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Highlights from the Economic Survey 2019-20 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ahead of the Budget

OpIndia Staff
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Highlights from the Economic Survey 2019-20 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ahead of the Budget

The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Economic Survey 2019-20 in the Parliament today. In this report, we shall look at some of the key highlights from the survey. Based on advance estimates, the GDP growth rate for the fiscal year 2019-2020 has been pegged at 5%. It suggests an uptick in the growth rate in the second half of the fiscal year.

As per the survey, the uptick in second half of 2019-20 is a consequence of ten positive factors like picking up of NIFTY for the first time this year, an upbeat secondary market, higher FDI flows, build-up of demand pressure, positive outlook for rural consumption, rebound of industrial activity, steady improvement in manufacturing, growth in merchandise exports, higher build-up of foreign exchange reserves and positive growth rate of GST revenue collection.

The economy of the country is expected to rebound in 2020-21 and grow at 6.0-6.5% and the survey implores the government to deliver on reforms to expedite the strong rebound. Global factors such as the Trade War between China and the USA and geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran have been said to contribute to the slowdown in the world economy. The survey points towards the fact that the world economy grew at the slowest pace since the economic crisis of 2009.

The government said, “Amidst a weak environment for global manufacturing, trade and demand, the Indian economy slowed down with GDP growth moderating to 4.8 per cent in first half of 2019-20, lower than 6.2 per cent in second half of 2018-19. A sharp decline in real fixed investment induced by a sluggish growth of real consumption has weighed down GDP growth from 2nd half of 2018-19 to 1st half of 2019-20.”

In 2019-20, the central government’s fiscal deficit was budgeted at Rs. 7.04 lakh crore (3.3 per cent of GDP), as compared to Rs. 6.49 lakh crore (3.4 per cent of GDP) the previous year. Furthermore, the Good and Services Tax (GST) collections grew by 4.1 per cent for the Centre during April-November 2019. However, the uptick started in October 2019 and has sustained its momentum in November December 2019 as well.

There has also been a rise in formal employment from 17.9 per cent in 2011-12 to 22.8 per cent in 2017-18 as per the latest records on employment data which points towards a formalization of the economy. The CPI inflation for the first half of the fiscal year was marked at 3.3%, slightly higher than the same in the second half of the previous year. At the same time, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation declined sharply from 3.2 per cent in April 2019 to 2.6 per cent in December 2019, reflecting the weakening of demand pressure in the economy. The growth in the agricultural sector showed a modest revival in the first half of FY 2019-2020.

The survey also noted that India ranks third in the number of new firms created, as per the World Bank. A12.2 % cumulative annual growth rate of new firms in the formal sector during 2014-18, compared to 3.8 % during 2006-2014, shows a sharp increase in the creation of new firms since the Modi government came to power. This was significantly higher in services than in any other sector.

The survey also suggests a strategy similar to the one used by China in order to capitalize on the creation of jobs and growth. It says that By integrating “Assemble in India for the world” into Make in India, India can raise its export market share to about 3.5 % by 2025 and 6 % by 2030 and create 4 crore well-paid jobs by 2025 and 8 crores by 2030. The survey recommends a “Specialization at large scale in labour-intensive sectors, especially network products” combined with a “Laser-like focus on enabling assembling operations at mammoth scale in network products”.

The Survey noted that India gained a trade surplus of 0.7 % per year for manufactured products and 2.3 % per year for total merchandise. It was also observed that India trails in areas such as Ease of Starting Business, Registering Property, Paying Taxes and Enforcing Contracts. For further progress in the area of Ease of Doing Business, the survey recommended “Close coordination between the Logistics division of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Ministry of Shipping and the different port authorities.” It also recommended a more targeted approach towards individual sectors such as Tourism and Manufacturing.

The government’s decision to divest 53.29% of its shares in BPCL increased the national wealth by around Rs. 33,000 crore, the survey noted. It recommended aggressive disinvestment in Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in order to bring in higher profitability, increase efficiency and competitiveness, and promote professionalism.

SIT questions three Jamia students Abdul Bari, Junaid Ashraf and Rahim Yusuf over association with Sharjeel Imam, were seen during riots too

OpIndia Staff
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SIT questions three Jamia students Abdul Bari, Junaid Ashraf and Rahim Yusuf over association with Sharjeel Imam, were seen during riots too

Three Jamia student’s namely Abdul Bari, Junaid Ashraf and Rahim Yusuf have come under the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) scanner for their alleged link with the mastermind of the Shaheen Bagh protests and a columnist at The Wire Sharjeel Imam, who is in police custody after his secessionist speeches declaring war against India.

According to a Times Of India report, the SIT has found that Imam was not alone when he addressed the crowd at Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University two days prior to the anti-CAA violence in Jamia last month.

These three Jamia students had allegedly accompanied The Wire columnist. Police sources said that the three students, Abdul Bari, Junaid Ashraf and Rahim Yusuf were spotted during the riots and at the protest attended by Sharjeel Imam. Their role during the protest on December 13 is being probed. They were interrogated on Thursday by the SIT too.

Crime Branch team of Delhi Police have now recovered Imam’s phone from a house in Jehanabad district of Bihar. The police have been looking for Sharjeel’s mobile since the day the police arrested Sharjeel and finally, they have found his phone. Sources said during interrogation, Sharjeel first claimed that his mobile phone was in his room at JNU, but when police didn’t find it there, he claimed that it was at a friend’s house in Bihar.

While the video of his seditious speech has been sent for forensic analysis the Police are also probing Sharjeel Imam’s links to PFI and Islamic Youth Federation.

During interrogation, it was revealed that Sharjeel Imam is highly radicalized and wants to turn India into an Islamic state. Delhi Police sources to news agency ANI have said that he has admitted of giving the seditious speech he is accused of and has said that no tampering has been done with the videos. He has also reportedly admitted that he knew that he can be arrested for sedition but went ahead to deliver his speeches anyway.

Read: Police probing Sharjeel Imam’s links to PFI and Islamic Youth Federation: Here is all you need to know about these radical organisations

Further, the police inform that Imam has no remorse over his arrest. All his videos are being sent to a forensic science lab and his social media accounts are being examined, informed the police. As per reports, he said that the speech doing rounds on social media is not its full length. The police believe that his seditious speech was well planned and not in the heat of the moment.

Imam, who masterminded the Shaheen Bagh road blockade to protest against the CAA, was arrested by Delhi Police from Bihar after multiple FIRs were filed against him for his seditious speech. Addressing a gathering at Aligarh, Imam had urged Muslims to come together and cut off the Siliguri Corridor aka the chicken’s neck, which connects the seven northeastern states to rest of India. He had also earlier made provocative speeches where he had asked Muslims to come out and block roads of India and bring it to a standstill so as to get international media attention.

Imam is also a columnist with leftist propaganda website, The Wire.

It is time the ‘right-wing’ sets its own terms and frustrate ‘liberals’ with strategic silence: Here is the ‘why’ and ‘how’

Abhishek Banerjee
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It is time the ‘right-wing’ sets its own terms and frustrate ‘liberals’ with strategic silence: Here is the ‘why’ and ‘how’

Does it ever frustrate you? That even after losing two general elections in a row (and by massive margins), liberals still seem to hold a psychological edge over the right? That every time, we end up rushing to them, asking the ‘intolerance gang’ and ‘award wapsi gang’ and ‘tukde gang’ to speak up on this or that. As if their reaction is the only thing that matters. As if nothing means anything unless validated by a liberal.

And I am as guilty of this as anyone else. Perhaps even more guilty than the average online right-winger.

But please hear me out on this.

Let me give you a small example. In your social media interactions, perhaps even with friends on Facebook, you must have come across this phenomenon.

Phenomenon 1

Liberal posts something from <insert usual leftist website/news channel>

RW: X, Y and Z in that article are wrong. Point number 3, 4 and 7 in that article is hypocritical. This website is biased. Why won’t it talk about A, B and C?

Liberal: Shut up you idiot, don’t do whataboutism.

Phenomenon 2

RW posts something from a right-wing website or news channel.

RW: Hey liberal, see this!

Liberal: LOL! Fake news. F*ck it.

Now, neither side managed to convert anyone, as arguments rarely do. But there is a crucial difference between how a right-winger treats a liberal website and a liberal treats a right-wing website.

The liberal will dismiss the right-wing website as fake and stupid, without even clicking on it. 

The right-winger will actually read what the liberal posted, get angry and try to poke holes in it. 

Of course, it is a good thing to be informed about opposing viewpoints before picking on them. But do you see what happened here? The left-wing website got due respect and validation from *both* sides of the aisle. By engaging with it, the right-winger helped make the left-wing website appear like a genuinely authoritative source of information, providing a viewpoint worthy of respect.

The liberal, on the other hand, treated the right-wing website with outright contempt, refusing to engage with it, dismissing it as fake by definition.

Globally, how did all the ‘authoritative’ sources of information get to be far left? Like the New York Times or BBC? Precisely because the right-wing keeps walking into this trap every single time.

Read: The BBC research on ‘fake news’ is shoddy, unethical, dishonest, and actually an example of fake news

Do you remember the contempt from liberals when Deepak Chaurasia was attacked at Shaheen Bagh a few days ago? Republic TV crew have also been attacked, heckled, manhandled. Just yesterday, the Zee News crew was attacked and dragged by anti-CAA rioters. But see the liberal reactions: each one saying that Chaurasia or Zee News or Republic are not “journalists” at all.

Why not? Because Zee News refused to accept that people at Shaheen Bagh are magically receiving “kudrati khaana” directly from heaven?

But see how liberals don’t give even an inch to their adversaries, refusing to treat them with even an iota of respect.

Rather they make the right-wing run around in circles, arguing and begging with the liberals to say a word about this or that. As if liberals have a conscience.

The good news is that we can do to them exactly what they do to us. We can frustrate them with our strategic silence on what they want to talk about. Let them be the ones begging with us to utter a word on this or that. Let’s act like we can’t hear them. Let’s talk about what we feel is important and act as if we cannot even hear their outrage, let alone respond to it. Let them foam at the mouth.

What explains this psychological edge that liberals enjoy? It’s a deep-seated feeling of inadequacy that the left has sowed in us through its decades of control over every textbook, every newspaper, every magazine and every TV channel.

Read: Dear New York Times, India has chosen Modi 2.0, deal with it

This was their backup plan. They knew they could lose elections someday, but they would retain the right to “validate” things, an abstract power that cannot be measured in real terms. And as long as they held that power, the right, even if it won elections, would feel inadequate and insecure, seeking out their approval.

I’ll give you another example. Every now and then, there’s a liberal out there who calls the right-wing uneducated, illiterate or something like that. This leads to a flood of responses, with right-wingers announcing their educational degrees and professional success.

If you think about it, that’s a huge psychological victory for the liberal. It’s not like they didn’t know there were educated and successful people on the right. But they still managed to bait the right and get under their skin. They’re enjoying this.

Remember that the Indian liberal has spent decades rubbing their noses on the ground before a political dynasty whose leading lights have rarely managed to finish college.

Indira Gandhi wasn’t a college graduate.

Rajiv Gandhi wasn’t a college graduate.

Sanjay Gandhi wasn’t a college graduate.

Sonia Gandhi isn’t a college graduate!

How could the loyalists of this dynasty manage to make other people insecure about their education? Only because the other side let them do it.

If the right had treated liberals with as much condescension as the liberals treat the right, this would never have happened.

Now, let me give you an example of something that the right did very successfully, which can serve as an instructive model. In the 2007-2014 period, at the dawn of social media in India, the right-wing became an early adopter of possibilities offered by technology. They used this very successfully to turn the establishment candidate for ‘youth icon’ into a clown prince that everyone laughed at. And his career simply never recovered. Even liberals today are shy to defend him. Whenever it comes to him, it is liberals who are inadequate, feeling insecure, playing catch up, trying to prop him somehow. The outright contempt for him worked. It became the default across the political spectrum.

Of course, social media was a new thing. The right had the first-mover advantage. The left has certainly levelled the playing field long ago. But see the power of defaults. Despite the fact that the left has just as much power on social media, they struggle to validate their leader.  Every few days they dust him up and beg before the right for validation. Do you concede he has grown up now? How about now? Okay, now?

Now you can see the structural reasons why the left still has a psychological edge in everything else. They got to set all the defaults. The right is still very new in power. Like a teenager, they want to rebel against the established ways, but they also crave validation from the very generation they rebel against!

But all this can change. The right can set its own terms and absolutely refuse to give respect unless the respect is returned in equal measure. In other words, this is about growing up! Let’s make this happen.

Delhi Elections 2020: BJP releases manifesto, pledges 10 lakh jobs in Delhi, clean water, and women empowerment

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Elections 2020: BJP releases manifesto, pledges 10 lakh jobs in Delhi, clean water, and women empowerment

The BJP has released its election manifesto on Friday for the upcoming February 8 Delhi assembly elections. The manifesto which includes a host of promises for the residents of Delhi with the saffron party’s vision for the National Capital was unveiled by senior party leader Nitin Gadkari, Union minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, party’s Delhi election in-charge Prakash Javadekar, Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel and other leaders.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said that if BJP government is elected in the national capital, people in Delhi will get clean tap water and their dependency on water tankers will become zero. Also present at the event, Union Minister Nitin Gadkar, took a swipe at freebies given by AAP government saying, “Freebies will not help carve Delhi’s future, concrete steps were needed”.

The top focus of the ‘ Sankalp Patra’ is to reduce the air and water pollution in Delhi. The BJP, with its manifesto, has also made a range of promises to be fulfilled if it is elected to power in the state elections. Some of the salient points of the manifesto are:

  • Good quality wheat flour for Rs 2 per Kg for Economically Weaker Sections(EWS).
  • Ending the tanker mafia and providing every household in Delhi with clean tap water by 2024.
  • Provision of Rs 10000 crore to develop robust infrastructure in Delhi
  • Extension of “Ayushmaan Bharat” scheme that provides treatment worth Rs 5 lakhs to the residents of Delhi; providing a permanent house to homeless in Delhi by 2022 through “Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana”
  • Employment to at least 10 lakh unemployed youth in 5 years
  • 200 new schools to be built in Delhi; 10 new colleges to be opened
  • Cycles to be offered to girls from economically weaker sections studying in 9th standard to 12th standard
  • Financially weaker families to get Rs 2 lakhs in their accounts for first two daughters when they turn 21
  • The government will provide Rs 51000 for the marriage of the daughters of poor widows
  • Free electric scooty to be given to poor college girls
  • Boost to electric vehicles and the addition of 10000 advanced green buses for Delhi transport; Green Corridor to be established for Green Energy Technology companies
  • In order to create awareness about the religious significance of the Yamuna river, an annual celebration of “Yamuna Mahotsav” on a grand scale to be commenced
  • Monthly pension of widows whose spouses died in 1984 anti-Sikh riots to be raised from Rs 2500 to Rs 3500; Any 1 progenies of the 1984 Sikh riots victim to be granted with a job
  • Pension amount for Differently-abled, widows, poor women and elderly residing in Delhi to be increased
  • Rs 1000 crore to be earmarked for “Startup and Innovation Fund”, along with instituting a futuristic startup policy, co-working spaces and incubation centres
  • New sports policy in line with PM Modi’s “Khelo India” and “Fit India” to be instituted in Delhi
  • Encourage and financially support rick-shaw pullers to migrate to e-rickshaws
  • Beautification and modernisation of Delhi under ‘Clean Delhi, Beautiful Delhi’ project
  • PM Kisan Yojana  to be extended for Delhi farmers and Rs 6000 to be transferred annually to their accounts
  • Delhi’s villages to be developed under PM Modi’s ‘Smart Villages’ initiative
  • Section 33 and Section 81A of the Delhi Land Reforms Act, 1954, that poses problems for the farmers in Delhi in buying and selling of their lands, to be removed with the help of central government
  • Along with monetary compensation, farmers who lose their land to land acquisition to be provided with an alternative residential plot

Read: Delhi govt led by Arvind Kejriwal failed to deliver on 75% promises made: Detailed analysis of all 70 promises made in 2015

Delhi is scheduled to go to polls on February 8, 2020. The results of the assembly elections will be declared three days later, on February 11, 2020.

‘Happy that both houses of parliament passed CAA to fulfil the wishes of Gandhiji’: President Kovind addressing joint session of parliament

OpIndia Staff
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‘Happy that both houses of parliament passed CAA to fulfil the wishes of Gandhiji’: President Kovind addressing joint session of parliament

President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the budget session of Parliament by delivering a speech at a joint sitting of both the houses of parliament on Friday. Outlining the government’s policies and certain actions, agreements signed within the Indian state, President asserted that he expects that the decade will be India’s decade, and the century will be India’s century.

President Kovind started his speech with greetings of New Year and a new decade. Quoting Mahatama Gandhi’s dream of swaraj, Nehru’s dream of creating a modern society, Sardar Patel’s vision of Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya’s goal of Antyodaya, Ram Manohar Lohia’s vision of social equality, he asserted that we the people of India will make their dreams a reality.

President Kovind said he is glad that the performance of Parliament in the last seven months has set new standards for conducting its businesses.

He congratulated the government for enacting the laws against Triple Talaq ensuring justice to Muslim women and safeguarding their rights; the Consumer Protection Act providing new rights to the citizens; the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act for protecting the savings of the poor; the Chit Funds AmendmentAct protecting the poor from fraudulent chit fund schemes; the law enhancing punishment for sexual offenses against children; Motor Vehicles Amendment Act aimed at reducing road accidents; and the law protecting the rights of the transgender persons, explaining the government’s strong commitment towards the population.

Appreciating the maturity displayed by the countrymen after the Supreme Court’s verdict on Ram Janmabhoomi, he said that the mutual discussions and debates strengthen democracy and any kind of violence in the name of protests weakens the society and the nation.

Thanking for the mandate given by the people of the country, President said we are committed to making a new India.

‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’

President Kovind said in his speech that following the mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’, the government is working with sincerity. Free gas connections to 8 crores poor, houses to 2 crores poor, bank accounts to about 38 crores poor, free treatment facility of up to Rs 5 lakh to 50 crore people, insurance cover to 24 crore people and free electricity connections to over 2.5 crore people have been provided evenhandedly. The government has provided equitable access to benefits and facilities hence winning the support and trust of the people.

On Jammu and Kashmir,  President quoted Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s concern raised when he was the Minister of Industry in the Government led by Jawaharlal Nehru, in the Lok Sabha: “In a democratic federal state, the fundamental rights of the citizens of one constituent unit cannot vary vis-à-vis the citizens of another unit. Are not the people of Jammu and Kashmir entitled to the fundamental rights that we have given to the people of India minus Jammu and Kashmir?”

He expressed gratitude by saying, “Today, after seven decades, the whole country is happy that the dream of Dr. Mukherjee has come true as the people of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh, the Dalits and women from that area have also got the same rights as the people in the rest of the country. The abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution by a two-thirds majority in both the Houses of Parliament is not only historic but has also paved the way for the equitable development of Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh”.

The desire of paying respects at the Kartarpur Sahib for many years has been gratified. The Government has built the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor in record time and dedicated it to the nation on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The 400th birth anniversary of Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji will also be celebrated in a befitting manner with full grandeur and devotion.

Talking about north-east he stated that North-east has an emotional disconnect more than a physical distance that disheartened the people of the region. He stated that the Government has been working tirelessly to transform the situation during the last five years. As a result of these efforts of the Government, by 2022, the capitals of Sikkim, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland will be connected to the rail network. The work on the Agartala-Akhaura rail link is also progressing at a fast pace. He declared the construction of the new airport at Holongi in Arunachal Pradesh by 2022.

The Central and Assam Governments have recently signed a historic agreement with the Bodo Organizations to bring an end to the 5 decade-old Bodo dispute. With this agreement, a complex problem, that has claimed more than 4000 lives, has been resolved. He declared that after this agreement, the Government will spend Rs1500 crore on the development of the Bodo community. Similarly, another landmark agreement between Tripura, Mizoram, the Central Government, and the Bru community has not only resolved a decades-old problem but has also ensured a secure life for thousands of people belonging to the Bru community.

Read- President Ramnath Kovind holds a mirror to Indian media at RNG awards, advises them to not indulge in fake news

Citing the Citizenship Amendment Act President said India has always believed in the principle of equal respect for all faiths. In the environment prevailing in the aftermath of partition, the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi had said: “Hindus and Sikhs of Pakistan, who do not wish to live there, can come to India. It is the duty of the Government of India to ensure a normal life for them.” Saying that the parliament fulfiled the wishes of Mahatma Gandhi by enacting the CAA, the president Kovind said, “the father of our nation – Mahatma Gandhiji – had said after partition that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and other religious minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh (East Pakistan) should be granted citizenship of India if they came seeking refuge. We must respect and honour the wishes of the father of the nation. To that effect, I am happy that both houses of Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act to ensure Bapu’s wishes come true”. While condemning the atrocities on the minorities in Pakistan, He urged the world community to take cognizance of it and take the necessary steps in this regard.

‘We are committed to the goal of making India a USD 5 trillion economy’.  

President expressed his commitment to attain the goal of making India a USD 5 trillion economy. He said, ” Government is making efforts at all levels of the economy, in consultation with all stakeholders. In spite of global challenges, the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong. Our foreign exchange reserves have reached a historical high of over USD 450 billion. The inflow of Foreign Direct Investment to India is also on the rise. As compared to last year, FDI has increased by USD 3 billion between April and October this year”.

He affirmed that In the first half of this financial year, 12 Public Sector Banks have reported profits. Due to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, nearly Rs 3.5 lakh crores have also been recovered by the banks and other institutions. The reduction of corporate tax and the codification of Labour Laws will increase the ease of doing business in India although In the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings India has upsurged 63rd position moving by 79 places. In the Resolving Insolvency rankings India has moved from 108th to 52nd rank and in the Global Innovation rankings 74th to 52nd rank. India has improved its international ranking by 10 points in the Logistics Performance Index. India has moved from 52nd to 34th position in the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness rankings.

He further added, “The fundamental mantra of independence was a Self-reliant India. A self-reliant India is possible only when every Indian takes pride in every product made in India. My Government believes in the mantra of ‘Buy local for a better tomorrow’. I urge every representative of the people, from Panchayat level to the Parliament, and every Government in the country, to transform the philosophy of ‘Buy local for a better tomorrow’ into a movement. I also urge every Indian to give priority to local products. By using locally manufactured products, you will be able to help the small entrepreneurs in your area to a great extent.”

He mentioned, “India is making rapid strides in the electronics manufacturing sector in particular. National Policy on Electronics has been formulated to give further impetus to the manufacturing of mobile phones, TVs and other electronic devices. The value of electronic equipment manufactured in the country has increased to Rs 4 lakh 58 thousand crores in 2018-19, as against Rs 1 lakh 90 thousand crores in 2014-15. In 2014, there were only 2 companies manufacturing mobiles in India. Today India is the second-largest mobile manufacturing hub in the world. Make in India is also being encouraged by the Government in the automobile sector and railways. Full indigenous manufacturing of modern trains like Vande Bharat and Tejas Express is in progress”.

The speech of President Kovind to the joint session of parliament was delivered a day before the tabling of the budget that observed ruckus in Parliament.

Bihar: Bajrang Dal alleges police apathy in leader’s murder case, calls for protests in Hajipur

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: Bajrang Dal alleges police apathy in leader’s murder case, calls for protests in Hajipur

Tensions have gripped Bihar’s Hajipur district after the murder of Bajrang Dal leader Kumar Neeraj on January 23rd (Thursday). Bajrang Dal today called for a Bandh to protest against police apathy in Kumar’s gruesome murder case.

The Bandh reportedly turned violent with news of incidents of violence and arson coming in. According to a report by a Hindi daily, Jagran, during the protest, some unknown miscreants shot one person in Hajipur. Except few, most shops and business establishments in the city remained closed today. The movement of vehicles on the roads is also much less than the normal days.

The Bajrang Dal activists along with members of other Hindu organisations blocked Gandhi Chowk in Hajipur district and shouted slogans against the police administration.

Police personnel have been deputed at Gandhi Chowk to ensure that the situation does not go out of control. Efforts are being made to convince the activists of the Hindu organizations from refraining from blocking the intersection.

Yesterday the Bajrang Dal activists had taken out a torch march in Hajipur and called for a bandh on Friday.

Last week, a Bajrang Dal leader was found murdered in Hajipur in Bihar. According to reports, the body of Neeraj Kumar was found from a well in Adalbari area under Hajipur police station in Vaishali district on Thursday, 23 January.

Read: Bihar: Bajrang Dal leader abducted and murdered, body with bullet injuries and slit throat recovered from a well

Bajrang Dal leader Neeraj Kumar was missing since Wednesday noon from Anjan Peer locality in Hajipur. He had gone to Adalpur with two companions to resolve a land dispute. According to sources the dispute developed into a fistfight and Neeraj was abducted by the other group. A police complaint was filed about his abduction be he could not be located until his body was recovered around 24 hours later.

Neerja’s body was found in a well inside a guava orchard at Adalbari. Bullet injuries were found on the body of Neeraj, and his throat was slit with a sharp weapon, which indicates that his body was dumped in the well after he was killed. Nine empty cartridges were located from the place.

When the search party had reached the spot, few persons were trying to cover the well. Three persons were arrested from the spot.

36-year-old Neeraj was a resident of Kadam Ghat area, and he ran a camera shop. He was a district-level leader of the Bajrang Dal. It is being assumed that political reasons are behind the murder, although police have said the land dispute was the reason.

Hajipur SDPO Raghav Singh said that one Pappu Singh from Kadamghat area is the main accused in the case. He said that raids are being conducted to arrest Pappu.

After heckling in flight and holding a placard in front of Republic, Kunal Kamra sends creepy text to Arnab Goswami

OpIndia Staff
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After heckling in flight and holding a placard in front of Republic, Kunal Kamra sends creepy text to Arnab Goswami

On Friday, comedian Kunal Kamra took to Twitter to display his creepy behaviour. He proudly declared that he had got hold of Arnab Goswami’s number without his permission. He further went ahead to message him and complained that the journalist was not responding to his requests for holding a debate.


His message read:

Mr Goswami, this is my number you can reach out to me whenever you think you want to have a civil debate on what is the idea of nation and who’s a nationalist…. all my resentment towards you is my past. I’m a follower of Buddha and Mahavira and I want to extend you an olive branch to have a civil discourse..that’s all I asked for in the first place… if you were less of a prick this we wouldn’t have gotten here, anyway, this is Kunal Kamra & I’m not sorry.

Arnab Goswami has made it clear that he does not want to have any conversation with Kunal Kamra, but Kamra seems very much obsessed with the Republic editor as he continues to stalk him on both online and offline world.

Netizens were quick to call out his creepy behaviour. A Twitter user @oldschoolmonk pointed out the insatiable obsession of Kunal Kamra with Arnab Goswami.


Another Twitter user @Vinodhari2 slammed Kamra and asked whether he has the required credentials to be a part of a national debate. He also said that he should air his “lost interview” with Vivek Agnihotri first.


Read- Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri exposes how Kunal Kamra binned an interview because his and Congress’ lies on Rohith Vemula got exposed

Another Twitter user @Babaaagaya accused him of being an attention-seeker.


One user told him that his use of profanity and vulgar language make him unfit for any discourse in public forum.


On Tuesday, the mentally unstable comedian heckled Arnab Goswami on an Indigo flight to Lucknow. This prompted several leading airline companies to put Kunal Kamra on a no-flying list. Instead of being apologetic about his ruthless behaviour, he carried a placard that read “I am not sorry” outside Republic TV studio.


To whitewash his outrageous actions, the cabal of liberal spin masters soon came to his rescue. Kunal Kamra was thus motivated to harass Goswami on board a flight again. Whether the comedian attempts to stay in the limelight or is deeply obsessed with the journalist, we will possibly never know.

Indonesia’s Sharia police unveils first all-female flogging squad to publicly punish women who violate Islamic law

OpIndia Staff
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Indonesia’s Sharia police unveils first all-female flogging squad to publicly punish women who violate Islamic law

Indonesia has ‘unveiled’ its first female flogging squad to publicly punish women who violate Sharia Law. One of the eight new female recruits in the country’s Aceh province has already delivered her first punishment. The unfortunate victim of the spectacle was an unmarried woman discovered with a man who was not family. The female flogging squad has been raised in Aceh province, the only province in Indonesia that imposes Sharia law.

As per reports, the new recruit initially needed some coaxing to thrash the woman. However, after she approached the woman nervously, she meted out a series of lashes. The behaviour for which the woman was punished constitutes a ‘morality crime’ in Indonesia, the biggest Muslim majority country. Those found guilty are often whipped publicly with a rattan cane in Aceh.

Aceh is a deeply conservative region on the Sumatra island. A limited autonomy deal signed more than a decade ago between Aceh and the central government of Indonesia allows the province to follow the Islamic Sharia law. The deal was made to end decades-long insurgency in the area in 2005.

Read- CNN wants India to tolerate an Islamic state and Shariah law within its territory to uphold ‘Secularism’

The woman, covered from head to toe in traditional Islamic garb, was distinguished from her punisher by her pristine white clothing. The punisher, dressed in similar attire, wore a brown garb. Traditionally, the punishment has been meted out by men but in recent times, more and more women are being found guilty of ‘morality crimes’. Hence, the need for an exclusive female flogging squad was felt.

The chief investigator of Banda Aceh Sharia police was impressed by the punisher’s first flogging. “I think she did a good job. Her technique was nice,” Zakwan said. The women have been trained in how to flog properly without inflicting permanent damage. “We train them to make sure they’re physically fit and teach them how to do a proper whipping,” he said. “It’s kind of an indoctrination that we give to them so they have a better understanding of their role — have no mercy for those who violate God’s law’, he added.

Sharia police in Banda Aceh, a city of some 220,000 people, are on the streets round-the-clock in three shifts. If they find anyone violating strict codes about unmarried men and women interacting, they arrest them for punishment to be given under Sharia laws. The eight women inducted into the female flogging squad were already officers in the Sharia police.

Woman accuses Congress leader Sabir Ali of sending her vulgar messages and rape threats

OpIndia Staff
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Woman accuses Congress leader Sabir Ali of sending her vulgar messages and rape threats

A Twitter user has alleged that Congress General Secretary of Patparganj District Congress Committee, Sabir Ali has abused and threatened her with rape threats on social media.

The victim, Rupa Murthy, has posted screenshots of the Facebook messages, where an account, allegedly Sabir Ali’s, is seen giving violent and extremely abusive threats. The messages also include rape threats if she ‘says something about Muslims’. The authenticity of the account cannot be established.


Rupa Murthy has claimed that the messages of rape threats and abusive comments were sent to her by Sabir Ali. The messages contain violent, abusive language and rape threats id she ‘says anything against Muslims’.

However, Sabir Ali has issued a clarification through a different Facebook account whose authenticity also cannot be established, stating that he has filed a complaint with the Delhi Police against an unknown person for creating and operating a Facebook account under his name and dishing out rape threats to women and murder threats to others.

(Source: https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2682845658501288&id=100003276395179&set=a.213438952108650&source=48)

In his complaint, Ali has asserted he was shocked with the allegations raised against him as he had never used unparliamentary language against women and its a conspiracy against him to defame him. Ali has urged the police to look into the matter and nab the real offender.

‘Make another Pakistan for 25 crore Muslim population in the country’: Congress leader Ajay Verma calls for partition of India

OpIndia Staff
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‘Make another Pakistan for 25 crore Muslim population in the country’: Congress leader Ajay Verma calls for partition of India

A shocking video clip has surfaced in which Congress leader Ajay Verma while speaking on a show ‘Taal Thok Ke’ aired on Zee News, where participants were debating the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, is heard daring the Bhartiya Janata Party-led ruling government to carve a separate country like Pakistan out of India for all the Muslims living here before declaring India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.

He is heard saying: “Seena dikhaiyen, ek aur Bangladesh ki tarah jo desh mein 20/25 crore Muslim abadi hain unke liye ek aur Pakistan bana dijiye aur Hindustan ko Hindu Rashtra ghoshit kar dijiyen” roughly translated as “India has 20-25 crore Muslims like Bangladesh, I dare Indian government to show guts and give a separate country, like Pakistan, to Indian Muslims. Then you can declare India as a Hindu Rashtra (nation),” he said during a live debate on Zee news.


This shocking remark where the Congress leader is brazenly calling for breaking India drew sharp reactions from the anchor and from the BJP spokesperson, Sudhanshu Trivedi, who criticised him for his inflammatory and divisive comments.

Twitter users wondered whether Congress party is truely following “Jinnah Wali Azadi” like it did in 1947.

Citing the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar had said the people of Delhi need to decide whether they want “Jinnah Wali Azaadi” or Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Javadekar had accused the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party of “poisoning” the minds of minorities.

Read- Congress entered into alliance with Shiv Sena after receiving approval from Muslim community, admits Ashok Chavan

Moreover, sharing a video, the BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya had also alleged that the Congress ecosystem is behind these “sponsored” protests. Even though OpIndia could not verify the authenticity of the video, it certainly raises doubts about the credibility of the organized Shaheen Bagh protests.

After the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the country has been gripped by riots, violence and arson specifically by the Left and Islamist mobs. The protests, which have been raging on for weeks have exposed itself to be deeply Islamic and anti-Hindu in nature with posters like F*ck Hindutva that distorted the Om symbol to several slogans that exposed the Islamist mobs’ deep-seated hatred for Hindus.

Interestingly, earlier, ‘Jinnah Wali Azadi’ slogans were raised at Shaheen Bagh which also pointed towards the main agenda of these anti-CAA protests, specifically at Shaheen Bagh, is the second partition of India.

In just a week, many incidents have surfaced which laid the secessionist agenda of the ultra-left wing protestors at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area exposed. It is now sufficiently clear that this protest like all other anti-CAA riots is anything but ‘organic’. In fact, it is another typical left-wing organised blatant communal event where protestors are openly batting for secession from India.

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