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2-year-old infant among 4 injured in terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore district, to be shifted to Delhi AIIMS

OpIndia Staff
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2-year-old infant among 4 injured in terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore district, to be shifted to Delhi AIIMS

Four members of a family, including a 2-year-old infant, were injured after terrorists opened fire at a fruit trader’s house in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore district on Friday.

The attack is being seen as the result of challenging the terrorists’ warning to keep the shop shut as a mark of protest against centre’s move to end special status to the state under Article 370, police said. The terrorists, by carrying out such attacks, attempt to instil fear among the people and disrupt peace in the Valley.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police terming it as a “merciless act of terrorism” confirmed that the terrorists barged into Hamidullah Rather’s house at Dangerpura in the north Kashmir district as they were upset that he ran his business despite warnings.


According to reports, though the condition of the other member’s of the family was said to be stable, the 2-year-old girl (Asma) remains critical.

Srinagar District Magistrate Shahid Choudhary confirmed that efforts are being made to arrange an air ambulance to shift the 2-year-old girl to Delhi for advanced medical treatment.


National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has advised the authorities to take Asma to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi for further treatment, ANI reported.

According to intelligence officials, Pakistan is trying to push terrorists into the Kashmir Valley to disrupt peace in the Valley. Pakistan has been left humiliated and seething after India’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

There have been reports that Jaish-e-Mohammed trained terrorists from various camps in Pakistan have been instructed to collaborate with the Pakistan Army elements along with the forward posts and BAT (Border Action Team) to renew their attempts to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir and fuel armed rebellion against the Indian Armed Forces in the Valley.

Recently, it was reported that the government sources further reveal that the activities of terrorists based out of PoK have intensified as they are planning to carry out suicide attacks at multiple locations in J&K.

The intel reports have said that local terror groups such as Hizbul Mujahideen have been instructed by Pakistan based terror commanders to co-ordinate and collaborate with Pakistan based terror organisations to plant IEDs in South Kashmir and Srinagar in future. Highly trained cadres of JeM from its Peshawar camps are identified to carry out IED attacks on the Indian Armed Forces in Sopore and other South Kashmir towns. Earlier this year in February, a terrorist trained by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed had driven an explosive-laden SUV on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claiming lives of 40 CRPF soldiers.

In science, the best is always yet to come for India, even as small, petty minds whine

Abhishek Banerjee
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In science, the best is always yet to come for India, even as small, petty minds whine

Think about what happened yesterday. An entire nation stayed awake late into the night. Not for the usual Friday night of drunken amusement. But waiting and hoping, eagerly and anxiously for India to land a rover 4 lakh kilometres away, on the south pole of the moon.

How cool is that? A whole generation of young people waiting with bated breath to witness a majestic scientific achievement.

And then they got to see the coolest thing of all: FAILURE.

Yes, failure. Failure reminds us of the supremacy of the scientific method. When you meet with failure, there’s no hiding the reality, no whitewashing, no excuses. You have to face reality, pick up the pieces and try again.

And again and again, until you succeed. That’s science. Once upon a time, people would die of infection from a simple scratch. Thousands of years later, we discovered antibiotics. We discovered the double helix structure of DNA.  We realized that time is relative and that gravitation can bend light.

Thousands of years ago, everyone needed to farm and make food so that we could eat. Today, we have fertilizers and specially bred crops that make it possible for a handful of people to make food for everyone. We have sanitation. We can soar 30,000 feet above the earth in a metal tube with wings. Tomorrow, we may be able to edit genes and cure diseases that people are born with.

What made all this possible? Failures and more failures.

We never give up. Because in science, the best is always yet to come. We know ISRO will get to the moon. Many of the scientists who worked on the Chandrayaan mission today might be retired when it finally happens. But there are hundreds of thousands of kids waiting to take their places at Mission Control. Their imaginations have been fired with the challenges and frustrations that science brings. And that’s always where the real success is.

This has the potential to be a wonderful teachable moment for the general public. In science, there is only hard reality. Only evidence. It’s what makes science so successful.

Why not search for and demand such clarity in everything else?

Now let us look around ourselves: do we see people who never “fail”? Witch doctors with miracle cure on television, perhaps? Have you seen them ever fail?  How about politicians? Ever seen them admit failure? How about intellectuals? Have they ever failed? How about economists? Even Newton got his most basic assumptions about time and velocity wrong. Can you give me an example of a great economist ever failing at anything? Starting from sexiness, they succeed at everything. Amazing, no?

If you are immune to failure, then you are just making stuff up and fooling people. Let us apply this principle to everyone and everything.

One thing that has made everyone on social media angry today is the pettiness and nastiness of the reactions coming in from Lutyens types. It started with NDTV’s Pallav Bagla yelling at an ISRO scientist.

And then there were “experts” who thought it was a great thing that Bagla was asking questions to those who are in “power.”

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Ha! A scientist is never in “power.” There is the only reality. A scientist tries their best to figure it out. And more often than not actually, there is a failure. It is journalism that thrives on power cosiness.

But these are people with small minds.

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People with small minds whose lives will amount to nothing. Their imagination is limited by things like golf, racecourses or India International Center. Can’t think beyond that. By the way, if you want to “take up golf,” try thinking about the physics of a golf ball, the aerodynamic of its surface, the friction, the trajectory, everything. Try asking what would happen if somebody tried to hit a golf ball on the surface of the moon. In what ways is launching a satellite like hitting a golf ball? Think outside the box. Ask questions. I promise you it will be amazing. As Richard Feynman said, everything is interesting if you get it into it deeply enough.

But that’s not what small minds do, which is why all they can do is mock the failures of bigger minds. Like the Pakistani trolls out there. And incidentally, the government of Pakistan.

The failure today also throws into sharp relief the enormity of the American achievement 50 years ago: they landed a man on the moon back in 1969! We couldn’t land a rover. No use sugarcoating it. We accept the failure and move on. We work even harder to close the gap and actually get ahead. No other way.

On a side note, I think some of the bitterness that you see among liberals comes from their compulsive irritation with the expression “moon landing.” Yeah, America did rub Communist noses into the ground in 1969. Our intellectuals, who are brought up on pro-Communist leanings, have never recovered from the humiliation.

But the future always shines bright, full of possibilities. Let me leave you with this image of PM Modi consoling ISRO chief Dr K Sivan.

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And with a message from Swargiya Atal ji, who is still inspiring us from somewhere far far away.

Haar nahin maanunga … Kal ke kapaal par likhta mitata hoon … geet naya gaata hoon, geet naya gaata hoon.. 

Moon missions in 60 years: The success stories and many, many failures

Jinit Jain
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Moon missions in 60 years: The success stories and many, many failures

As a part of the human quest to explore the outer space, especially Earth’s only natural satellite-Moon, numerous missions have been undertaken by various space agencies to have a deeper understanding of the familiar, yet so strange celestial object revolving around the Earth. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had recently launched an ambitious mission of exploring the South Pole region of Moon, which is a region not much is known about. However, Yesterday, India’s Mission Moon was dealt with a setback as communication with the ‘Vikram Lander’ was lost after 13 minutes of the descent phase.

The landing sequence went as planned until the lander reached an altitude of 2.1 km (1.3 mi) above the surface. Unfortunately, communication with the lander was lost at that point and it is unclear whether the lander crashed. Nevertheless, ISRO was still successful in positioning its orbiter revolving around the Moon with whose help ISRO is analyzing data collected by it to determine what happened.

Chandrayaan-2, as India’s Mission Moon is popularly known, was ISRO’s second mission to the Earth’s satellite. India’s first exploration of the Moon- Chandrayaan 1, in 2008 was successful in injecting an orbiter around the Moon.

Failure is the first step towards achieving success. Countries like the United States, Russia, and China, who have achieved unparalleled expertise in their respective Space programmes have immensely benefitted from the failures encountered by them in the various initial missions undertaken by them to the Moon. Let’s have a look at different countries who remained steadfast in their aim to explore the Moon despite unnerving hurdles strewn on their paths.

The United States

Since the late 1950s, the United States’ premier space agency-NASA has been resolutely focused on sending space missions to Moon. Before being partially successful in a flyby-type mission named as Pioneer 4 in 1959, NASA had failed in previous 4 attempts- Pioneer 0, Pioneer 1, Pioneer 2, Pioneer 3. Even the subsequent space missions to Moon- Pioneer P-1(1959) and Pioneer P-3(1959) were failures.

In the early 1960s, from 1960 to 1962, the US had sent 5 missions to Moon-Pioneer P-30, Pioneer P-31, Ranger 3, Ranger 4, Ranger 5, from the orbiter to impact mission, however, all five of them remained unsuccessful. The US persevered and tried with Ranger 6 on January 30, 1964, for an Impact mission to Moon. But, this too failed. On almost the 13th attempt, the US was successful in its Impact mission to Moon when Ranger 7 mission in June 1964 succeeded. The following Impact missions-Ranger 8 and Ranger 9 too accomplished their objectives.

The United States’ Surveyor 1- the Lander mission to Moon in May 1966 was successful in touching down on the surface of Moon. Surveyor-2 was unsuccessful but it did impact the Moon. Surveyor 3 was a success but Surveyor 4 failed. The subsequent missions-Surveyor 5, 6, 7, Apollo 8, Apollo 10 were all successful, following which the US proceeded on its most ambitious mission till date and emerged successful in landing humans on the Moon for the first time in July 1969.

Soviet Union (Russia)

In the late fifties, apart from the US, their cold war adversary-Soviet Union too displayed an equal alacrity in pursuing its space missions to the Moon. USSR’s three unnamed Luna in the period 1958 to 1960 remained unsuccessful before the fourth one named as Luna 1 which partially succeeded. In the meanwhile, Russia sent another spacecraft to the Moon but it didn’t succeed. Russia’s first Impact mission to Moon-Luna 2 in September 1959 was a success.

In the early sixties, Russia had undertaken 6 unnamed Luna projects to Moon while a mission named Luna 4- aimed to Land on Moon also failed. In 1965 alone, Kosmos 60, Unnamed Luna, Luna 5, Luna 6, Luna 7, Luna 8, all Lander mission to Moon failed, before Luna 9 touchdown on the Moon’s surface in January 1966. In the period between 1966-1970, Luna 10, Luna 11, Luna 12, Luna 13, Luna 14, from the Orbiter to the Lander mission were successful. Russia kept trying with Unnamed Luna projects, Kosmos 330, 305 for Rover, Sample Return missions but they were all failures.

After several setbacks on its mission to Moon, USSR was finally able to land a robotic rover in October 1970 for the first time on the surface of the world beyond Earth through its programme- Lunokhod 1. In August 1973, Russia was able to land the second iteration of its Lunokhod rover named as Lunokhod 2.

China

Until the 2000s, there weren’t many countries interested in exploring the Moon. In 2007, China’s Chang’e 1 was the first Chinese space mission-Orbiter/Impact to the Moon. However, in the last 5 years, from 2013 onwards, China has shown greater interest in exploring Moon than any other countries. It has successfully undertaken 5 missions to the Moon. China’s Chang’e 3 delivered China’s Moon rover to the Moon in June 2013.

On January 3, 2019, China became the first country to soft-land a rover on the far side of the Moon. Chinese mission Chang’e 4 carried Yutu 2 rover on the hemisphere of the Moon that always faces away from the Earth and has one of the largest craters in the Solar System.

NASA’s fact sheet states that more than 40 per cent of missions to Moon have failed so far in the last 60 years. The success rate of lunar missions is 60 per cent with many countries failing several times over before registering their first success, only after acquiring years of knowledge from failures and experience. Out of 109 lunar missions till date, 61 have succeeded while 48 have failed.

It is also notable here that India’s first moon mission Chandrayaan-1 was a success. It had provided some very valuable imagery that has been immensely beneficial in lunar research.

ISRO has been very nascent in this field of exploration of the Moon. Such transient hiccups such as Chandrayaan-2’s partial failure will only serve to strengthen the resolve of the scientists at the ISRO and provide the space agency with valuable learnings go into the future with its upcoming ambitious projects, the Gaganyaan and Mangalyan-2. American Space Agency-NASA, Russian Space Agency encountered multiple failures before being successful in the missions to Moon. If history is anything to go by, such momentary setbacks only serve as stepping stones for the inevitable success.

Bihar: Stone pelting and communal violence during Tajiya procession in Kishanganj, 3 injured

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: Stone pelting and communal violence during Tajiya procession in Kishanganj, 3 injured

In Bihar’s Kishanganj district, three persons have been critically injured after a communal clash between a Muslim mob and a group of Hindus in Madhavnagar Mahadalit Tola on Thursday morning. As per a report in Prabhat Khabar, the locals of the Tola had raised an objection when the Muslim group taking Tajiya procession had broken the barricade of a Durga Temple to burst firecrackers.

As per reports, in Madhavnagar Mahadalit Tola, local Muslims had taken out a Tajiya procession on Thursday night. When the Tajiya procession was passing near a Durga Temple, some members from the group allegedly broke the barricade of a Durga Temple and started bursting firecrackers. Local Hindus in the area objected to it. After their objection, violent elements from the mob allegedly attacked the Hindus and started heavy stone-pelting.

As per a report in Prabhat Khabar, over a dozen people from both side have sustained injuries. However, three people, namely Gauri Devi, Deepak Nallik and a 12-year-old girl named Mishti have sustained critical injuries. All three have been admitted in the hospital. FIRs have been registered from both sides but the police are yet to arrest anyone. The police have been carrying out intense patrolling in the area to prevent any further violence.

Kishanganj DM Himanshu Sharma, Kumar Ashish and other officers reached there immediately to control the situation. DM Sharma had stated that the miscreants will be dealt with severely. He had also informed that a permanent police picket will be established in the area so there are no untoward situations in the future.

It is notable here that Kishanganj district falls between Nepal and West Bengal border and has long been a communally sensitive area.

The Hindu and BBC join hands to combat fake news: The elephantine moronity of it all

Editorial Desk
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The Hindu and BBC join hands to combat fake news: The elephantine moronity of it all

We live in an age where everything is within the realm of possibility, especially in the field of journalism. The community of journalists world over, like little children who spill the milk deliberately and then look away pretending that their little brother did it, have gotten into the habit of spreading fake news and pretending to be the harbingers of virtue. They often sell their pens for pocket change while keeping up the pretence of sitting on their high moral horse. Paid news is passed off as analysis, Islamists are hailed as feminists, terrorism is dressed up as revolution, terrorists are branded as headmasters’ sons and loving fathers, the sovereignty of the nation is sacrificed at the altar of political patronage and the last shred of ethics is discarded like a dirty tissue that has outlived its utility.

On similar lines, Suhasini Haider, The Hindu journalist tweeted today announcing that it was partnering with BBC to protect its readers from disinformation.


The article read:

The Hindu is partnering with the BBC and other leading global news and technology organisations in new industry collaboration to tackle disinformation. The collaboration was announced by the BBC and the partners in the early hours of Saturday.

Under this collaboration, news and technology majors will work together to protect their audiences and users from disinformation, particularly around crucial events such as elections.

Irony is wasted on the stupid, and that The Hindu and British Broadcasting Corporation don’t recognise the elephantine moronity of the two publications joining hands to combat fake news, is one amusing aspect of the fiasco that is bound to deliver some chuckles through the ages.

The Hindu attempting to combat disinformation is much like Charles Manson giving sermons of racial harmony and co-existence. The very organisation that pioneered the helter-skelter of fake news is now attempting to convince people that they care about their audience getting accurate information, especially during important events like the elections.

While The Hindu keeps up pretences and the rest of the ‘liberal’ media clap like chattering monkeys, it would bode well to travel back in time and remember the times that The Hindu itself has behaved like the greatest purveyors of fake news.

One recalls how the Editor of The Hindu had tweeted screenshots from a fake CBSE website to claim that the official Government of India website had a badly written note to students. Of course, he had later deleted his tweet but not before ‘liberals’ had abused Smriti Irani, the then HRD Minister.

The Hindu had then lied blatantly to insinuate that the government of India is not working towards realising the dream of cashless economy. The Hindu’s unbridled hate is such, that they had even got slammed by the Greek Embassy for misquoting a Greek Minister in an anti-demonetisation article.

The clarification was nothing but an indictment of the style of reporting of Suhasini Haider and The Hindu. As was made evident by the Greek authorities, they were anguished by the fact that the report misquoted the Minister which led to an extreme oversimplification of what he wanted to actually say and stated that he did not wish to make any judgement based on a country’s internal policies of which he has no knowledge of. The fact that The Hindu, which originally reported the news, had to carry a clarification which in itself slammed The Hindu, gives us a hint as to the amount of criticism and pressure they must have been under, from the Greek embassy and officials. It is very likely that they felt extremely upset that their foreign minister was used as a pawn by Suhasini Haider, to settle domestic scores in India.

In 2016, The Hindu also had to publish a clarification and an apology after it had shamelessly misinterpreted the answer given by the I&B Ministry.

The Hindu has also spread fake news that had international ramifications. In 2017,

The Hindu had reported Michael Pillsbury as saying: Trump has declined Dalai Lama’s request for a meeting’. This news item was preceded by another report based on the same quote, titled: “Is Trump preparing to change the script on Tibet?”. This obviously had larger ramifications for the US-China relationship and Trump’s foreign policy on this tricky aspect.

Soon, Pillsbury denied making such a statement and The Hindu had to pull down both their articles that peddled fake news.

The Hindu had also twisted the words of a father of a terrorist who had refused to accept the body of his son in order to insinuate that the terrorist may have been innocent and after the footbridge in Elphinstone, Mumbai had collapsed, The Hindu had concocted news of a bystander molesting a victim stuck in the stampede. This news was later retracted by the paper. 

While there is a long list of such fake news that has been peddled by The Hindu, the one of most prominence was that of the Rafale deal. A lie carefully and maliciously concocted to undermine India’s national interest and the Modi government right before the 2019 general elections.

On February 8th, The Hindu had published a note from defence ministry in its efforts to help Rahul Gandhi in derailing the Rafale deal. The note contained a note a defence ministry official who had objected to Prime Minister’s office enquiring the progress of the deal, although that officer was not involved in the negotiations of the deal. The Hindu wanted to project that there was opposition to the Rafale deal in the defence ministry and only the Prime minister pushing for it. In doing so, the newspaper had cropped a vital part in the same document, a note by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The then defence minister had written that the officer was overreacting, and offices of Indian PM and French President were just monitoring the progress of the deal.

Immediately after the Hindu report, ANI had published the full document, which had proved that N Ram had used a cropped version of the document in his article.

Even the clarification issued by The Hindu was bunkum and was comprehensively debunked proving that The Hindu not only cropped the image of the document used but also digitally manipulated it.

While The Hindu was at the forefront of spreading the Rafale lie, the Supreme Court had given the deal a clean chit.

The Hindu, after getting caught for deliberately cropping the internal note of the Ministry of Defense to do a hit job against the Narendra Modi government, the media organisation has yet again resorted to peddling half-truths to wash away former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s blunder of not only refusing to accept a seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) but also gifting it to China.

The Hindu, which often peddles leftist ideals, published an article with half-facts to state that former Prime Minister Nehru had categorically denied receiving any formal or informal offer of a seat for India in the UN Security Council. Citing its own report dated September 28, 1955, the Hindu went on to claim that Nehru categorically denied that a UNSC seat was ever offered to India. This lie was comprehensively debunked as well. 

While the saga of The Hindu spreading fake news is endless and the examples cited here are merely the tip of the iceberg, what makes the fact that The Hindu is attempting to combat misinformation even more hilarious is that they are joining hands with the BBC in this endeavour.

BBC had recently published a ‘research’ paper on fake news which had created quite the brouhaha. The research was conducted based on shoddy methodology, based on questionable sources and had been comprehensively debunked by OpIndia.com.

After massive uproar against the report where they willy-nilly concluded that Nationalism drives fake news, the BBC responded to The Better India’s email that raised an objection against their name being included in the pro-BJP fake news purveyors list. The BBC then acknowledged that they had made an error in including their name. They had asserted that the website’s name had been removed from the ‘research’ and attributed it to ‘human error’.

Then, the BBC had pulled its research down with the website showing a 404 error. After publishing it again and pulling it down again, the BBC finally managed to upload the “research” again, however, it continued to have glaring loopholes. What was interesting was that they had included a paragraph that essentially retracted their earlier conclusion that “Nationalism was the driving factor behind fake news”.

The BBC had admitted in its amended report that they cannot really say whether nationalism is the driving force behind Fake News or not. They really do say that and yet the organization has issued no apology for its previous grandiose comments.

It must be kept in mind that this was added when the new research report was published after 30 hours of it being pulled down temporarily. This paragraph was not there in their original research paper. The research paper states:

“This study –being qualitative- cannot tell us the relative importance of each of these factors and how they will vary across different population groups. What it does tell us is that all of these factors will play some role. So it could well be the case that for young people the motivation of civic duty plays much more strongly than their socio-political identities- but we think it likely that both of these factors will apply.”

The researchers clearly state that they cannot compare the relative influence of the factors associated with Fake News.

In fact, after BBC’s shameless vilification of nationalists and subsequent retraction, OpIndia had listed 20 times that BBC had shamelessly peddled fake news. 

One, of course, recalls how BBC had shown Chechnya footage during the Hazratbal operation in Kashmir to insinuate that Indian forces were firing at the shrine and their recent shenanigans in Kashmir as well which have been comprehensively debunked by the armed forces. The BBC’s shenanigans in Kashmir did not start recently, but in the 1990s with Indian Media maintaining stoic silence throughout.

OpIndia has often exposed BBC and The Hindu for all the fake news that they peddle and the full list of our articles can be accessed here and here.

With such antecedents, one can only chuckle when The Hindu and BBC join hands to combat fake news.

India has moved beyond bowing down to the Lutyens elite. The truth has often prevailed over the propaganda that elements like The Hindu and BBC try to peddle. Their latest pretence of combating fake news while being the greatest purveyors of fake news too shall meet the same fate with readers being far more informed as astute now. We can only request The Hindu and BBC to beg themselves to not be dumb enough to assume that their charade will not be called out by their own readers.

Chandrayaan 2: As the nation rallies behind ISRO, and prays for Vikram lander, ‘liberal’ hate spills over

OpIndia Staff
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Chandrayaan 2: As the nation rallies behind ISRO, and prays for Vikram lander, ‘liberal’ hate spills over

As the entire nation stood with ISRO to experience a spectacular journey of India’s first attempt to land at the lunar south pole, some petty individuals displayed their sheer negativity and arrogance over social media.

The long night and the next morning also showed that some individuals exist only to mock and pull others down at the very first opportunity.


Some people are so consumed with their hatred for PM Modi that for them, the hopes and efforts of a nation and the hard work of scientists involved do not hold any value at all. All they care about is exploiting every opportunity to criticise one man who they hate just because their political opinions do not match with his.


Via Twitter

The BBC too, being true to its anti-India nature, was busy mocking India’s maiden attempt to land on the lunar surface. These are some of the cartoons that the BBC had run to mock India’s moon mission:

Cartoon by BBC News Hindi
Cartoon by BBC Hindi

NDTV’s Pallava Bagla was heavily criticised for his arrogant and extremely rude behaviour towards a scientist in ISRO in the media room. While Bagla’s behaviour was called out by many people on social media, ‘journalist’ Sadanand Dhume defended his action. Surprisingly, even Barkha Dutt called him out and slammed Dhume for defending sheer arrogance and rudeness.


Some individuals were so blind with hatred that even the emotions of a man who has nurtured the Chandrayan Mission like his own child were mocked and criticised. ISRO chief K Sivan was consoled in a heartwarming hug by PM Modi but a former Congress IT cell troll saw it as ‘childish’ and ‘idiotic’.


The Chandrayan-2 mission has had a billion-plus Indians pray, hope and rejoice in our nation’s glory and our scientists’ efforts. The fact that we lost communication with Vikram lander and were unable to land on the lunar south pole the way we expected to cannot take away the fact that for a maiden effort it was commendable and a remarkable achievement to have made it up to 2.1 km of moon’s surface.

ISRO has a Chandrayan orbiter successfully circling the moon that will keep sending us images and data for a whole year. Deriding the efforts, the national emotions and mocking the Prime Minister who stood like a rock to support his scientist through every up and down are no doubt the workings of minds that know nothing but hatred and pettiness.

NDTV journalist apologises for being uncouth and screaming at ISRO scientist after Vikram Lander lost signal

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV journalist apologises for being uncouth and screaming at ISRO scientist after Vikram Lander lost signal

Chandrayaan-2’s landing module had gone silent after Vikram the lander was merely 2 KMs from the landing surface of the moon. At 2:40 AM, ISRO chief K Sivan announced “Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed upto an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communications from the lander to the ground station was lost. The data is being analyzed”.

During the media interaction after the mission had met with a glitch, an NDTV journalist was seen screaming at the ISRO scientist who was interacting with the media. Pallava Bagla, the NDTV journalist demanded that ISRO chief K Sivan be personally present for the media briefing. Not just this, he even went ahead to call the scientist a “junior scientist” in an effort to grandstand.

After widespread condemnation for the NDTV journalist’s uncouth behaviour, Pallava Bagla has now taken to Twitter to apologise for his conduct to ISRO scientist.

Pallava Bagla wrote, “My sincere and heartfelt apologies to Mr D P Karnik, for having inadvertently raised my voice to ask a question in the media room last night. I have sought apologies from him personally and this is to let the larger community know I have tremendous respect for ISRO”.


He further said, “I have tremendous respect for ISRO which I have often described as an ‘Island of Excellence’. Sorry, guys, my behaviour did not conform with my own standards or the organisation I work for. It won’t happen again. Pardon me @isro“. 


However, most people were not in the mood to accept his apology. The scientists were visibly distraught after Chandrayaan-2 met with a landing glitch and for a journalist to scream at the scientists because he wanted the ISRO chief to interact with the media was the epitome of arrogance and entitlement, something NDTV journalists are no aliens to. Perhaps what was worse was Bagla calling Mr D P Karnik a “junior scientist” as if the whims and fancies of NDTV journalists could only be catered to by the Chief himself.

There are no failures in science, only efforts and experiments: PM Modi to ISRO scientists

OpIndia Staff
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There are no failures in science, only efforts and experiments: PM Modi to ISRO scientists

India’s Chandrayan 2 mission saw a setback last night as the Vikram lander lost communication with mission control when it was just 2.1 kilometres away from landing on the lunar south pole. PM Modi, who had left the Mission Control venue last night after being briefed by ISRO chief, arrived in the morning today to address the scientists of ISRO.

PM Modi said to the ISRO scientists that they are the people who fight, live, win for mother India and dedicate their lives and dreams for mother India. He added that he could see the sadness in the eyes of the scientists last night and hence he had left without saying anything.


PM Modi stated that we came very close, but we still need to cover more ground in the times to come. He added, “Every single Indian is filled with a spirit of pride as well as confidence. We are proud of our space programme, our scientists, their hard work and determination which has ensured a better life not only for Indian citizens but also for people in other countries. Millions of people have access to a better lifestyle, healthcare and opportunities because of the scientists at ISRO.”

Reassuring the scientists that India will not back down after an initial setback, PM Modi added that when it comes to our space programme, the best is yet to come. “There are new frontiers to discover and new places to go to. We will rise to the occasion. To our scientists, I want to say, India is with you. You are exceptional, you have made an incredible contribution to India’s progress, you have given us your best and you will give us several more opportunities to smile”, said the PM.

“Aap log makkhan pe nahi, Patthar par lakeer kheechne wale log hain”, PM Modi said, “You ventured where no one have ventured before”. PM Modi also thanked the family members of the scientists for their sacrifices and support.

“Resilience and tenacity are central to our ethos. In our glorious history of several thousand years, we have faced a number of moments that may have slowed us, but have never vanquished our spirit. We have bounced back again and have gone on to do spectacular things. This is the reason our civilisation stands tall”, said the PM.

PM Modi further added, “I can proudly say that the efforts were worth it and so was the journey. We worked hard and travelled far, and those teachings will always be with us. We will one day look back at our journey with great satisfaction. The journey will make us stronger and better. ISRO itself is an example of a civilisation that has never called it quits.”

“Every struggle, every difficulty and every challenge teaches us something new, enables us to strengthen our efforts. Science is the best teacher of knowledge. There are no ‘failures’ in science, there are only experiments and efforts. Every effort lays the foundations of new possibilities and makes us realise the power of our limitless potential. The final phase of the Chandrayan mission may not have been as per our expectations, but please remember that the journey has been glorious and full of life.”

PM Modi asserted that throughout the journey, the entire nation has been proud and happy. Even now, our orbiter is moving around the moon in all its glory, without a glitch.

PM Modi reminded the scientists that it is due to their efforts that India is now among global space powers. “It was you who have reached Mars on their first effort. It was our Chandrayan that informed the world that there is water on the moon. We had launched over 100 satellites together. When ISRO has an entire encyclopedia of success, a couple of setbacks cannot take us out of trajectory”.

PM Modi cited a phrase from the Upanishads, “Vayam Amrutasya Putrah (we are the children of immortality) and there are no failures for us.” PM Modi added that being satisfied or dejected by results is against the very nature of science. He added that continuous efforts are the inherent quality of science and science even searches for new opportunities for fresh efforts from every result. He emphasised that this inherent quality is in the blood of the scientists and that is why the nation trusts and feels proud of them.

PM Modi concluded by saying that he has not come there to advise them but has come to seek inspiration from the stalwarts who turn dreams into realisation and disappointments into victories. PM Modi’s full address at ISRO headquarters can be accessed here.

Watch: ISRO Chief K Sivan breaks down after Vikram Lander loses contact, PM Modi embraces and consoles him

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: ISRO Chief K Sivan breaks down after Vikram Lander loses contact, PM Modi embraces and consoles him

n the wee hours of the night, the nation sat glued to their television sets in anticipation. Chandrayaan-2’s landing module had gone silent after Vikram the lander, went silent when it was merely 2 KMs from the landing surface of the moon. At 2:40 AM, ISRO chief K Sivan announced “Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed upto an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communications from the lander to the ground station was lost. The data is being analyzed”.

Moments before K Sivan made the announce, one could see the Prime Minister pat Sivan on his back. The stress was palpable on the faces and drooped shoulders of thee scientists who were awaiting a successful landing after 45 days of Chandrayaan’s travel.

After the moon landing glitch, ISRO Chief K Sivan could be seen breaking down, with moist eyes and a heavy heart. At that moment, Prime Minister Modi can be seen embracing K Sivan and consoling him.


Not just the ISRO Chief, even Prime Minister Modi appeared visibly upset as he consoled K Sivan, the ISRO Chief who had, along with his team, worked tirelessly for months to ensure Vikram lands on the lunar surface.

In his address to the nation, PM Modi had said we will rise to the occasion and reach even newer heights of success. He said, “To our scientists, I want to say – India is with you.”

PM Modi had earlier tweeted, “India is proud of our scientists! They’ve given their best & have always made India proud. These are moments to be courageous, & courageous we will be! Chairman ISRO gave updates on Chandrayaan-2. We remain hopeful & will continue working hard on our space programme”.

As ISRO loses contact with Vikram Lander, NDTV journalist arrogantly yells at scientist

OpIndia Staff
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As ISRO loses contact with Vikram Lander, NDTV journalist arrogantly yells at scientist

In the wee hours of the night, the nation sat glued to their television sets in anticipation. Chandrayaan-2’s landing module had gone silent after Vikram the lander, went silent when it was merely 2 KMs from the landing surface of the moon. At 2:40 AM, ISRO chief K Sivan announced “Vikram lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed upto an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communications from the lander to the ground station was lost. The data is being analyzed”.

Moments before K Sivan made the announce, one could see the Prime Minister pat Sivan on his back. The stress was palpable on the faces and drooped shoulders of thee scientists who were awaiting a successful landing after 45 days of Chandrayaan’s travel.

While the nation congratulated ISRO and the Prime Minister told the scientists that India’s resolve to touch the moon has only become stronger and that, after every setback, there is a new dawn, an NDTV journalist decided it was time to arrogantly scream at the scientists who were already going through enough.


In the video that has now gone viral, a journalist can be heard screaming arrogantly at the scientist who was interacting with the press. The journalist questions the scientist and asks why the ISRO chief was not present at the press meeting as it is a tradition that ‘when something goes wrong, the ISRO chief interacts with the media’. Taking his arrogance to the next level, he then says that the ISRO chief should be interacting with the media and “not someone junior”.

The scientist interacting with the press looks visibly distressed at the journalist’s uncouth behaviour.

It was later revealed that the journalist who was displaying uncouth behaviour was Pallava Bagla from NDTV.

Several people took to social media to express their ire at that behaviour displayed by the NDTV scribe.


In fact, some even pulled out a clip of Pallava Bagla displaying his ignorance while interviewing the ISRO chief.


In the video, it can be seen that Pallava Bagla was asking the ISRO chief how many astronauts are being sent up with Chandrayaan-2 and the ISRO chief patiently explains to Bagla that this is an automatic, unmanned mission and no astronauts are going to be sent up to space.

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