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Delhi riots preplanned, Umar Khalid and his associates arranged for firearms, gave provocative speeches: Read FIR details

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi riots preplanned, Umar Khalid and his associates arranged for firearms, gave provocative speeches: Read FIR details

Delhi Police Crime Branch in its FIR dated 6th March 2020 states that the anti-Hindu riots that took place in North East Delhi between 24-26 February during the visit of US President Donald Trump were preplanned. The FIR copy states that as per an informant, the anti-Hindu riots conspiracy was hatched by ex-JNU student Umar Khalid and his associates who are linked with two groups. As part of the conspiracy, Umar Khalid gave provocative speeches at two different locations and appealed to people to take to streets during the visit of US President Donald Trump so that the propaganda that minorities are oppressed in India can be internationalized.

FIR copy from March 2020 on Delhi anti-Hindu riots

The FIR alleges that as part of the conspiracy, Umar Khalid and his associates fielded women and children at numerous roads in order to incite a riot. The FIR states that firearms, petrol bombs, acid bottles, stones and catapults and other devices to hurl these with have been recovered from homes in areas such as Maujpur, Jaffarabad, Chand Bagh and Gokulpuri. As per the FIR, crowd was gathered from outside of Delhi where one Danish son of Khalid of Bhajanpur is named as co-conspirator. As part of the conspiracy, on the night of 23rd of February, the road underneath the Jaffarabad metro station was blocked with the help of women and children so that people in the vicinity are further harassed and consequently, tempers flare which could be used to orchestrate the riots.

The FIR also states that the schools in which children from the minority community studied in the affected areas were evacuated prior to the riots in a premeditated manner. The FIR also alleges that one Danish, a resident of Bhajanpura, was tasked with the responsibility of gathering mobs from two separate places for the riots.

The Delhi Riots

Massive communal riots broke out in the national capital during Donald Trump’s visit to India. The riots cost huge losses to life and property. Over the course of the investigation, the role of Radical Islamist organization PFI and others came to the fore. Home Minister Amit had promised on the floor of the Parliament that a thorough investigation into the matter would be carried out and the guilty would be punished. OpIndia ground reports revealed how some Muslim women rained down acid from the terrace and how slingshots were used to hurl petrol bombs. Eyewitnesses also told OpIndia that the rioters were prepared and how women and children were also armed to attack Hindus.

Jharkhand: Former Chief Minister Raghubar Das meets the fruit-seller booked for writing ‘Hindu’ on the banner, assures no case will be registered

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand: Former Chief Minister Raghubar Das meets the fruit-seller booked for writing ‘Hindu’ on the banner, assures no case will be registered

Ex Jharkhand Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Raghubar Das today took to social media to inform that he met the fruit-seller who was booked by Jharkhand Police for having “Hindu” written on his banner.

Das said that he met the fruitseller while maintaining the social distancing guidelines issued amidst coronavirus outbreak and also had a word with the authorities. “We have assured them of all possible help. Also talked to the police officers and there will not be any case on the fruit vendors,” he tweeted.

Jharkhand Hindu fruit sellers

On Saturday, a group of fruit sellers in Jamshedpur were booked by the city police for writing Vishwa Hindu Parishad ki anumodit Hindu fal Dukan” which translates to “Hindu fruit shop approved by Vishwa Hindu Parishad”. In addition, the banners of the shop also carried the photos of Hindus deities- Lord Shiva and Lord Rama along with the phone numbers of the shop owners.

However, wearing one’s identity on their sleeves did not sit well with the Jamshedpur police which acted on a complaint raised by one Twitter user, Ahsan Razi, about the overt manifestation of religion by the shop owners. The police reached the spot and got the banners removed.

The Jamshedpur Police took to Twitter to inform about the developments made in the case. Taking cognisance of objection raised by a Twitter user, Jamshedpur police removed the banners put up by the fruit-sellers and has initiated punitive action against them. The concerned fruit-sellers have been charged under Section 107D of the Indian Penal Code. This section deals with action against persons who are “likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity or to do any wrongful act that may probably occasion a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity”.

Jamshedpur Police faces social media backlash

Following Jamshedpur Police’s action, netizens took to social media to show their disproval.

Many pointed out how many hotels also have ‘Muslim’ in their hoarding and no one seems to have taken legal action against them.

As many Twitter users have pointed out, there are many shops, mainly eateries, which mention names of religions. In every city and town in the country such shops can be seen. There are many eateries saying they are Muslim Hotel, Jain Hotel etc, and nobody objects to such nomenclature.

India Today comes up with infographic suggesting that Delhi is most aggressive in Coronavirus testing, Ahmedabad Commissioner shows how that is misleading

OpIndia Staff
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India Today comes up with infographic suggesting that Delhi is most aggressive in Coronavirus testing, Ahmedabad Commissioner shows how that is misleading

On Saturday, Indian Today Managing Editor Rahul Kanwal continued his obsession with flawed data as he came up with another infographic to show which states were most ‘aggressive’ when it came to coronavirus testing.

The infographic posted by India Today’s controversial Data Intelligence Unit (DIU) stated that Delhi had conducted more number of tests compared to any other states in the country. Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan followed Delhi in carrying out tests while West Bengal stood at the last position in carrying out aggressive testing.

According to India Today’s DIU, Delhi carried out 1513 tests per one million population while Andhra Pradesh carried out 915. Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal, which has been receiving a lot of criticism for its way of handling the coronavirus cases, tested only 82 people per one million population.

Although the numbers are correct, as they have been provided by the states themselves, it is misleading to compare them. The reason for the same is, most tests in India are being done on the basis of symptoms and known contacts. Means, mostly those persons are being tested who have shown symptoms of Coronavirus, or who had come to contact of Coronavirus patients or high-risk groups like Tablighi Jamaat.

Further, the ‘aggressive’ testing in Delhi also resulted from the fact that more number of cases were detected, especially after Tablighi Jamaat positive cases began to emerge resulting in more screening tests rather than pre-emptive tests in Delhi. After the Tablighi Jamaat event was over in mid-March, many members stayed back in Delhi, which had resulted in huge spike in the numbers. Therefore, Delhi has tested more because it had more Coronavirus suspect cases. It is not that Delhi randomly tested more people per million and found positive cases, but it is the other way around, as the city had a high number of suspects who needed to be tested.

Secondly, Delhi is a small city-state, while others are large states with vast rural areas. Till now, the Coronavirus infection has been concentrated in urban areas, which can be seen in the high number of cases in big cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad etc. Therefore, compared to states, the cities have a much higher rate of Coronavirus testing.

Vijay Nehra, the Commissioner of Amdavad Municipal Corporation, responded the India Today’s DIU to point out the misleading data. According to Nehra, Ahmedabad city alone had conducted 3250 tests per million, which is more than the Delhi numbers.

Nehra’s contention is that the entire process of classification of states along with the national capital was itself flawed. The logical comparison of data should have been between major cities across the country rather than states as the latter comprises much more population than cities such as Delhi.

The relatively large population of states will expectedly throw up fewer numbers when compared to Delhi as it is much easier to test in the national capital as against the hinterlands of the states. While in other states, the virus has not spread much to the rural areas, so there is no need to test on these places, which brings down the per million test number for Coronavirus testing.

The most embarrassing moment in this matter, however, was not for Rahul Kanwal, but for another journalist – Sheela Bhatt. Sheela Bhatt, who is the treasurer of controversial Editors’ Guild of India, took to Twitter to display her ignorance and inability to comprehend the basic data.

Reacting to Nehra’s response to Rahul Kanwal, Bhatt asked that how can testing data of Ahmedabad be higher than Gujarat leaving netizens at a shock to see the blatant stupidity of the journalist. According to Bhatt, the Coronavirus testing numbers for Ahmedabad cannot be higher than Gujarat.

Sheela Bhatt perhaps thought 3250 tests per million meant it was the total number of positive cases, which would automatically mean that it had more than entire Gujarat state as the average testing ratio per million is at 615.

However, netizens were quick to react to the ignorance of the journalist and asked how could someone be a journalist with such a low-level understanding of data.

Netizens explained how the data can be higher for Ahmedabad compared to Gujarat as a whole. The testing rate is the ratio of test performed per million across the concerned region and Ahmedabad is testing more, leading to higher numbers.

India Today’s complex relationship with data

India Today seems to be having has a tough relationship with the truth and facts lately. Just a few days back, the network was caught peddling fake data pertaining to Telangana not having an adequate number of PPEs. Telangana Minister KT Ramarao had schooled Rahul Kanwal then by citing official data to prove that the data published by India Today was incorrect.

Similarly, Rahul Kanwal was also exposed by several social media users after the journalist was caught peddling fake data to claim India Today was the most-watched channel in the country. The netizens had published BARC data and had tagged Rahul Kanwal to expose his false claims, leaving the journalist further humiliated.

Coronavirus lockdown: “Chandan Yatra” of Puri Jagannath Temple to be held without devotees, uncertainty looms over the Rath Yatra

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus lockdown: “Chandan Yatra” of Puri Jagannath Temple to be held without devotees, uncertainty looms over the Rath Yatra

On Sunday, the festivals of “Chandan Yatra” and “Akshaya Tritiya” would reportedly be held at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, without any presence of devotees due to the lockdown imposed in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak. The rituals would be conducted by selected priests and servitors within the premises of the temple. The decision regarding the same was taken on Friday night by the Jagannath Temple Committee.

The festival of Akshaya Tritiya marks the beginning of the chariot construction for “Rath Yatra.” It is organised, each year, at the Rath Khala while the Chandan Yatra is held in a sacred tank in Puri. According to researcher Bhaskar Mishra, images of deity are floated on a boat and is held for 42 days in two different phases.

But, due to the lockdown restrictions and the Coronavirus pandemic, the temple authorities have decided to organise the rituals for the two festivals within the temple premises. It is important to mention that the temple had been closed for devotees ever since the lockdown on March 22.

The Shankaracharya of the Jagannath Temple, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, had also made it clear that while alternate arrangements can be made, the centuries-old-tradition cannot be stopped. The temple authorities had thus met the district collector to decide about the place within the temple premises where the rituals could be organised.

Uncertainty about Rath Yatra of Jagannath Temple

The fate of the annual Rath Yatra that is organised every year for the past 284 years is shrouded in obscurity. The festival that draws over a million devotees and spectators are scheduled to take place on June 23 this year. The temple authorities have said a decision on whether or not it can be conducted this year will be taken after the Coronavirus lockdown is lifted on May 3. Reportedly, chariot construction can only begin after all restrictions are removed.

Puri Gajapati King Dibyasingha Deb said, “It is up to the Central and state governments to take a call on whether to hold only a token Rath Yatra, in the presence of just servitors (priests) and officials, or none at all. We shall wait for the revised guidelines to be issued after the lockdown is lifted on May 3 before deciding on the issue.”

Pre-emptive lockdown in Odisha

Keeping in view the coronavirus scare, Odisha government had earlier decided to extend the lockdown until April 30, becoming the first state to extend the lockdown which was scheduled to end on 14th April. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik had requested the central government not to start train and air services till April 30. He had also said that all educational institutions will remain shut till June 17.

Odisha TV has quoted CM Naveen Patnaik as saying: “During the ongoing lockdown period amid COVID-19 crisis, your discipline and sacrifice have provided us the strength to fight coronavirus. We have decided to extend the lockdown period in Odisha till April 30, said CM Naveen Patnaik”.

Andhra Pradesh: 40 new cases of Coronavirus come to light in Vijayawada after 2 ‘bored’ truck drivers play cards with friends and neighbours

OpIndia Staff
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Andhra Pradesh: 40 new cases of Coronavirus come to light in Vijayawada after 2 ‘bored’ truck drivers play cards with friends and neighbours

On Saturday, 24 people were diagnosed with the Wuhan Coronavirus in the Krishna Lanka locality of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh after a ‘bored’ truck driver decided to play cards with his friends and neighbours. The women in the neighbourhood also played tambola by flouting lockdown guidelines.

Similar violation of social distancing guidelines by another ‘bored’ truck driver in Karmika Nagar of Vijayawada resulted in 15 people contracting the deadly infection. This has led to 40 new live cases of the Chinese virus in the city in just 2 days.

While appealing to people to adhere to social distancing norms, Krishna district Collector A Md Imtiaz stated that the cause of Coronavirus infection in 40 individuals in the two localities of Vijayawada was due to the failure in maintaining a physical distance. As of April 25, the Chinese virus has infected 1,016 people and claimed 31 lives in the State of Andhra Pradesh.

Coronavirus Scare in Andhra Pradesh

At least 40 children in the 3-17 years age group have been tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh, as per a report in The Indian Express. The report says that all these children have contracted the disease from infected family members who have been to the Tablighi Jamaat events in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz.

The report in IE quoted health department officials saying, “All the children contracted the virus from family members who attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting at Delhi’s Nizamuddin in March. “The jamaat returnees were unaware that they were infected, and inadvertently passed it on to their family members, among them are several children,”

Among the 475 active cases are also 124 women. The officials have stated that in some cases, 1 infected family member who had been to the Nizamuddin Markaz had passed on the virus to all the women in the family, mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and grandmothers.

Pakistan: Doctors protest against PPE shortage as 150 medics diagnosed with Chinese coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Doctors protest against PPE shortage as 150 medics diagnosed with Chinese coronavirus

Irked over the acute shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the country, the Grand Health Alliance of doctors and nurses in Punjab have been protesting against the Pakistani Government since April 16.

Reportedly, 150 medics, including 160 doctors have been diagnosed with the Wuhan Coronavirus in the Islamic Republic. Moreover, the Chinese virus has claimed the life of 3 doctors. The demonstrators have demanded complete isolation of the infected medics in private hospitals, besides compulsory screening at hospitals for 7 days for doctors who are working amidst the pandemic.

Dr. Salman Haseeb who is the Chairman of the Grand Health Alliance that the protest by the doctors would continue until their demands were met. He informed that the protesting doctors would continue their agitation even throughout the month of Ramzan. “The doctors who died of coronavirus in the line of duty should be given the status of Shaheed (martyred) and their families given financial benefit”, Haseeb emphasised.

While Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Punjab Health Minister, has accused the medics of demanding hefty incentives, the Chinese virus has infected more than 12,700 people and has claimed 269 lives.

Doctors beaten and jailed in Balochistan

On April 6, over 50 doctors who were protesting in the city of Quetta in Balochistan, Pakistan against the lack of protective gear for fighting the Wuhan Coronavirus were beaten and arrested by the police. A group of 100 medics and paramedics, demanding basic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as masks and goggles, took out a rally near Quetta’s main hospital. They, then, proceeded to demonstrate outside the residence of the Chief Minister.

The cops initially resorted to lathi-charge after a few of the protestors tried to enter the CM’s residence. As such, a scuffle broke out between the health workers and the police. 53 of them were arrested and held up for hours for ‘violating the law.’ They were released only after the Balochistan provincial government stepped in.

Coronavirus in Pakistan

As per worldometers, Pakistan has reported 12,723 coronavirus cases till April 26, 2020. Of these, 2,866 have recovered while 269 have lost their lives.

Internet breaks into memes galore as rumours of death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un gain momentum

OpIndia Staff
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Internet breaks into memes galore as rumours of death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un gain momentum

As the rumours about death of North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un after a possible botched up heart surgery gains momentum on social media, netizens flooded the Internet with memes and jokes over his sister Kim Yo Jong as possible new Supreme Leader of North Korea.

Some even compared her to former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. And when everyone has brought out the their dark side in their humour, how can the Ghana Pallbearers be far behind. The lockdown indeed seems to have brought forward the dark side of everyone. Netizens also trended ‘KimJongUndead’ hashtag with their memes. The lady in question in Ri Chun-hee, news presenter in North Korea who has an extremely dramatic way of presenting news. Here she is speaking on nuclear tests carried out by North Korea.

She had cried when she presented death of Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong II.

Kim Jong Un death rumours

There have been reports about rumours about death of Kim Jong Un after a surgery gone bad. Kim Jong Un had recently missed the celebration of his grandfather’s birthday on 15 April. This raised speculations and rumours about his health conditions as, reportedly, only three days prior to the event, Kim Jong Un, underwent heart surgery. It is one of the biggest events of the year as it marks the birth of the nation’s founder, Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, Kim II-Sung.

Kim Jong-un has never missed the event, and it seemed very unlikely that he would simply choose not to turn up. Inevitably, his absence prompted speculation and rumours, none of which is easy to substantiate.

North Korea’s state media reported on April 11 that Kim attended a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and reported the next day that Kim “inspected a pursuit assault plane group”, however the state daily had not revealed the date of that visit.

The first report of illness

An anonymous source told the Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that gathers information from informants inside the isolated nation, that they understood he had been struggling with cardiovascular problems since last August. However, his health reportedly “worsened after repeated visits to Mount Paektu”. This was, reportedly, because of excessive smoking, obesity and overwork. This led to a chain of reporting by international media on a single-sourced story.

Later some reports emerged that intelligence agencies in South Korea and the US were monitoring the claim. Post this news, rumours started brewing as US media reported that Kim Jong Un was “gravely ill” post-surgery.

North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un:

North Korea tightly controls any information surrounding its leader, who is treated almost like a deity there, and gathering intelligence out of the country is hardly possible.

Kim, believed to be 36-year-old, took power upon his father’s death in December 2011 and is the third generation of his family to rule the country.

Known to be a heavy smoker, Kim has been shown in state media in recent months appearing at military drills and riding a white horse on the country’s revered Mt. Paektu, where state propaganda says his grandfather used as a guerrilla base to fight Japanese colonial occupiers.

In 2014, Kim Jong Un disappeared for 40 days from early September, which had also sparked a torrent of speculation then, including that he had been ousted in a coup by other political grandees. Then he re-appeared, pictured with a cane. State media at the time admitted he was suffering from an “uncomfortable physical condition”, but did not address rumours that he was suffering from gout.

Sutradhar by Ratul Chakraborty: A collection of stories from historical fantasy to cosmic horror set across the arc of Indian history

OpIndia Staff
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Sutradhar by Ratul Chakraborty: A collection of stories from historical fantasy to cosmic horror set across the arc of Indian history

In Surtadhar, debut author Ratul Chakraborty writes about two topics that fascinate him the most, history and people. A video game developer for years, Chakraborty says that he is an entertainer. “I have realized the critical importance of entertainment in transmitting, validating and normalizing even radical, counter-intuitive ideas to the masses,” he says while speaking to OpIndia. Sutradhar is a historical fiction which tries to tell a story on an insider’s perspective, and do it in a way that it is considered to be a cultural artefact with strong memetic potential.

Elaborating on his inspiration, Chakraborty said, “I had only one objective behind writing Sutradhar. Can I write something that has such a strong emotional core that it would make the reader endorse an Indic world view that would appear radical in the context of the existing left-lib zeitgeist? I strongly believe that the Indian audience is craving for world class entertainment that universalizes essential Indic values as something lofty and aspirational.”

Chakraborty states that quite too often Indian audience is subjected to a worldview that is by design antithetical to the idea of our Indic roots. On choosing historical fiction as a genre, Chakraborty said, “History gives us perspective to understand our present and plan our future, and fiction because I believe in the power of mass culture to disseminate ideas at a grassroots level. I do not aim for a retelling of history, rather I am interested in spreading certain ideas using the canvas of the past that should hopefully nudge the reader to look at the world around him/her through a fresh lens.”

Chakraborty took almost a decade to write Sutradhar. “Writing this book has been a long journey full of painful self doubt and lengthy bouts of inactivity interspersed in between. Yet, it has been one of the most memorable experiences of my life,” he says. Last year, he finally took a break from his full-time corporate job to focus on writing before going back into corporate world. “I must thank Hari Kiran Sir and the Indic Academy who has given me such incredible support, and without whom this publication would not have been possible. A great reward for me is coming in contact with the brilliant minds who are a part of the Indic Academy, and experience first hand the intellectual heft that is serving the Indic cause,” Chakraborty says.

About Sutradhar by Ratul Chakraborty

Sutradhar is a collection of stories set across the arc of Indian history. Each of these tales is a dramatized reinterpretation of events, myths and legends associated with individual time periods. The stories are written from an authentic emic perspective, exploring various worldviews, sociological schemas and philosophical approaches within the context of the narrative. The seven accounts that form the collection span multiple genres, from historical fantasy to cosmic horror, and are often tinged with dark, sometimes absurdist undertones. 

Newton’s First, set in the Sarasvati Civilization time period, deals with issues like the impact of loss of faith and civilizational responses to habitat changes. The second story, The Law, is about a faceoff between Alexander and Chanakya, and deals with topics like MatsyaNyaya and the price of power. In The Lament we meet an old Ashoka, and accompany him on his last journey. The longest story of the collection is A Mirror for the Ants, a story that starts out with an Asterix trope but in which a rabid Aurangzeb gets a payback in a manner that can only be called Indic-Cosmic-Horror. A One Penny Tune is a story set in the devastated rural Bengal during the Great Famine, and primarily deals with the question of arrival of modernity. The shortest story in the collection is The Offering, which is set in the British era, and is all about the power of seeking refuge in faith. The final story, The Path of a Coward plays out in the violent hellscape of the partition era, and is a personal exploration of responses to Jihad.

You could buy your copy here.

Why is Congress obsessed with stopping Bullet Train and Central Vista?

Abhishek Banerjee
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Why is Congress obsessed with stopping Bullet Train and Central Vista?

Dr. Manmohan Singh is back and he has some advice. And it appears that he would like to be taken seriously. This time, he has a problem with the fact that the Central Government has frozen Dearness Allowances (DA) for employees until late next year.

So how much is the usual hike in Dearness Allowance? About 4% of Basic Pay. Meanwhile, here is the Government of Maharashtra, in which the Congress has managed to become a ruling partner, despite finishing fourth in the elections.

Untitled
Maharashtra government to pay 40% of March salary

Anywhere between 25-50% of salary frozen and deferred for state government employees. According to calculations by several expert economists, 4% is a lot less than 50%. Also bear in mind that dearness allowance is merely a compensation for inflation. With the economy at a standstill, right now the risk is one of deflation and not inflation. So, with the dearness allowance frozen and no inflation, the purchasing power of a Central Government employee would remain the same.

This is hardly the case with Maharashtra state government employees, who could see 50% of their salary deferred. You can easily imagine how this would wreak havoc on household budgets.

Why does it appear as if nobody listens to Dr. Manmohan Singh?

Anyway, among the demands made by the Congress, a call to scrap the Bullet Train project and the Central Vista redevelopment project in Delhi.

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Congress on bullet train and Central Vista redevelopment plans

Why does it feel like scrapping the Bullet Train and Central Vista have become a Congress Party obsession? They seem to be a couple of weeks away from saying that one of Rajiv Gandhi’s dreams was that India would never have a Bullet Train?

Now, if Dr. Singh took himself seriously as an economist, he would know that in times of recession, it is for the government to spend money on large public projects.

Indeed, when the Great Depression hit the United States in 1929, the government put people to work as part of a massive public works program. This came to be known as the “New Deal.” Under the formidable Franklin D Roosevelt, the US government created the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933. The PWA completed some of the most iconic infrastructure projects in the US, including the legendary Hoover Dam. The infrastructure that the US created in that decade laid the foundation of the post WW2 boom when the US began a 70 year reign as the world’s pre-eminent economic, military and industrial power.

In fact, the economic crisis triggered by the Wuhan Coronavirus could be the moment for India to launch its own “New Deal.” This is the time to build those bullet trains, dams and super highways that could last us for several generations.

And considering that the bullet train is financed with a near interest free loan from Japan, it’s a no brainer.

Along with the PWA, President Roosevelt also created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as part of his New Deal. The role of the WPA was to fund the construction of public buildings, museums, theaters, libraries all across the United States. If Dr. Manmohan Singh had been around, he would probably have called them vanity projects.

It is not difficult to imagine why the Congress is so obsessed with scrapping the Bullet Train and Central Vista. They are probably worried that India might end up with landmarks on which they won’t be able to stick the names of their one great dynasty. With no workers, no organization skills and no ideology, the Congress is just a brand name. Without everything being called “Jawahar this” or “Indira that” or “Rajiv Gandhi XYZ,” the Congress would have to shut down.

It’s bad enough that the Congress is being taunted for spending its decades in power allocating Bharat Ratnas rather than building toilets. What if tomorrow India has a bullet train and nobody gives credit to Rajiv Gandhi for dreaming it up? What would the Congress do then?

Hence the Congress obsession with stopping the project at all cost.

Incidentally, I have some advice for Dr. Manmohan Singh. More like a request.

Respected Sir, in the final days of the UPA government, your government gave you a parting gift that you would never have to pay for water and power again. In view of the economic crisis due to Wuhan Coronavirus, how about giving up that subsidy? Why not pay your own power and water bill? I am sure the nation would appreciate the gesture. Thanks.

New York Governor absolves China as he holds travellers from Europe responsible for coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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New York Governor absolves China as he holds travellers from Europe responsible for coronavirus

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday claimed that the novel coronavirus entered his city from Europe, not China. He also added that travel bans enacted by US President Donald Trump were too late to contain to spread of the epidemic.

According to the reports, Cuomo mentioned research from Northeastern University, which estimated that more than 10,000 New Yorkers may have contracted the disease by the time the state had its first confirmed case on March 1. He claimed Italy as the likely source of the coronavirus.

President Trump acted late on travel ban

The New York governor noted that Trump ordered a ban on travel from China only February 2, which was more than a month after the coronavirus outbreak had already emerged from the city of Wuhan. President Trump decided to restrict travel from Europe the following month, but, by that time, the virus had spread widely in the United States, he said.

“We closed the front door with the China travel ban, which was right,” Cuomo said to the media. “But we left the back door open because the virus had left China by the time we did the China travel ban,” he added.

Cuomo’s comments have now stoked new controversy over the origin and transmission of the virus into the United States and whether the administration could have saved more lives if they had acted sooner.

New York reacted much faster against the coronavirus

Defending his own actions, Cuomo pointed out that the 19 days between New York’s first confirmed case and his lockdown order, arguing that he had moved faster than any other state. He also said Trump, who last week halted US contributions to the World Health Organization after accusing it of promoting China’s “disinformation” about the outbreak, was right to question whether the WHO responded properly to the crisis.

Cuomo attacked for what he referred to as “slow reaction” by the United States, even as increasingly disturbing reports emerged out of China in January and February about the faster transmission of the virus.

Cuomo said as many as 2.2 million people took flights from Europe to New York and New Jersey airports in those two months, many of them likely carrying the coronavirus.

“We acted two months after the China outbreak. When you look back, does anyone think the virus was still in China waiting for us to act two months later?” Cuomo added. “The horse had already left the barn by the time we moved,” he added.

Cuomo cautioned that it was important that the country learns from the mistakes that were made because the virus could surge again in autumn or a new virus could emerge. “It will happen again. Bank on it. Let’s not put our head in the sand,” he said. He said it was too early to reopen his state, which is in lockdown until at least May 15.

On a positive note, he said hospitalizations for coronavirus stood at 14,258 on Thursday, declining for the tenth straight day. He reported 422 additional deaths, the lowest daily total since March 31.

Coronavirus in New York

The United States has recorded 2,494 more coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours. The country now has an overall death toll of 53,511, with 936,293 confirmed infections, according to figures reported Saturday night by Johns Hopkins University. New York has been worst affected in the US which as reported over 2.86 lakh coronavirus cases.

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