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Islamists attack Indian-origin man in Canada over his social media posts, bully authorities to terminate him from job

OpIndia Staff
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Islamists attack Indian-origin man in Canada over his social media posts, bully authorities to terminate him from job

After Islamist in Gulf nations and Pakistanis started targeting Indians, especially Hindus over their social media posts, a similar incident has been reported in Canada after Islamists in Canada backed by certain anti-Hindu establishments targeted him over his tweets while bullying the authorities to terminate him from his job.

On Tuesday, a group of Islamists attacked NRI Ravi Hooda for expressing his opinion over Canadian authorities allowing Mosques to play azan over loudspeakers every day during Ramzan.

Last week, several Toronto-area municipalities had reportedly granted permission to local Mosques to broadcast the azan over speakers at sunset every day during Ramzan, the Muslim holy month.

Azan from loudspeakers

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown took to Twitter to state that the new laws will allow the Mosques to broadcast azan and claimed that they treated all the faiths equally.

Responding to Mayor’s tweet, Ravi Hooda questioned the decision of allowing Mosques to play the Islamic call for prayer on loudspeakers, which is considered to be a nuisance in most societies. Hooda asked whether they would allow separate lines for camel and goat riders and also allow to slaughter animals at home in the name of sacrifice. It is notable here that blaring Azan from loudspeakers is prohibited even in Saudi Arabia, the centre of the Islamic faith.

As Ravi Hooda expressed his opinion on the need of municipalities granting local mosques permission to broadcast the Azan over speakers, the Islamists and self-proclaimed hate trackers descended on his timeline to attack the Indian-origin Hooda and also bullied the authorities to take strict action against him for the alleged “Islamophobic” tweets he had made.

The user’s Twitter account has since been made private since constant attack on him by Islamists.

The Islamists even doxxed Ravi Hooda’s employment details and bullied the employers to sack him from the job.

Result of Islamists’ outrage

Following the outrage by the Islamists, ReMax Canada, which is one of Canada’s top real estate marketing websites, too informed that it had terminated Hooda’s contract.

It tweeted, “We do not share nor support the views of Mr. Hooda. We can confirm he has been terminated and is no longer affiliated with RE/MAX. Multiculturalism & diversity are some of the best qualities in our communities, and we are committed to upholding these values in all that we do.”

The Peel District School Board in Brampton, where Hooda was the “School Council Chair’, also announced that it had removed Hooda from his position and said an investigation was underway against him.

Hooda was also an executive school council member for the Macville Public School in the city of Bolton.

In a letter posted online, Macville school principal Robin Perri wrote, “Today, we were made aware of a disturbing, Islamophobic tweet that was written and shared by a member of our parent community. We immediately conducted an investigation into the matter.” Perri said the content contravened its Safe and Accepting Schools Policy.

“Please know that this individual’s views in no way reflect the values of the Macville Public School community, nor those of the Peel board. Comments like these are upsetting and hurtful, and never acceptable.”

Hooda says the tweet was misinterpreted

Meanwhile, Hooda said that his comments were “not directed towards any community or entity but just my attempt to state that we should not be going back to the times where such means of communication was necessary”.

“Unfortunately my tweet was misinterpreted,” he said.

Hooda said he removed his tweet and immediately put out another one apologizing “unconditionally,” but that the action hasn’t made much difference.

He says the school board “unilaterally” decided his tweet was directed at a specific community and that did not give him an opportunity to explain himself before removing him from his post. “I am in the process of legally addressing that,” he said.

Fact Check: The truth behind Indian cops dancing while carrying a corpse

Dibakar Dutta
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Fact Check: The truth behind Indian cops dancing while carrying a corpse

In a video that has now gone viral on social media, a few Indian police officers can be seen dancing while carrying a corpse.

The Inspiration

According to a report by Fact Hunt, the gesture by the police is inspired by a viral meme video of Ghanian Pallbearers who were seen dancing while carrying a dead body. The trope first went viral in 2017 following a BBC report on coffin-carrying dancers in Africa.

Amidst massive casualties caused due to the Wuhan Coronavirus, the pallbearers were in the news again as they symbolised humour at a time of international mourning.

What is the truth?

The video wherein Indian cops can be seen dancing to the tunes of the popular music is a reproduction of the viral meme video. According to Fact Hunt, the video is from Koppal in Karnataka where cops enacted the dance moves to raise awareness about the Chinese virus, amidst the nationwide lockdown.

The ‘corpse’ used by the cops as part of the re-enactment is not a real one. The Coffin Dance Video is aimed at urging people to stay indoors and adhere to social distancing guidelines. The video is available on a Youtube channel named Media Power and is accompanied by the title “Koppal Police Performs Ghana.”

A similar initiative was undertaken by the cops in the Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu. In the video, a man who had stepped out of his house on a joy ride imagines a group of cops dancing with his dead body. The scared biker then returns home and decides to stay indoors.

Cops turn creative to fight Coronavirus

This is not the first time that Indian cops have relied upon their creative instincts to deter people from unnecessarily wandering around on the streets. In March this year, a police officer named Rajesh Babu has collaborated with a local artist Gowtham and designed a “Coronavirus Helmet” to raise awareness about the deadly Wuhan Coronavirus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He wanted to persuade people to comply with the nationwide lockdown by understanding the seriousness of the issue.

Odisha: Health workers, police team pelted with stones, abused by Coronavirus hotspot residents in Rourkela, ASHA workers demand security

OpIndia Staff
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Odisha: Health workers, police team pelted with stones, abused by Coronavirus hotspot residents in Rourkela, ASHA workers demand security

On Monday, May 4 residents of a Coronavirus containment zone (Nala Road) in Rourkela, Odisha, reportedly attacked ground-level health workers who had gone to take away the contacts of a 29-year-old female Coronavirus patient for quarantine.

The patient had tested positive for the Chinese virus on May 4 and was subsequently admitted to Hi-Tech COVID Hospital in Rourkela. The team of health workers came under a volley of stones when they went for contact tracing of the said patient. Barricades that marked the points of entry and exit in the Coronavirus hotspot were also damaged.

When the police team went to tackle the situation, the police team was reportedly attacked too. Locals gathered to pelt stones at the police team.

The situation was brought under control only when DIGP (Western Range) Kavita Jalan and Rourkela SP K.Siva Subramani, rushed to the scene and pacified the situation, on receiving information about the incident. The police interacted with the local leaders and also made it clear that such non-cooperation by the local residents would not be tolerated.

Asha and Anganwadi workers attacked, abused by containment zone residents

As per reports, the ASHA and Anganwadi workers, when they had approached the containment zone on May 4, were attacked and abused by the locals. The ASHA workers had sat on a Dharna on May 5, alleging that the residents of the containment zone had spat on them, and threatened to burn them with kerosene. The ASHA and Anganwadi workers of the Rourkela city had staged a protest demanding protection.

Following the protest, the DIG and SP assured the ASHA workers that they will be provided with security when collecting blood samples. The SP, special branch of Odisha Police has ordered to SPs of all districts that wherever there is a chance of ASHA workers being attacked in any containment zone, adequate measures are to be taken to ensure safety and provide a security team.

Tribals upset over Jaamatis hiding

In an April 15 letter written by the Superintendent of Police (Special Branch) to all district SSPs, he had alleged that both the Hindu and Christian tribals in the Sundergarh district have expressed their unhappiness over the fact that several Muslims in the area attended the religious congregation held at the Nizamuddin Markaz between March 13 and March 15.

Following 2 positive cases of Coronavirus found within the Muslim community, the tribals living in the area launched a manhunt to find those Muslims who were reportedly hiding in the village. Coupled with several ‘rumours’ of Muslim men spitting on fruits, the tribals in the area have decided to boycott the Muslim community.

Keeping in mind the need to maintain law and order, amidst the Coronavirus lockdown, the letter called upon all SSPs in Rourkela to remain vigilant and initiate conversations with local community leaders to ensure communal harmony. It is reported that most Coronavirus positive cases from Rourkela were from the Muslim-dominated Nala Road containment zone and the news of Markaz returnees hiding in local areas had created tension among the Hindus and Christians in the area.

Yogendra Yadav spreads fake news over MPs’ salary, claims decreased allowance as increased: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Yogendra Yadav spreads fake news over MPs’ salary, claims decreased allowance as increased: Read details

Self-proclaimed activist Yogendra Yadav has been caught again peddling fake news on social media after he indulged in a disinformation campaign against the Modi government on Tuesday by claiming that the government has quietly increased allowances given to the elected Member of Parliament amidst the coronavirus crisis.

Taking to Twitter, multi-talented Yogendra Yadav lamented that the Modi government, which according to him was supposed to provide free train travel to the migrant workers, had quietly increased the constituency allowance to each MP to Rs 49,000.

The Modi government is providing free train travel to migrant workers, but Yadav, for some reason, refuses to acknowledge.

Citing a government order, he insinuated that the Modi government has increasing allowance given to lawmakers at a time when the country was battling a recession due to the Chinese coronavirus.

Fact check

However, in reality, the claims made by Yogendra Yadav is just an outright lie.

According to reports, the Members of Parliament – who had taken a 30 per cent cut in their salary recently, will now also have to forfeit a total of Rs 21,000 per month from their constituency allowance and office allowance.

The cut of 21,000 is besides the cut in the monthly salary which was made recently. From Rs 1 lakh per month to Rs 70,000.

“Notwithstanding anything contained in the rule 2, a member shall be entitled to receive the constituency allowance under section 8 of the salary, Allowances and pension of members of Parliament Act, 1954 (30 of 1954), at the rate of rupees forty nine thousand per mensem for the period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021,” the government said in a notification.

The new orders have decreased the allowance given to the MPs to Rs 49,000 and have not been increased as claimed by Yogendra Yadav.

Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accepted the recommendations of Joint Committee and the cut has become effective from April 1, the official order said.

Shocking, despite getting caught spreading fake news, Yogendra Yadav has neither apologised for peddling misinformation nor deleted his tweet.

Yogendra Yadav continues to lie

Yogendra Yadav has been often found resorting to spreading fake propaganda to stay relevant in the public sphere. Recently, he had taken to Twitter to hail lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan equating him to a “Satyagrahi”, for apologising to Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev through a tweet.

Making a virtue out of lying Prashant Bhushan, apologising, the ultra-Left-wing activist Yogendra Yadav said, “This is what distinguishes a satyagrahi (truth seeker) from a troll. As soon as he finds a factual error, @pbhushan1 offers an apology. His scruples have earned him the respect he enjoys. Can we expect the same from all those celebrating his apology?”

It is pertinent to note that controversial left-wing activist Prashant Bhushan has been caught several times peddling blatant fake news on social media.

Uttar Pradesh: Severed head of calf found amidst reports of stray cows going ‘missing’ from roads

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Severed head of calf found amidst reports of stray cows going ‘missing’ from roads

Tension prevailed in Mimlana Road in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, after a severed head of a calf was found in a drain as per a report by Amar Ujala. The police reached the spot and controlled the situation after angry villagers started protesting. As per reports, on Sunday at around 4:15 PM, one man saw the severed head of the calf in the drain. He then informed others who reached the drain and tried to bring out the severed head.

The residents then demanded a probe on reports of cow slaughter in the area. On getting the information, Ramlila Tilla Chowki incharge SI Rajendra Vashisht reached the spot and extracted the severed head of the calf. The police has promised a proper investigation and that the culprits will be punished.

Stray cows and calves are vanishing from roads

The severed head of the calf is recovered close on the heels of reports that the stray cows and calfs on the roads have suddenly gone ‘missing’ in the lockdown. Amar Ujala report states that in the Ramlila Tilla area, there were over 100 stray cows and calves. The residents used to look after them. However, during the lockdown, the calves and cows have suddenly vanished. People have alleged that the cows may have been slaughtered by those involved in smuggling.

A Jagran report states that a possible reason for the cows to go missing could be due to increased cow slaughter. As per the report, in past 40 days, not a single cow reached a cowshed where earlier around 35 cows were sent to the cowshed in previous two months. Not a single complaint was received of the stray cows walking on the roads.

Bois Locker Room: Class 12 boy in Gurugram commits suicide, police probe his alleged connection to controversial Instagram group

OpIndia Staff
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Bois Locker Room: Class 12 boy in Gurugram commits suicide, police probe his alleged connection to controversial Instagram group

A class 12 boy in Gurugram’s upscale residential area, DLF Phase 5, jumped from the balcony of his flat on 11th floor at around 11 PM on Tuesday. The police is investigating whether he was involved in the controversial ‘Bois Locker Room’ Instagram group.

The teen was a resident of DLF Carlton Estate. His phone has been seized by the police and has been sent to forensic lab for analysis. Cyber crime cell has also been involved to investigate his social media accounts. He has not left any suicide note.

Bois Locker Room

Recently, social media was awash with repugnant details of an Instagram chat group comprising of boys that discussed ‘gang-raping’ girls in a group called ‘Bois Locker Room’ (Bois, being a spin on the word ‘boys’). The leaked photos of the “Bois Locker Room” (Boys Locker Room) Instagram group had kicked up a storm over the normalisation of rape culture in the country. The group allegedly ran by teenage boys, involved graphic sexualisation and sharing of private photos of underage girls, objectifying them and planning gang-rapes with minor girls.

Girls Locker Room

Soon after the chats of the ‘Bois Locker Room’ went viral, screenshots of ‘Girls Locker Room’ were allegedly leaked which showed voyeuristic chats between teenaged and presumably underaged girls. Besides sexualising and objectifying men, several screenshots of the girls’ version of Locker Room leaked on Twitter reveal that not just boys but girls are also active partakers in perpetuating body-shaming and making sexually explicit remarks.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi congratulates AP photojournalists for winning Pulitzer Prize which says that India revoked Kashmir’s independence

OpIndia Staff
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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi congratulates AP photojournalists for winning Pulitzer Prize which says that India revoked Kashmir’s independence

Three Associated Press (AP) photographers from Jammu and Kashmir were yesterday awarded with the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their “striking images of life” following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

Soon after the journalists from Kashmir were bestowed with the Pulitzer Prize for “letting outsiders see what was happening” inside the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, many Indian celebrities and politicians, most notably, the former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, fell over themselves to congratulate the aforementioned journalists for winning a Pulitzer Prize for showcasing “powerful images of life in Jammu and Kashmir”. The Wayanad MP further added, “You make us all proud”.

picture courtesy: Twitter.com/RahulGandhi

While Rahul Gandhi showed eager zeal to congratulate the Kashmir journalists, it is pertinent to have a glance at what the Associated Press President CEO Gary Pruitt said while congratulating the Kashmiri journalists.

“Thanks to the team inside Kashmir, the world was able to witness a dramatic escalation of the long struggle over the region’s independence. Their work was important and superb,” said AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt.

Image courtesy: Associated Press

If this wasn’t deplorable enough, the official website of Pulitzer which conferred the prize on the photojournalists went a step further and termed Kashmir as an independent entity whose “independence” was forcibly “revoked” by India.

Announcing the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography section, the official Pulitzer website made several problematic assertions about the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It said Kashmir as an ‘independent” state and a “contested territory of India”, adding that Kashmir’s “independence” was revoked by India through a “communications blackout”.

“For striking images of life in the contested territory of Kashmir as India revoked its independence, executed through a communications blackout,” the description read.

One of the photos that won the so-called prestigious Pulitzer Prize showed a placard raised by a man that read “We dream of Independent Kashmir”, and echoed Pakistan’s stance over Kashmir by describing the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir as “Indian controlled Kashmir”.

Image courtesy: pulitzer.org

Another photo showed a large number of masked protesters with the Pakistani flag in the background. This photo, clicked by Dar Yasin, captioned India’s Jammu and Kashmir as “Indian controlled Kashmir”.

Image courtesy: pulitzer.org

In yet another picture, a Kashmiri stone-pelter attacking a convoy vehicle of the police is shamefully normalised as a “protester” who is merely throwing stones during a protest in “Indian controlled Kashmir”. It may be that a stone is seen in the hand of the person in the Pulitzer winning photo, and the website mentions this fact in the caption of the photo, but still labels him as a protester and not as a rioter or attacker.

Image courtesy: pulitzer.org

While there are several photos depicting action of Indian army on separatists and terrorists, and alleged victims of army action, there is not a single photo which shows the horror of Islamic terrorism in the valley. There is no photo of terrorist attack on civilians and military which was considered worthy of Pulitzer prize.

Despite all these blatantly anti-India assertions made by the Pulitzer as well as the Associated Press President and CEO Gary Pruitt, the former Congress President Rahul Gandhi effusively congratulated the photojournalists, sparking questions among several quarters about the Congress’ stance on Jammu and Kashmir.

Journalist Kanchan Gupta posted a photo of Rahul Gandhi’s tweet congratulating the aforenamed photojournalists posed an uncomfortable question to the Congress party and the Wayanad MP if they endorsed the controversial view of the AP President who branded the terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir as “long struggle for the region’s independence”.

The BJP also slammed the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for applauding the three photojournalists from Jammu and Kashmir for winning the Pulitzer Prize and asked if the opposition party considers the Valley as an integral part of India or no.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra took to Twitter to lash out at the former Congress President for commending the photojournalists for their patently anti-India work. Patra asked Gandhi what is his official stance on India’s sovereignty over Kashmir.

Blasting out at the Congress party, Patra said on a news channel, “Will Sonia Gandhi answer? Whether she and the Congress party concur with Rahul Gandhi on the issue of Kashmir not being an integral part of India? Rahul today congratulated those who got an award for considering Kashmir as a ‘Contested Territory’!”

Meet Corona warrior Kapil Agarwal from Haryana who has managed to feed thousands across India amidst lockdown

OpIndia Staff
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Meet Corona warrior Kapil Agarwal from Haryana who has managed to feed thousands across India amidst lockdown

Social media is generally considered an abused platform where under the guise of anonymity, several users openly resort to spreading hate and malice. Even at a time as critical as this one, when the entire country is foreshadowed in uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people do not seem to abstain, but, thank god for corona ‘warriors’ like Kapil Agarwal, our faith in humanity is still alive.

The state executive member social media and IT at BJP Haryana, Kapil Agarwal, has used the Twitter platform to feed thousands across India. Speaking about his initiative, the Corona Yoddha said: “Since the beginning of the lockdown, efforts are being made to provide ration and food in different areas of Gurugram on the information received through tweets, messages and other means. Till now ration has been provided to about 1000 families and food has been provided to about 500000 people and this work will continue in future”.

When OpIndia got in touch with this ‘warrior’ he said that he started the initiative on March 28, four days after the central government announced the coronavirus lockdown 1.0. Now with the lockdown entering its third phase, Kapil Agarwal, along with his friends continue to reach out to the needy as and when they receive information and extend a helping hand to the marginalised at the time of this crisis.

Kapil Agarwal gives a special mention to BJP leader Tajinder Bagga, MP representing Godda constituency, Jharkhand, Nishikant Dubey and Kapil Mishra, who have been helping him reach out to the needy at the time of this pandemic.

He said people like Tajinder Bagga and Nishikant Dubey regularly share information about whoever is in need of food or other basic amenities with him, and he then gets in touch with these people and coordinates with his team members to make sure that they reach out to the people in distress as soon as possible.

Agarwal said that they are a group of 12 to 13 people who are using their private vehicles to distribute cooked food as well as ration amidst the Coronavirus lockdown. He said that his team members have been feeding around 7,000 to 10,000 people on a daily basis. He and his friends had initially pitched in their own money to start this initiative but now they have been receiving help from the Haryana government as well, confirmed the BJP Haryana member.

He confirmed to OpIndia that his team has been covering almost all Gurugram districts and a few more areas nearby like Rewari etc. Kapil Agarwal said that MLA Sudhir Singla has also been relentless in coordinating the distribution of food packets and ration kits and helping his team with funds to help those in need.

Apart from ration and food packets, Kapil Agarwal and his team are also distributing masks, helping people to acquire passes in case of an emergency. All this is being done with the help of MLA Sudhir Singla and his team confirmed Agarwal.

Kapil Agarwal has also shared helpline numbers for the Gurugram district on his Facebook page where people can call and ask for assistance at the time of the crisis.

Though Kapil Agarwal is undoubtedly doing a phenomenal job, he is not the only one working relentlessly at the forefront in extending crucial help to the needy at the time of this pandemic. There are many more people like him who have been reaching out to the remotest corners of the country in order to extend their assistance.

OpIndia had earlier got in touch with a few such other ‘warriors’ so to say who are fighting the good fight: to ensure in such hard times no person goes to sleep on an empty stomach.

Corona ‘warrior’ Tajinder Bagga

One such person has been BJP leader Tajinder Bagga. “I barely sleep as I am spending most of my day coordinating on social media with various people and connecting those who need help to those who could provide. It is a group effort and people from BJP, the Yuva Morcha, the RSS, Art of Living and Patanjali have come out to help,” he says.

At a time when everyone is seeing a one-upmanship, people like Bagga have not let political differences get into the way of humanity. When RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav called for help for the migrant workers in Bihar who were struggling for ration, Bagga coordinated with BJP youth wing to ensure that help is reached.

Corona ‘warrior’ Ankit Jain

Ankit Jain, BJP supporter and social media influencer, has also been relentless in coordinating distribution of food packets and ration kits to those in need. “A lady who lives in an ashram at the Nashik-Aurangabad border and is suffering from terminal illness pinged me that she was low on supply of medicines and oxygen. When she tweeted to me, she had five days of supply. Her medicines were stuck in India Post because of lockdown. We tried out best to reach out to concerned people and we tried to get the medicines delivered to her,” he said.

HAI Board Member Sudhir

Speaking to OpIndia, Humanitarian Aid International (HAI) Board Member Sudhir said that they have started community kitchens in various parts of Delhi and sending out as many as 2,500 food packets daily to those who need them in those areas. 

Sewa Bharati, an RSS offshoot

Moreover, Sewa Bharati, an RSS offshoot, has also been working relentlessly, extending a helping hand to the marginalised at the time of this crisis. From distributing food packets to manufacturing masks at war footing and reaching out and distributing at places facing a scarcity to distributing bed sheets and blankets to providing basic medicines, Sewa Bharati cadres have been in the forefront in extending crucial help to the needy at the time of this pandemic. 

The organisation has provided different helpline numbers for every state. If a person is in distress or gets stuck in any sort of problem, then he/she can call these numbers and ask for help. People stranded in railway stations and bus stops are being rescued by the Sewa Bharati workers.

In Delhi, the organisation has been distributing over 10000 food packets a day. Almost 5,000 cadres have been feeding 75,000 Delhiites on a daily basis. So far the food they are providing is made out of 45 kitchens spread across Delhi. Once the food packets are ready, their zonal teams distribute among the needy in their area.

Speaking to OpIndia, one of the full-time members of Sewa Bharati, Bhupendra claimed that the kitchen has been set up since March 22 where daily food for 30,000 people is being prepared.

Sewa Bharati volunteers are also serving on the Burma border. Through video conferencing, the officials and volunteers keep in touch with each other to make sure the work goes on smoothly. Special attention is being given to the economically weaker areas.

Apart from all this, Sewa Bharati is also producing domestic masks. Almost 1 lakh masks have been distributed in Jammu alone. The organisation is daily getting more than twelve hundred masks from its three units for distribution among the needy.

And while our fight against the Chinese coronavirus continues, it is people like these who give us hope that we will emerge not only stronger but kinder when the pandemic is a thing of past.

All you need to know about Shramik trains for migrant workers, and the answer to the burning question: Who pays for it all?

OpIndia Staff
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All you need to know about Shramik trains for migrant workers, and the answer to the burning question: Who pays for it all?

As the country fights the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, a raging controversy overtook the conversation a couple of days ago. Since the beginning of the nation-wide lockdown, the brunt of the necessary battle was borne by the migrant labourers who had no means to go back home, and a large chunk of them was also rendered jobless due to the lockdown. With railways and busses being halted due to the lockdown, several protests had broken out in several parts of the country where migrant labourers expressed their wish for the government to facilitate their return to their home states. Owing to this, the central government has now started ‘shramik’ special trains which are facilitating the return of migrant labourers back to their home states from the various states where they might be stranded due to the Coronavirus lockdown. But the burning question about the special Shramik trains is – who pays for the tickets?

Amidst the stellar step by the central government, a needless controversy overshadowed the conversation, with media playing along. The opposition parties, mainly Congress, alleged that the central government was charging the migrant workers for their railway ticket back home. The media too ran this blatant lie, creating a confusion amidst the already volatile and difficult situation. Congress president Sonia Gandhi addressed people via video conferencing and asserted that she will pay the ticket bills of all migrant labourers if the central government was not willing to do so.

This was, of course, hollow grandstanding because Sonia Gandhi, who is now a veteran politician, knows well that her assertions are wildly incorrect.

While the controversy rages on despite several fact-checks, here are 8 questions regarding the controversy that we have tried to answer to bring some clarity to the issue.

Why did railways ask passengers to pay?

The ‘Shramik’ trains are specials trains that have been started by the Railways to ferry stranded migrant labourers from various states across India to their home states. These trains were started after requests by the states and protests by migrant labourers amidst the Coronavirus lockdown and as such, are not open for the public at large. It is the state that has to ensure that migrant labourers in their state are registered and screened and then, they can be ferried though the Shramik train to their home state.

Most importantly, passengers will not have to buy tickets as the state governments concerned will have to coordinate and pay for the tickets. As these are not regular trains, but special trains which will run on the request of state government, there is no provision to buy tickets for those trains. The respective state governments will book the trains by making the payment as charged by the Indian Railways, and the passengers do not have to pay anything.

The central government is paying 85% of the cost that is incurred per passenger to run this train and 15% of the cost in meant to be borne by the state government. Hence, ideally, the state is supposed to make good on that 15% payment through their coffers. However, if the state decides to charge the migrant workers, the only party to be blamed for that is the state government and not the central government. The central government itself it not charging the passengers or selling tickets.

Are there any states that made the migrant workers pay the 15% ticket cost meant to be borne by state?

According to several media reports, the states that did charge the passengers, who in this case were migrant workers were the states of Maharashtra, Kerala and Rajasthan. Maharashtra is governed by an alliance of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP, Kerala by the Communists and Rajasthan by Congress.

Why did Railways ask even the states to pay for Shramik trains, why not do it as free service?

A 15% cost has been imposed on the state government to ensure that the state government too has skin in the game. As such, if the travel was made completely free by Railways and the Central government, passengers other than migrant workers would have also been boarded on those trains and the result would be chaos like we saw in states like Maharashtra, during the protests near Bandra mosque or even the chaos at Anand Vihar bus station. It was because of this that the states were given the responsibility to come up with a list (after screening) of passengers and central railway is to provide tickets and trains. To impose responsibility, the Railways asked the states to cough up 15% of the travel cost while the central government would make good 85% of the travel cost.

How exactly is Railways bearing 85% of cost?

If one sees any railway ticket, it is mentioned as a standard disclaimer that the price any passenger is paying for the ticket covers only 57% of the cost incurred for the travel. This is under normal circumstances and for every ticket sold by railways. For the Shramik trains, only 2/3rd of the seats would be filled to ensure social distancing during travel. So the right seat and the left seat would be occupied with the middle seat being empty. Or the top birth and bottom birth would be assigned with the middle birth being empty. As such, due to this, the chargeable fees would come down to 38% (to the passenger, which is supposed to be paid by the state). The trains, since they are special trains, would come back completely empty, thus, the cost to passenger is further divided by half, which would be 19%. After taking into account passenger services like food and sanitation, the state governments were asked to pay 15% of the total cost with the remaining 85% being borne by the central government.

The picture is clearer with this infographic:

Why railways gave money to PM CARES and instead did not spend that on subsidising Shramik trains?

This assertion was tweeted by Rahul Gandhi when he asserted that Railways paid Rs 151 crores to PM CARES fund but is now asking the migrant labourers to play. This was deliberate confusion caused by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Funds to PM CARES was not EXTRA burden on Railways, which could have been spent elsewhere. Railway employees gave part of their salary and benefits to the fund. Instead of hailing the employees for being responsible public servants, Rahul Gandhi unnecessary dragged politics and muddied the water.

People travelling by air were not asked to pay

Wrong. They were, and where they were not asked to pay, governments will pay the bill to Air India or Indian Air Force, wherever applicable. Further, some of these planes were like airlift, an emergency evacuation like from Wuhan, but even there, the government has to foot the bill.

How much will Sonia Gandhi have to pay if she is to pay for all Shramik trains for all migrant workers?

Well, till the day before yesterday, Railways operated 34 trains for migrant workers. The total cost of operating 34 trains was Rs 24 crores (of which, only Rs 3.5 crores was to be paid by the states). If we assume that the Railways would have to operate 1,000 trains for all the migrant workers to be transported back to their home states, then Sonia Gandhi would have to pay about 706 crores. And this amount would have to be paid from CWC and Sonia Gandhi’s personal coffers, not the state exchequers.

It is thus clear that the political conjectures regarding this controversy are just that – political conjectures. The Congress and other opposition parties like the Shiv Sena are using a horrifying pandemic to score political brownie points by exploiting the sentiments of the poor migrant labourers who just want to go back home to their families amidst the pandemic.

Bangladesh quarantines Rohingya refugees rescued from sea in Bhashan Char island’s refugee camp built to relocate Rohingyas from mainland

OpIndia Staff
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Bangladesh quarantines Rohingya refugees rescued from sea in Bhashan Char island’s refugee camp built to relocate Rohingyas from mainland

Fearing the spread of contagious disease of Wuhan coronavirus, Bangladesh has quarantined dozens of Rohingya refugees who are stranded at sea for weeks in a remote island known as Bhashan char, which is an uninhabited island in the Bay of Bengal mainly developed for Rohingyas. Bangladesh has built a massive facility to move around 1,00,000 Rohingya refugees from the mainland to the island, but it was empty till now as relocation had not started yet.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Memon told Benar News on Sunday, “Suddenly, the day before yesterday, some Rohingyas arrived in Teknaf aboard a dinghy. Some escaped, and the coast guard escorted the rest to Bhashan Char on Saturday night. They will be quarantined there.” Teknaf is the southernmost district of Bangladesh bordering Myanmar.

Momen further added, “We sent them to Bhasan Char to keep them isolated from people in the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar. Who knows whether they are infected with coronavirus or not?”

As per reports, Bangladesh refugee relief and repatriation commissioner Mahbub Alam Talukdar confirmed that 29 people were “sent to Bhashan char by the Bangladesh Military. They’ve got enough medical facilities, food, and water”. The 29 people included 28 Rohingyas and a local broker. It is not clear that they will remain there after quarantine or will return back to Bangladesh.

A team of doctors from Bangladesh Navy have also visited to take note of any healthcare issues the residents might have. 

From now, all newly arrived Rohingyas will be sent to Bhashan Char, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen earlier told the Dhaka Tribune.

Rohingyas stranded in the sea in an attempt to reach Malaysia

The refugees sent at the island were among those Rohingya refugees who were stranded in the sea for months in an attempt to reach Malaysia but the country did not accept due to coronavirus outbreak.

Last month, some 28 Rohingya refugees died of hunger when one of the boats ran out of essentials. The boat was floating in water for three months after it had left for Malaysia in January, but by the time it reached the Malaysian coast, was denied entry due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The people in the boat were rescued by the Bangladeshi coast guard after it was spotted in Bangladeshi water in the Bay of Bengal.

The Bhashan Char facility to keep 1 lakh Rohingyas

Bangladesh has built a massive facility in Bhashan Char to house Rohingya refugees who are staying in camps in Cox’s Bazaar. Bangladesh plans to relocate around 1,00,000 Rohingyas to the island. Although the facility built a cost of more than 300 million Taka is almost ready, not a single Rohingya was relocated due to reluctance of the refugees to relocate, and also due to opposition from international aid agencies.

According to Bangladesh govt officials, international aid workers are fearmongering and telling Rohingyas that they will not survive on the island, due to which they are refusing to shift to the island. In fact, the Rohingyas say that they’d rather die in the congested Cox’s Bazaar than move to the remote island. If the refugees are moved to the island, the international aid workers will also have to move with them, but they prefer to stay in Cox’s Bazar, that’s why they are blocking the move, allege Bangladesh govt. Bangladesh govt has built separate buildings for offices of the aid agencies in the island facility.

The Cox Bazaar is home to nearly home to one million Rohingya refugees. They have been kept in strict lockdown since early April. Very limited movement is allowed within the squalid cluster of Makeshift camp.

Bhashan Char, which literally means ‘floating island’ emerged as an island about 20 years ago from a slit. The area was declared a forest reserve in 2013 and it regularly gets flooded between the monsoon months of June to September. The island’s area is around 10,000 acres at high tide and 15,000 acres at low tide.

It is located 21 nautical miles from Noakhali, 11 nautical miles from Jahajir Char, 4.2 nautical miles from Sandwip, 28 nautical miles from Patenga, and 13.2 nautical miles from Hatia and the only mode of commute for residents of Bhasan Char, should the Rohingyas decide to relocate to that island, will be vessels that take three to three-and-a-half hours to travel from Hatia.

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