foreign Jamaatis who had flouted visa norms.
Charges against Maulana Saad
On March 31, the Delhi police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Maulana Saad under the Epidemics Act 1897 for allowing religious congregation in the month of March, despite repeated warnings from the center and the state government. On Wednesday, the Tablighi Jamaat Chief was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On April 16, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had registered a money laundering case against the Maulana Saad and nine others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on predicate offence that was registered by Delhi police. The agency had begun investigating the trust and the transactions of the trust that belonged to the Tablighi Jamaat chief
Digvijay Trivedi, a lawyer representing the sadhus on behalf of Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the Palghar lynching case, died in a road accident yesterday. The accident happened on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway near Manor on Wednesday morning when Trivedi was heading towards Dahanu court in his car.
According to reports, the accident took place on the Gujarat lane of Mendhwan bridge at Manor at around 9.30 am. The car skidded off the road and turned turtle, killing Trivedi instantly, while a woman accompanying him was injured. It is believed that Trivedi was overspeeding and lost control of the car, causing the fatal accident. The woman, who was yet to be identified, was admitted at a hospital.
Trivedi was going to the Dahanu to attend the hearing in the Palghar Sadhu lynching case, where he was representing the victim Hindu saints on behalf of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Yesterday he was scheduled to present his side of the case before the court.
Trivedi also handled the legal cell of Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, a political party in Mira-Bhayander, where he belonged to.
The Maharashtra CID has arrested a total of 141 people in the case so far, which includes 10 minors. The minors have been sent to juvenile home. Among the adults, 101 people have been remanded to judicial custody, and the rest are in police custody.
Palghar Lynching Case
On 16th April 2020, two Seers associated with the Juna Akhara, 70-year-old Kalpavrishka Giri Maharaj, and 35-year-old Sushil Giri Maharaj along with their driver 30-year-old Nilesh Telgadewere were on their way from Mumbai to Gujarat to give Samadhi to another Guru. At Gadakchinchale village, a wild and frenzied crowd of over more than 100 people attacked them. The villagers deemed them as thieves and started attacking them. The police claim that their team which had rushed to the spot to rescue the 70-year-old man also came under the attack of the violent mob.
But later videos of the heinous act emerged that completely debunked the claim of police. It was seen that the sadhus were in the custody of the police but later the police personnel handed them over to the mob. Then the mob had beaten them to death in front of the policemen.
A Twitter user named Aishwarya Subramanyam has highlighted a curious issue where Robert Hoffman, an American actor is trying to raise funds for a 12-year-old child who lives in a Mumbai slum. He introduces her as the ‘slum princess‘.
When we read that someone is trying to raise funds for a poor child, all that comes to mind is “Wow, it is a noble initiative. We must help.” But this is a curious case. The American actor does not want to raise funds to help the child receive an education or a better life. The goal of the fundraiser is very specific. They want the child to become a model.
The white hero’s fundraiser for the poor brown slum girl
Yes. The American actor, who, as per the details in the gofundme page, has met this child and her family and is in constant touch with them, wants the child to earn money by becoming a model. And no. He doesn’t want her to ‘grow up to be a model’. He wants her to become a model now.
She’s a beautiful little girl, and he thinks she should be a model — and wants to help her become one. So far, so White Saviour.
He’s created an Instagram account where he posts on her behalf: https://t.co/6gpcQ96rEM And has christened her “Slum Princess” ?
— Aishwarya Subramanyam (@otherwarya) May 13, 2020
Instagram page
The Instagram page, (presumably created and managed by the actor since the Instagram policy has the minimum age restriction at 13 years) holds numerous photographs of the 12-year-old girl in different poses. Displaying her long flowing hair, her smiling, beautiful face, her eyes. All the photographs have one common theme. “Look at this pretty 12-year-old girl living in the eww-so-poor Indian slum”.
The gofundme page, where Hoffman has so far managed to raise a sum of 980 dollars against the goal of at leats 20,000 dollars, is a whole another story.
Goals of the fundraiser: portfolio, cellphone and money to start a modelling career
The fundraiser page explicitly makes it clear that the people involved with it want the child to become a model. They mention that for becoming a model, the child will first need to get money to have “photographs taken”, buy some nice clothes, afford transportation to castings, and “maybe even a proper home where she can bath properly and stay clean”. Oh, the unclean, dirty Indians.
— Aishwarya Subramanyam (@otherwarya) May 13, 2020
The fundraiser page clearly states that the child needs at least 20,000 USD for portfolio, clothes, bath, transport and other expenses she needs to maintain a modelling career. The actor also insists that he is trying to ensure that some best quality professional help the child become a model.
The priorities are sorted. To become a model she needs constant Instagram, and for Instagram and other ‘professional’ needs of a model, the first thing needed is a cellphone.
Snapshot from the fund raiser page
Poverty porn
The highlight of the Instagram page and the fundraiser is the poverty. There are ample descriptions of how the family sleeps on the floor, sometimes struggles for food and how they do not have a proper house.
The page also says that the child suffers from poverty because India has a caste system. As if countries without a caste system do not have poverty. Hoffman should be aware that his country USA has millions of homeless people and nearly half of them, almost 47% live in California, where he is from. Hoffman also thinks that India is ‘poor’ because the British exploited India ‘during World War 2″.
From the fundraiser site that Hoffman is running for the child
Potential endangerment of the child
The fundraiser page also reveals some disturbing details. The child’s mother is for some reasons, not in the picture. She lives with a father, a brother and lot of cousins, uncles and aunts. But the fundraiser page specifies that steps have been taken so that whenever the child goes anywhere for modelling work, she will be accompanied by an ‘adult male guardian’.
With all the emphasis on a modelling career, it is also not mentioned why all those adult males or females who have a ‘protection net’ around her are not able to ensure a healthy upbringing for the child, one where a 12-year-old is not required to earn money to meet the family’s basic needs. It is mentioned that she goes to a government school, and since government schools in India are free, it is also not understood why the adults in the child’s family want to depend on the child’s income.
Though the page mentions that the primary focus will be the child’s education, they also insist that after she starts earning money, the first thing will be to arrange a personal tutor for her.
Did the child have a choice?
The disturbing aspects of this whole story revolve around the fact that a 12-year-old is being prepped to become a model, not in future, but now. The page mentions that she ‘has been told’ that she can become a model and earn to fulfil her needs. Whoever put the notion of becoming a model, it is not understood why they did not ask her if she wants to become a doctor, a teacher, an astronaut or a sportsperson? Why are adults around the child are deciding what she has to become to buy comforts for her family, at an age where she should be studying, playing and dreaming about all the career options she can choose from when she is an adult.
The page draws lofty platitudes of giving a better future to the child, but under all those sweetness and confetti, there is an invisible word that is hanging heavy, ‘grooming’. The child is being ‘groomed’ to become a model. The ‘best professionals’, accompanying adults and all those promises are just potential dangers that she is about to, or already being put through.
Hoffman’s reluctance to engage an NGO
After Aishwarya’s post regarding the issue generated significant concerns on social media, the American actor reportedly reached out to her. In the interactions that followed, it is clear that the actor does not want to address or even acknowledge the legitimate concerns raised by many regarding the safety and wellbeing of the child.
— Aishwarya Subramanyam (@otherwarya) May 13, 2020
In the interaction with the actor, Aishwarya has tried to raise concerns regarding the issue. She has told the actor that the focus should be the education and safety of the child, and not a modelling career at such a young age. She has also highlighted that if he wants to help the child and ensure that she gets a better life, the proper way would have been to involve an NGO which can assign an experienced professional who deals with underprivileged children.
She also raised the cultural and social issues of a non-parent foreign national being in-charge of a 12-year-old girl’s life. She also pointed it out that there have been cases where foreign nationals and organisations have been found to be taking advantage of underprivileged children in the worst possible way, including running paedophile rings in the name of orphanages. But from Hoffman’s responses to Aishwarya’s suggestions, it is clear that the actor only wants her to delete her social media post because it is giving ‘negative attention’ to the fundraiser campaign.
The underlying potential for exploitation
There have been countless instances in India where foreign nationals running ‘charity projects’ are found to be actually exploiting poor, underprivileged children for selfish gains. Poverty porn is extremely addictive to the white colonial ego. Even if we close our eyes and believe that the actor here is a compassionate person who wants to genuinely help the poor child, still there will be several questions, how do we help an underprivileged child realise her true potential? We may try and ensure that she gets a healthy safe environment, but should we dictate that the only ticket out of poverty for her is a modelling carreer? At the age of 12?
Is it not prudent that all the goodwill and help is directed towards the child getting a proper education and ensuring that she grows up to be an aware, conscious woman who decides what she wants to be in future?
Also the disturbing trend of ‘marketing’ the child’s beauty to earn her a better lifestyle is quite unnerving. Why is it being mandated that the child has to become a model to start earning now? If the concerned individuals do care for her, why can’t they just ensure her a safe environment where she grows up and then decides whether she wants to be a model or not? Why is a 12-year-old child being made to ‘sell’ her looks so a privileged adult male from a developed country can get his philanthropy fix?
The President of India Ram Nath Kovind has decided to forgo 30 per cent of his salary for a year and also to drastically reduce spending on travel and ceremonial banquets.
According to the reports, the President of India has decided to forgo some part of his salary to make more resources available for the fight against coronavirus.
President office to follow austerity measures
As the Chinese pandemic coronavirus has engulfed the country, President Ram Nath Kovind has instructed officials at Rashtrapathi Bhavan to bring in austerity measures.
The President of India will also not to ride the new limousine that was to be procured ahead of the next Republic Day parade. The Rashtrapathi Bhavan’s state banquet will also be a simple affair to save resources, reported Hindustan Times.
A brand-new limousine was to be procured this year to replace Mercedes-Benz S Class (S600) Pullman Guard for the use of the President. The plan has now been postponed in the wake of the Chinese pandemic.
Reportedly, lavish arrangements including flower decorations on Rashtrapati Bhavan premises will also be limited. No new construction work will be sanctioned in the world’s second-largest presidential estate for the next year.
“Menu and guest list will be trimmed for all future banquets. We will ensure full honour for the state guest but we will also be careful not to show off. There will be no opulence,” said an official according to Hindustan Times.
Another official said that the Rashtrapathi Bhavan aims is to reduce costs by 20% so that the money can be spent for the poor. The President’s Estate will also stop all new construction work, but the limited ongoing work will continue.
“Money will be utilised for poor people. But stop in work doesn’t mean cut in money for contract workers. Idea is to reduce consumption by those who are better off in the Rashtrapati Bhavan,” said the second official.
First family of the country leads the coronavirus fight
Last month, President Ram Nath Kovind had donated his one month salary in the PM CARES fund means to fight against novel coronavirus.
Joining the battle against the Wuhan originated coronavirus, First Lady Savita Kovind had taken an initiative to stitch face masks at Shakti Haat. Shakti Haat is a marketing outlet for self-help groups of Rashtrapati Bhavan, located inside the President’s estate. The face masks that the First lady stitched have been distributed at various shelter homes of Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board.
Fugitive Economic Offender and businessman Vijay Mallya has requested the Central government to close the court cases against him, saying that he is ready to pay back all the money he owes to Indian banks.
Taking to Twitter, Vijay Mallya congratulated the Central government for the coronavirus relief package. And mentioned that the government can print as much currency as they want but they should also consider a ‘small contributor’ like him who is offering a 100% payback of the state-owned bank loans.
Congratulations to the Government for a Covid 19 relief package. They can print as much currency as they want BUT should a small contributor like me who offers 100% payback of State owned Bank loans be constantly ignored ? Please take my money unconditionally and close.
As per reports, Vijay Mallya had also filed an appeal in the United Kingdom Supreme court after he lost the appeal in London High court against his extradition orders to India by the Central government.
As per latest reports, Mallya has lost the application to appeal against his extradition to India in the U.K Supreme Court.
Earlier, the liquor Barron has also tweeted multiple times mentioning that he’s ready to pay back the loans but neither the Banks are willing to take the money nor the Enforcement Directorate is ready to release his attached assets.
Last year, Mallya had claimed that the Indian authorities had already attached his properties worth more than what he owed to the banks.
With the application to appeal in the UK Supreme Court being rejected, it is reported that Mallya’s extradition to India is only a matter of time. The final decision regarding the extradition of Mallya is to be taken by the British Home Secretary.
A lot has been said on the matter of Halal certification lately. Following the arrest of the owner of Jain Bakeries in Chennai over an alleged advertisement that declared that no Muslims were hired at the bakery, demands have been growing on social media to boycott halal products.
Mili Gazette, an Islamic media portal, jumped on to the scene to claim that such demands were an expression of ‘Islamophobia’ and ‘bigotry’. However, such condemnations haven’t had any effect on the intensity of the demands and the cries have continued to grow stronger.
There are multiple issues that need to be addressed here. Is it bigotry to call for a boycott of halal products? Are such calls an expression of Islamophobia? Was the Chennai Police justified in arresting the owner of Jain Bakeries? Was there anything illegal or unconstitutional about the alleged advertisement? Is it morally wrong or unethical to call for a boycott of halal certification? These are the questions that must be addressed as the calls grow louder.
First and foremost, as we have said many times before, Halal certification is discrimination on an unprecedented scale. It creates a monopoly for Muslims in the meat industry. When Muslims insist on the consumption of meat from an establishment that has Halal certification, they are ensuring that the establishment procures its meat from a source that has only Muslim employees because Halal meat can only be produced by their fellow coreligionists. Halal is not a mere dietary preference, it is a way of ensuring employment to people from the same community.
Only animals that are slaughtered in accordance with Islamic rules can be considered Halal and it includes an Islamic prayer that is to be uttered by a Muslim before the slaughter. Any slaughter performed by a non-Muslim cannot be Halal by definition. Thus, attempts to project it as a dietary preference are either malicious or misguided and it is to see how Halal certification would create a monopoly for Muslims in the meat industry. It is not a side-effect but by design.
The case is slightly different for the Halal certification of non-meat products but the basic principle is the same. For the certification, an establishment has to pay a certain amount to an Islamic certification authority to get the Halal certification. Thus, if a business institution seeks to do business with Muslims, then they first have to pay a ‘hafta’ to the ‘thekedaars’ of the Muslim community. Of course, the costs of obtaining such a certificate would be mitigated by the revenues earned from the customers which would include both Muslims and non-Muslims. Thus, non-Muslims would be subsidising the livelihoods of the ‘thekedaars’ of the Muslim community.
Given these conditions, it is easy to understand why non-Muslims will not be satisfied with such an arrangement. Non-Muslims are under no obligation to pay for the religious beliefs of the Muslim community. And since Halal certification is essentially an economic activity, the retaliation will also be in the economic domain. Thus, at least three of our questions have been answered. No, it is not bigotry to call for the boycott of Halal products and it is certainly not ‘Islamophobia’. Most definitely, boycotting Halal products is not unethical. On the contrary, it is the moral duty of every concerned citizen to raise their voice against discrimination in all its forms.
Now, we move to the other two questions which concern the constitutionality of advertisements proclaiming the absence of Muslim staff in business establishments and the arrest made by the Chennai Police regarding the same. First and foremost, insisting on Halal meat is a form of economic boycott. Muslim consumers are effectively providing business establishments with incentives to hire only Muslims in the meat industry. The Meat industry, as it is, is likely to be more inclined towards procuring Halal meat as the majority of consumers will not be bothered by the consumption of Halal meat but a Muslim will never eat non-Halal meat. Thus, by procuring Halal meat, the potential customer base of the business establishment remains larger. This is what Nasim Nicolas Taleb calls the dictatorship of the minority.
Thus, the Business industry is inclined to procure more Halal meat due to the insistence of the Muslim community on the consumption of the same. This, in turn, gives the Muslim community a virtual monopoly in employment in the meat industry by discriminating heavily against non-Muslims. The Constitution of the country is perfectly alright with all of this, as dangerous as this is. No arrests have ever been made by the Police despite the fact that Halal certification on meat products also carries the implicit declaration that no non-Muslim was hired for the purpose of the making of the product. Therefore, if business establishments can make such proud declarations of denying employment to non-Muslims without any fear of legal consequence and with the express consent of the Constitution, then why should any action be taken against a non-Muslim for declaring that no Muslim was hired in a particular business establishment?
If Halal certification is legal, then business establishments also have the right to deny Muslims employment on the basis of their religion. If the Muslim community can encourage the employment of Muslims in the meat industry, which the insistence on Halal meat essentially does, then non-Muslims too have the right to encourage business establishments to hire people from their specific religion. For instance, if a Hindu decides to not accept deliveries from a Muslim delivery person on Zomato or Amazon or any e-commerce service, then it is their right as a customer to do so. If Halal is legal and constitutional, so is this.
Non-Muslims can also act on other fronts as well if they so choose. If they wish to buy groceries and vegetable from only vendors from their own particular religion, then it is their right to do so. If Halal is legal and constitutional, then so is this and there’s nothing wrong with it at all, either legally or morally. As long as the retaliation against the discriminatory practice of Halal is limited to the economic domain itself, then it is completely justified. Equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution and the principles of equality dictate that every citizen ought to be equal before the law. However, the Police sometimes tend to forget that. The arrest of the owner of Jain Bakeries and the legal action against the Hindu vendor in Jharkhand is testament to that effect.
It is also pertinent to mention that on both these occasions, the Police acted after certain Muslims took offence on social media. The Muslim community must realise that they cannot eat their cake and have it too. If they discriminate actively against non-Muslims on the economic front, then the other side also reserves the right to retaliate in equal measure. It’s not Islamophobia, it is the law of nature itself. The Muslim community must also realise that non-Muslims are not obliged to subsidise their religious beliefs. And they must stop expecting the same.
Unfortunately, certain sections of the Muslim community have made it a habit of crying victim even as they engage in predatory behaviour. Indian law enforcement agencies must not entertain the misguided sense of entitlement that such elements have developed over the years. They can, of course, choose to do so but it will only create further bad blood between communities. If, however, they permit things to be taken to their logical conclusion, then there is at least some hope that the Muslim community will realise the folly of their ways and give up the discriminatory practices they observe, or they will be forced to due to the economic repercussions of the same. And all things considered, this is the best thing that could happen for the country as a whole.
A writ petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court demanding the release of nearly 3,300 members of Tablighi Jamaat members who have been sent to various quarantine centres across the country.
According to the reports, the petition filed by a social worker Sabiha Quadri sought direction from the authorities to follow the guideline of 14-day quarantine and also demanded a high-level committee to look into whether continuous confinement of the members is violative of the provisions of the Constitution.
In her plea, the petitioner alleged that many people have been illegally held in quarantine centres and claimed that several persons who are staying in the quarantine centres have written letters to the authorities but they have not been considered. The contention of the petitioner that the Tablighi members have not been releases despite they have been tested negative for the coronavirus.
A petition filed in Delhi HC seeking release of Tablighi Jamaat members from quarantine facilities
Tablighi Jamaat members quarantined at facilities is violative of constitution: Petitioner
According to the petitioner Quadri, the authorities have failed and neglected in discharging their duties and the detention of Tablighi Jamaat members in the name of quarantine is not justified. The petitioner claimed that the quarantining of Jamaatis was not just violative of guidelines of the central government but also in contravention of Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
“A total of 3,288 people from Tablighi Jamaat have been put under different quarantine centres and till date, none has been released from there, despite the fact that they are not in any manner infected with the disease (coronavirus) and in case of many members, three consecutive reports with negative endorsement have come,” the plea said.
The plea, filed through advocate Shahid Ali, also contended that the act is punishable under the provisions of IPC section 341 and 342 – Punishment for wrongful restraint.
The plea also sought to constitute a committee to investigate the death of two members of the organisation who died in the quarantine centre and to lodge FIR against the officials.
Nizamuddin Markaz – the epicenter of coronavirus transmission in the country
The Tablighi Jamaat congregation, which took place in Nizamuddin Markaz in the first half of March, has become the mega-spreader of coronavirus in India, as many as more than one-third cases in India are linked to that event now. The persons who had attended the event, and their family members and those who came into contact with them are testing positive regularly, contributing the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the country.
The Tablighi Jamaat event was not only attended by Indian Islamic clerics but also foreign nationals. The alarm bells should have started ringing when seven Indonesian nationals associated with the organization tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus in Telangana after travelling from Delhi to Karimnagar for an Ijtema. However, it was only later that the full scope of the Tablighi Jamaat’s contribution to the spreading of the virus became prominent when nearly 300 Jamaatis in the Delhi’s Banglewali Masjid had to be taken to hospital for suspected coronavirus symptoms, many testing positive eventually.
Quarantine period increased to 28 days
It may be noted that while the petition says that the quarantine period is 14 days as per guidelines, actually the period has been increased to 28 days for high suspect and known contact cases. This was done after several cases have occurred after people had tested positive for Coronavirus more than 20 days after coming into contact of known positive patients or hotspots. Since then, most states in the country have adopted the 28 day quarantine period for such persons.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses media on the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan economic package announced by PM Modi on May 12, 2020.
Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan
On 12th May 2020, Prime Minister Modi in his address to nation gave a call for using made in India products and stressed on self-reliant economy. He urged people to consume more and more made in India products so as to achieve this goal. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package will focus on land, labour, capital and enterprise.
