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Are Red, Green, and Orange zones decided by the central government without input from the states? Rahul Gandhi is lying, yet again

OpIndia Staff
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Are Red, Green, and Orange zones decided by the central government without input from the states? Rahul Gandhi is lying, yet again

On Friday, Congress MP from Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi claimed has that the demarcation of Coronavirus-affected areas into the red (high number of cases), orange and green (no cases) is being done on a national level. He asserted that the power to decide these zones should have rested with the State and the District Magistrates, insinuating that the union government has taken unilateral decisions when deciding on zones.

Casting aspersions about the efforts of the Union Government in containing the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled States have informed him that the green zones are, in fact, red zones and vice versa.

MHA Press Note says otherwise

While the lockdown was extended in India to further 2 weeks starting from May 4, significant relaxations were allowed as per the specific zones. The press note said that the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued new guidelines to regulate different activities in this period, based on the risk profiling of the districts of the country into Red (hotspot), Green, and Orange Zones.

The MHA circular clearly states that the zones are decided as per feedback from districts. It also stated that weekly review of the zones will be conducted with state authorities regarding the classifications.

The green zones are ones with zero confirmed cases to date or no confirmed cases for the last 21 days. The circular also said that the classification of districts as Red, Green, and Orange zones will be reviewed every week by the Ministry of Health with the States and Union Territories, as required. It also states that the states can add additional red and orange zones if they deem it necessary.

Press note issued by MHA announcing the lockdown being extended in India
Press note issued by MHA announcing the lockdown being extended in India

Moreover, the decisions of lockdown and subsequent steps have been taken after multiple meetings between the PM, home ministry and CMs of states. So claiming that the government’s decisions have been unilateral is a blatant lie.

Debunking misleading claims of Rahul Gandhi

It is clear that the decision to demarcate areas as orange, red and green was taken by the Union Government in consultation with State authorities. It implies that an area has been marked as red, only after the State Government has been briefed about it.

Rahul Gandhi – A Serial Liar

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had attacked the ruling BJP after the Reserve Bank of India released a list of 50 wilful defaulters accused of cheating banks. These 50 defaulters included the companies of absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi and fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya.

Following the incident, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman schooled Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on his false claims on “wilful defaulters, bad loans and write-offs”, calling them an attempt to “mislead people in a brazen manner” and sensationalise facts. 

Rahul Gandhi had also had to apologise to the Supreme Court last year for falsely attributing his flopped slogan ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ to SC judges. From ranting over Doklam standoff, martyr status of jawans, mobile factories to Rafale fighter jets deal, Rahul Gandhi has been constantly peddling lies with impunity.

From ‘terrorizing Holi’ to ‘health hazard Ramayana’: How media demonizes Hindus and all they hold sacred

Shashank Bharadwaj
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From ‘terrorizing Holi’ to ‘health hazard Ramayana’: How media demonizes Hindus and all they hold sacred

The ‘secular-liberal’ media having the dubious distinction of maligning Hindu festivals have now stepped up their fight towards demonizing Hindus and the customs and traditions they hold sacred. The Hinduphobic media organisations, which started with pushing Hinduphobic sentiments by bashing festivals of Hindu festivals while gushing over the festivals of other religions, have now even begun to target the routine practises followed by the indigenous faith of the country.

At first, they started with maligning Hindu festivals while glossing over the uncomfortable truths about the festivals of other religions. The fake news website ‘The Quint’ had once proceeded to brand the Holi festival as an occasion used by kids to unleash terror on the streets. Another notorious media outlet, Scroll. known for its anti-Hindu inclinations had resorted to publishing a post sending those celebrating the festival of Holi on a guilt trip by pointing out the terrible water crisis gripping the country.

Perhaps the most offensive theories to vilify Holi was from the ultra-left wing rag – The Wire, which had come up with the semen filled balloons theory and carried a post that said, “The festival of Holi perpetuates rape culture”.

Even, Deepavali – the festival of lights came under the scrutiny of the ‘liberal-secular’ media, who wasted no time to indulge in their usual antics of bashing it by associating it with a false sense of being the source of pollution. The champions of secularism have made a common point against celebrating Deepavali by accusing Hindus of causing pollution and serious harm to health of kids and adults alike by bursting crackers.

Addition to that, the ecosystem often reminds us how animals feel threatened and disturbed by loud noises during Deepavali. On Diwali, the Quint published an article claiming that firecrackers should be done away with as there’s nothing religious about them. The Wire known for its anti-Hindu inclinations fretted over pollution caused by bursting of crackers that accompany the Hindu festival of Diwali.

Mahabharata, Ramayana under lens now

Continuing its trend to pontificate Hindus over their religious practises and customs, on Thursday, Times of India published a story claiming at least 12 children from Hyderabad and surrounding areas have lost eyesight in one eye in the past 40-odd days since the coronavirus lockdown began and the report blamed the popular ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Ramayana’ serials being rerun on TV.

According to the ToI report, many children have started playing with homemade bows and arrows fashioned mostly out of broomsticks. This has resulted in injuries to kids, forcing parents to rush their kids with pierced eyes to the nearest hospital. “When Ramayana was telecast about two decades back, we saw many bow-and-arrow injuries,” said Dr Subhadra Jalali, director of a Retina Institute in Hyderabad.

The bizarre conclusion that kids are being inspired by Ramayana and Mahabharata to injure other kids by making homemade arms is nothing but another step to push Hindus on a guilt trip for watching the mythological teleserial of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Incidentally, Ramayana and Mahabharata, which is now the most-watched TV shows across the world, is the epitome of moral values and ethics. At a time when the entire nation has been thrilled to watch the Hindu epics on TV, the anti-Hindu propaganda stems out unsurprisingly to put the blame on Hindus for expressing their adulation towards the magnificent Hindu religious epics.

Liberals-Seculars turn blind eye to vices of other religion

The liberals and seculars have always found a way to malign Hindu customs, festivals while ignoring over the uncomfortable truths about the festivals of other religions. The modus operandi espoused by such media outlets entails pontificating Hindus about the vices purportedly associated with their festivals and holding the festivals responsible for the perpetuation of those vices.

However, these moral lectures are exclusive only for the Hindu festivals and for non-Hindu festivals, lofty ideals of brotherhood, peace, inclusiveness etc. are attached while glaring vices are intentionally concealed.

A trend has now emerged in which these so-called ‘secular’ media outfits tries to show the Hindu way and things they hold sacred in a bad light while conveniently ignoring the transgressions caused by celebrations of festivals of other religions. A concerted attempt is being made to make Hindus feel guilty about their way of life so that instead of taking pride in their cultural mores, Hindus feel ashamed of continuing with them.

Supreme Court refuses to stay alcohol sale, tells states instead to consider home delivery to consumers amidst Coronavirus lockdown

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court refuses to stay alcohol sale, tells states instead to consider home delivery to consumers amidst Coronavirus lockdown

The top court on Friday refused to stop the sale of liquor across India, asking the state governments to consider providing ‘home-delivery’ to the consumers desiring to buy alcohol. The court also exhorted the states to find ways to avoid crowding at liquor shops.

Hearing a PIL seeking a ban on the liquor sale citing rampant flouting of social distancing norms amidst coronavirus crisis, the Supreme Court refused to stay a ban on the liquor sale, urging state governments to contemplate on ways to ensure social distancing norms and using non-contact means like online sales or home delivery to reduce the large crowds swelling outside the liquor shops.

“We will not pass any order but states should consider home delivery or indirect sale of liquor to maintain social distancing,” a three-judge bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and BR Gavai said while hearing the case via video-conferencing to follow distancing norms.

Liquor shops that were shuttered nationwide on March 25 following PM Modi’s call for an extensive countrywide lockdown to battle the spread of coronavirus, were allowed to re-open this week, giving rise to serpentine queues of hundreds of people outside alcohol outlets in many cities in the country, brazenly disregarding social distancing norms.

The blatantly Hinduphobic definition of ‘co-religionist’ on Google – Who do we blame and how do we fix it

OpIndia Staff
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The blatantly Hinduphobic definition of ‘co-religionist’ on Google – Who do we blame and how do we fix it

Eric Schmidt said that the Internet is the first thing that Humanity has created that Humanity doesn’t understand and that, it is the greatest experiment in Anarchy and one of the most important tools of Anarchy is free speech and sowing the seeds of distrust in everything that a country holds dear. Everything that forms the very foundation of the cultural foundation of a country. Since the time of the Islamic invaders, the one key method to divide and conquer India was the abject demonisation of Hindus and that trend seems to have continued today even with Google. Today, UpWord tweeted a screenshot with the Google definition of ‘co-religionist’ and the Hinduphobia that it reeked off.

The ‘Dictionary’ feature of Google throws up definitions of words that one wishes to understand and searches for. When one searches for the term ‘co-religionist’, while the definition says, “an adherent of the same religion as another person”, the sentence that accompanies the definition to put the word in reference to context is deeply problematic and Hinduphobic.

The sentence that is thrown up by Google to understand the term ‘co-religionist’ in reference to context reads, “Hindu fundamentalists are admired by many of their co-religionists as virtuous people”.

One doesn’t even need to go into the fallacy of the concept of “Hindu Fundamentalist”. While the Hindu “Fundamentalist” talks about radical Islam and wants to stick to his own value system without being forced to accept Islamic beliefs, which is actually his fundamental right, fundamental Islamism seeks to behead, rape and meme ‘kafirs’. Any equivalence between the two is motivated and driven by deep-seated Hinduphobia and a conditioned response to shield the Muslim community.

To understand why Google would be throwing up such a deeply Hinduphobic definition, it became necessary to understand where Google was drawing its definitions from.

When we clicked on the source, it was revealed that Google is drawing its definition from “Lexico”, which is powered by Oxford.

What is ‘Lexico’ dictionary powered by Oxford

Earlier Oxford offered an online solution called Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO), now simply called ‘Oxford Dictionaries’ which is a collection of online dictionaries produced by Oxford University Press (OUP), the publishing house of the University of Oxford, which also publishes a number of print dictionaries, among other works.

The collection includes dictionaries of English and Spanish provided free of charge on a website called Lexico, a collaboration between OUP and Dictionary.com, as well as Oxford Dictionaries Premium, a subscription service. Oxford Dictionaries’ definitions appear in Google definition search, the Dictionary application on macOS, etc., licensed through Oxford Dictionaries API.

Essentially, Lexicon is an offering by Oxford itself and the definitions it contains thereof are the responsibility of Oxford.

Lexicon is offered in collaboration with Dictionary.com, which according to various sources, is based on the latest version of Random House Unabridged Dictionary, with other content from the Collins English Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary and others.

What does Merriam Webster say?

Interestingly, Merriam Webster also has a deep political stand when it defines ‘co-religionists’ in its online version. As a reference to context sentence, it says, “Although Assam and Tripura are majority Hindu states, their populations tend to be more concerned about safeguarding their unique ethnic makeup and linguistic heritage, rather than helping coreligionists from other countries”.

However, at least, Webster does put up a disclaimer saying that their definitions are taken from various portals to reflect the ‘current usage’ of the term. Even if they are off the mark here, it is probably based on an algorithm and there is a method for providing feedback.

Definition of Merriam Webster

Lexicon, however, has no such disclaimer on their website and leads one to believe that this is, in fact, a deliberate sentence that has been inserted to define the term ‘co-religionist’.

Can Google do something about it?

Often, the safest excuse provided by Google for any issue that arises on their search pages is to blame the algorithm. However, in the past, Google has indeed taken cognisance of search results and auto-suggestions that were insensitive and hurt the sentiments of large sections of people.

In 2016, Google had removed autocomplete suggestions from its search engine that suggested the word “evil” at the end of these two phrases: “Are Jews…” and “Are women…” It left in place, however, the suggestion of “bad” when users type in “Are Muslims…”

Earlier, Google had deleted autocomplete suggestions as well, including when a court ordered it to stop suggesting the word “torrent” after the names of popular recording artists. Google removes autocomplete suggestions that include hate speech or sexually explicit or abusive language or that run afoul of the law, according to its policies.

A Google representative had said that time that 15% of searches in a given day are brand new and that searches include a huge range of topics. “Because of this, terms that appear in Autocomplete may be unexpected or unpleasant,” the representative said. “We do our best to prevent offensive terms, like porn and hate speech, from appearing, but we acknowledge that autocomplete isn’t an exact science and we’re always working to improve our algorithms.”

What can we do?

Hinduphobia, as rampant as it is, can also be attributed to the attitude of Hindus to not take matters into their own hands. It is an established norm of the world that only those who demand their needs be met are actually catered to be the Corporates. Hindus, essentially, need to Unite, Organise and Protest. Hindus, who are the majority population in India form a large base of consumers and that power needs to be asserted when such blatant Hinduphobia is displayed by global giants like Google. In this case, Hindus would probably have to unite and rally not only with Google to take cognisance of this blatantly offensive sentence against Hindus but also with Oxford Dictionaries and demand an explanation as to why such a sentence has been added as their reference to context when they have not dared to offend Islam while defining co-religionist.

Jharkhand: Hindu and Muslim groups come face to face in a village after one Jamshed Ansari removes barricades preventing outsiders’ entry

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand: Hindu and Muslim groups come face to face in a village after one Jamshed Ansari removes barricades preventing outsiders’ entry

The Jamtara area in Jharkhand averted a potential communal clash when locals from the Hindu and Muslim community, came face to face on Thursday after one Jamshed Ansari removed the barricades placed on the roads reports Hindi daily Jagran.

As per reports the barricades placed on the Mojpur and Dakshanidih village crossroad, intended to prevent the entry of outsiders, were removed by Ansari.

An argument which initially started between a handful of people was on the verge of turning violent after many more people from both ends started flocking in as the news spread. Many villagers came armed with lathis and poles. However, due to the timely intervention of elders of both communities, who pacified the agitated persons, prevented a major clash.

Ansari’s recklessness angered villagers

In what transpired, the villagers in Mojpur had blocked the entrance into the village with bamboo sticks almost fifteen days ago, disallowing people from neighbouring villages to enter their village amid the looming threat of community transmission of the deadly pathogen.

Since the last two weeks no one objected to this move, but yesterday, one Jamshed Ansari went and removed the barricade. Few villagers objected to this which led to a small argument between them and Ansari. Ansari was soon joined by people of his community who started speaking in his defence. This infuriated the Hindus in the village who went and replaced the barricade. Within minutes, dozens of people gathered from both sides and the matter escalated.

Senior representatives of Mojpur village in Jharkhand, intervene to resolve the issue

Seeing the matter go out of hands, few senior members of both sides intervened and reprimanded Ansari for his recklessness. They tried to explain to Ansari and the rest of the villagers present there, that at the time like this when the entire country is fighting the pandemic, the onus lies on every individual to save oneself and others from the coronavirus scourge. They explained that at the time of a crisis the entire society should stand together and not unnecessary give a communal colour to every small tiff.

Jharkhand police do not receive any formal complaint

After successful efforts of these senior villagers, people from both sides went back to their respective homes. Since the argument had initially turned big, the information reached Narayanpur police station. Sub-divisional officer Sudhir Kumar, sub-divisional police officer Arvid Kumar Upadhyay, police inspector Subodh Kumar, CO, station in-charge and other police officers arrived at the spot. But by then, the matter had settled. However, to avoid any untoward incident in the future, many police personnel were deployed in the area. No complaints have been filed from either group.

MiG-29 fighter jet of Indian Air Force crashes in Punjab near Nawanshahr, pilot ejects safely

OpIndia Staff
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MiG-29 fighter jet of Indian Air Force crashes in Punjab near Nawanshahr, pilot ejects safely

An Indian Air Force fighter jet MiG-29 crashed in Punjab after developing a technical snag. The Russian fighter plane crashed in an open field in Chuharpur village near Nawanshahr, fortunately injuring no one. As per reports, the pilot has ejected himself safely and is under medication after landing. The Air Force pilot MK Pandey opened his parachute right after ejecting from the cockpit that made him land safely.

The eyewitnesses are saying that they noticed something like a fireball in the sky at 11 am which was approaching towards the ground. After they ran towards the field they found a plane crashed. Some explosion in the aircraft also took place after the crash happened. As per reports, farmers were working in the field when the incident happened.

The local authorities and police rushed to the spot after they got the information about the crash. The exact location of the accident is unknown as several media outlets are reporting the different locations in Punjab.

In a statement, the Indian Air Force has said, “The aircraft had developed a technical snag and the pilot ejected safely as he was unable to control the aircraft. the pilot has been rescued by a chopper. A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the caused of the accident.”

The Mig-29 aircraft was on a training mission and it had taken off from Adampur Air Force base in Jalandhar, the officials said.

The Mikoyan MiG-29 is a twin-engine jet fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It was developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, although later many of them have been adapted as multirole fighters. Indian Air Force operates 65 MiG-29s at present, while the India Navy has 36 fighters in the naval version. The IAF fighters have been upgraded many modern advanced features and modern weapons in the recent years.

Tripura: 24 more BSF Personnel test positive for Coronavirus, infection reported from 86th Battalion after 138

OpIndia Staff
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Tripura: 24 more BSF Personnel test positive for Coronavirus, infection reported from 86th Battalion after 138

Twenty Four more Border Security Personnel (BSF) personnel have tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus in Tripura. These men belong to the 86th Battalion headquarters located in Ambassa, Dhalai district. Earlier, 62 personnel from the 138th Battalion headquarters, located near to that of the 86th Battalion, had tested positive for the virus. No fresh cases have been reported among civilians.

The total number of active cases in Tripura now stands at 86. The number includes two women and five children, all family members of the infected personnel. In addition, a mess worker has also tested positive for the virus. Two people had earlier been infected with the virus and subsequently recovered. Most of the infected individuals were undergoing treatment at the Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital, a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, in Agartala.

Additional Chief Secretary S K Rakesh said that 916 samples of BSF personnel and civilians from Dhalai district have been sent for tests. “We are prepared even if the number of COVID-19 cases further rise in Tripura,” he said. Dhalai District has been designated a red zone and three locations, including the headquarters of the 138th battalion of the BSF, a camp at Gandacherra village and the Kareena border outpost, have been declared containment zones.

Video from Pakistan International Airlines shared on social media to claim that Air India is charging thrice the ticket price

OpIndia Staff
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Video from Pakistan International Airlines shared on social media to claim that Air India is charging thrice the ticket price

On May 8, a Twitter user named Hussain shared a video claiming that Air India, the national carrier of India, has charged three times the normal fare to its passengers under the pretext of social distancing.

In the 45-second long video, a male passenger can be seen arguing with the crew about the airlines’ commitment to ensure social distancing. He says, “We have paid money for this (journey). You are not taking us for Allah’s sake.” The irked man says that the airline is charging them $3000 for a one-way trip.

A female passenger in Hijab can be heard saying, “This is a shi**y flight.” The male passenger reiterates, “How many TV screens are working? How may seats are perfectly aligned? Keeping everything aside, ensure adequate social distance between passengers.”

What is the Truth?

On Friday, Press Information Bureau (PIB) took to Twitter to clarify that the contentious video wherein passengers are seen complaining about lack of social distancing, despite high fares belonged to a “neighbouring country” (Pakistan). It confirmed that the flight in question was not Air India, as confirmed by the Ministry of Aviation.

We found that the video of the same incident was shared by Pakistani users who confirmed that it happened in a Karachi to Toronto flight of Pakistan International Airlines.

The Twitters users from Pakistan also confirmed that PIA was charging $3000, which us thrice the normal fare for the flight, to compensate for empty seats they were mandated to maintain to ensure social distancing.

Fake News amidst pandemic

Amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, images and videos from Pakistan are being routinely shared in India with misleading claims to further a specific agenda. Earlier, former Aaj Tak and ABP News journalist Punya Prasun Bajpai had posted an image that showed the chapped, rough feet of some children. He added the text, “Mother India ke panv dekhe hain kabhi”? which means, ‘have you ever seen the feet of mother India?

The post was shared on May 6, 2020. However, in his attempt to score browny points over poverty porn, Bajpai forgot to verify when and where the image was from. As pointed out by Twitter user @theFirstHandle, Bajpai had used an image that was published in a 2018 report by The London Post, in an article titled “Real Face of Pakistani Democracy- Children need a sponsor for medical treatment”.

Kerala: 21-year old girl studying to become nun in a convent mysteriously found dead in a well

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: 21-year old girl studying to become nun in a convent mysteriously found dead in a well

In a shocking incident, a girl who was studying to become a nun was suspiciously found dead in a well in the compound of Paliakkara Beselian Convent in Kerala where she was living.

According to reports, the deceased has been identified as Divya P Johnny, a native to Chungappara. The 21-year-old Divya has been living in the convent for long to attain nunhood.

On Thursday, the inmates of the convent heard a sound of something falling into the well at around 11 in the morning. A few inmates looked into the well in the compound of the Baselian Convent at Thiruvalla, around 120 km from the state capital and found Divya inside the well.

In about 20 minutes, Divya was taken out of the well and shifted to a private hospital by the police. She was declared dead on arrival. The body has been shifted to Thiruvalla taluk hospital. The police are set to begin a probe into the unnatural death after the autopsy.

A police source said that the prima facie suspicion was that the girl could have either committed suicide or have slipped into the well while taking water from the well. A police officer said that as now no foul play is suspected in the incident. The actual cause of death is yet to be ascertained and her dead body has been sent to postmortem.

Bengal: Mandatory to play Mamata Banerjee’s ‘corona song’ along with ‘selected’ Tagore songs on the poet’s birth anniversary, BJP shares ‘order’

OpIndia Staff
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Bengal: Mandatory to play Mamata Banerjee’s ‘corona song’ along with ‘selected’ Tagore songs on the poet’s birth anniversary, BJP shares ‘order’

On Thursday, Locket Chatterjee, BJP MP from Hooghly in West Bengal alleged that Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee has made it compulsory to sing the “Coronavirus awareness song” written by her in “important” residential areas and housing complexes on the eve of the birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

The songs must also be played between 9:00 am and 11.30 am. Chatterjee had also shared a letter allegedly written by Additional Director General of Police on May 5, 2020, to all the Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) in West Bengal, urging them to ensure the implementation of the said order.

Coronavirus in West Bengal

It is important to remember that the order to sing the Corona song written by Mamata Banerjee comes at a time when West Bengal is reeling under the looming threat of Coronavirus pandemic. The Union Home Ministry in a letter to the West Bengal government has revealed that the state has the highest rate of coronavirus fatalities.

In a memo, the Union Home Ministry also pointed out that the state has a “very low rate of testing in proportion to the population and a very high rate of mortality of 13.2 per cent, by far the highest for any state.”

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