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Shivraj Chouhan slams Congress Govt in Madhya Pradesh for scrapping Bhavantar Yojana

OpIndia Staff
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Shivraj Chouhan slams Congress Govt in Madhya Pradesh for scrapping Bhavantar Yojana

Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has attacked the newly elected Congress government in the state for discontinuing welfare schemes started by his government.


He said, “This government is working to change everything. The policies in Madhya Pradesh which were started during my tenure as Chief Minister and by my government, have been applied by not one but many other states. They are just stopping the programmes that were started by the previous BJP government. This is not fair to the state. You add new programmes, we don’t have a problem with that. You bring changes, we don’t have a problem with that. But why did you stop the Bhavantar Yojana?”

Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana was a scheme of the Government of Madhya Pradesh initiated by Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government whereby the government pays farmers the difference between official Minimum Support Price and the rate at which they sell their crops or Model Price whichever is higher.

Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Minister Sachin Yadav has claimed that the scheme was bringing the price down and hurting farmers. He said, “Schemes by BJP govt didn’t focus on farmers. Since the time Bhavantar Yojana was introduced, prices of farmers’ products have fallen. Even the govt support was harming farmers. So, we have decided to scrap this scheme.”


The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has taken many controversial decisions since it came to power following its victory in the Assembly Elections. Hina Kawre’s election to deputy speaker’s post was the first time in three decades that the long followed tradition of the post going to the principal opposition had been shunned.

On another occasion, after abolishing a years-old tradition of reciting Vande Mataram at the state secretariat, after facing strong protests by the BJP for the same, Kamal Nath’s government was forced to retract the order.

Here is why #DarpokAbhisar is trending on Twitter

OpIndia Staff
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Here is why #DarpokAbhisar is trending on Twitter

When he is not busy making embarrassing videos ‘investigating’ train tragedies, the Ramnath Goenka award-winning journalist Abhisar Sharma is busy sending abusive direct messages to Twitter users who make fun of him. Turns out, the journalist went on a blocking spree because people dig out his old embarrassing tweets and Sharma could not take a joke or two. It all started when a Twitter user @firkiii made fun of him.


Soon, other users shared their DMs where Abhisar was abusive towards them.


Apparently, blocking the ones he sends abusive DMs to is a pattern he follows.


Owing to his behaviour, where he blocks people after abusing them so that they can’t respond to his message, ‘Darpok Abhisar’ (coward Abhisar) was trending on Twitter.

30 Rohingyas apprehended by Police at Assam-Tripura Border, claim WB man helped them

OpIndia Staff
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30 Rohingyas apprehended by Police at Assam-Tripura Border, claim WB man helped them

30 Rohingyas were apprehended by the Police at the Assam-Tripura border at Churaibari on Monday night. The group includes 12 minors and 9 women. They were allegedly travelling to Guwahati on a bus from Agartala, the capital of Tripura.

Additional SP of Karimganj told Assam Tribune that the Rohingyas were held during a routine check-up. “During routine interrogation at the check-post, these Rohingyas were found without valid documents. They have violated the Passport Act hence steps would be taken accordingly. Further investigation is in progress,” Saikia is reported to have said.

One of the arrested Rohingyas claimed that they were brought there by a West Bengal-based person called Raju, ANI reported. He claimed that they had travelled from Jammu to Agartala in search of work via Delhi and Guwahati but unable to find work, they were leaving.

Meanwhile, 31 Rohingya Muslims continue to be stranded at the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura as both sides refuse to accept them. Bangladesh claims that the Rohingyas crossed over from India while the BSF claims that there’s no breach on the Indian side.

The Indian government has continued to maintain a strong stance on Rohingyas. Recently, it was reported that 1300 Rohingyas had fled to Bangladesh from India fearing deportation to Myanmar.

In October last year, Seven Rohingya Muslims who were lodged in jail since 2012 for illegally entering India were sent to Myanmar border for deportation. The government has also decided to deport 23 more Rohingyas, who have been staying at various detention camps in Assam after they were caught staying illegally in the state.

Gharwapsi: 98 converted Christians come back to Hinduism in Tripura

OpIndia Staff
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Gharwapsi: 98 converted Christians come back to Hinduism in Tripura

In a ‘Gharwapasi’ event organised by Hindu Jagran Manch and Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Tripura’s Kailashshahar, 98 Christians were converted back to the fold of Hinduism. According to the reports, 98 Adivasis of 23 families were originally Hindus but were lured into Christianity after they lost their jobs in 2010.

A holy pyre was put up and elaborate rituals were carried out as a part of ‘Gharwapasi’ at around 180 Km away from the state capital Agartala, in the town of Kailashshahar to complete the reconversion of the Tribals.

The Hindu Jagran Manch Tripura Unit president Uttam Dey claimed that most of the Tribals were tea garden workers and were converted to Christianity in 2010. They all used to work in the Sonamukhi tea plantation in Unakoti district. After the closure of the plantation, they were lured to convert into Christianity. He also claimed that most people belong to the Orao and Munda tribes from Bihar and Jharkhand.

The Vedic rituals and Yagna was reportedly carried out by Chandrakanta Singha, a Vedic scholar and President of the local Hindu organisation Gayatri Kunja.

One of the members of the Tribal community identified himself as Birsa Munda said that he was he was tempted to convert his religion by Christian preachers. However, he and his people were not treated well after conversions. He said, ” We were very poor people. We were enticed to convert to Christianity. But they routinely misbehaved with us. “We are very poor people. Christians converted us. They also frequently misbehaved with us. We reconverted to Hinduism on our own volition,” he told reporters.

Christian Missionaries and Christian proselytisers are now targeting tribals and lower-caste people to bring them under the fold of Christianity by making lofty promises and offering endearments in return for conversion. Recently, a zealot Christian missionary ventured in the restricted Andaman Island with the aim to convert the protected tribals but got killed by the Sentinelese tribe for his unsolicited intrusion.

Business Standard bigotry: After Kanwar Yatra, the Kumbh Mela gets linked to ‘unemployment’

K Bhattacharjee
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Business Standard bigotry: After Kanwar Yatra, the Kumbh Mela gets linked to ‘unemployment’

The Business Standard’s bigotry towards Hindu festivals is scarcely ever hidden. Earlier, it had insinuated that the Kanwar Yatra was so popular because of unemployment in the country. And now, it has again made the assertion that the Kumbh Mela attracts millions of people because they are unemployed.


The very assumptions of the tweet are borne of bigotry. The assumption that “If everyone had decent jobs, rally maidans would be largely empty and, save for babas and curious foreigners and devout senior citizens, not very many would spare time for Kumbh” reeks of arrogant elitism.

It may appear scandalous to the author but occasionally people do tend to prioritise religion over their routine daily activities. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Humans may need food, water and air to survive but religious piety is the primary source of inspiration for the overwhelming majority of people across the world. Therefore, it’s human nature to seek the blessings of the Gods once their immediate concerns are taken care of.

Of course, leftists would much rather have us as corporate slaves. Toil away all our lives for the interests of people we hardly know and sacrifice our personal concerns at the altar of the share market. But human nature is a persistent beast, and we need religion to satiate our hunger for the Divine.

The very assumption that Hindu festivals are popular merely because of unemployment reveals the twisted attitude that such people reserve for the Hindu faith. A great many Indians are self-employed, therefore it allows them the opportunity to take a break from their work for a few days after arrangements have been made previously. A great percentage of the Indian workforce is made up by farmers as well who again can reserve a few days in their calendar for the Kumbh.

Even employers are more often than not willing to grant their employees leaves for the festivities if their track record has earned them the right to it. Thus, employment opportunities do not feature into the equation at all. Only those who have taken it upon themselves to find some fault with Hindu festivities, no matter how misguided it may be, will come up with such an argument.

Such ridiculous claims, of course, is the manner in which leftists pay obeisance to their favoured deity: Secularism. Secularism mandates that some manner of fault must be found with Hindu festivities, conjured out of thin air if needs be, but they need to be demonized. Hindus must not be allowed to participate freely in festivities, an air of negativity must surround every Hindu festival. For this is what Secularism dictates.

No one is concerned about unemployment when Muslims from all over the world travel to Mecca for the Hajj. There’s no such concern when animal rights are violated during Eid. No one has a problem when millions and millions of trees are cut for Christmas. Of course not. These are festivals of the ‘People of the Book’. And Secularism mandates that monotheist cults must be favoured against polytheists by all means.

Only a mind twisted beyond recognition by perverse Secularism could associate unemployment with any Hindu festivities. There are a million positive aspects to the Kumbh Mela and yet, a mythical narrative had to be conjured for casting negative aspersions on it.

The Kumbh is the biggest religious congregation on the planet. Like the Kanwar Yatra, the Kumbh Mela helps Hindus transcend the barriers of caste, class, creed and language to unite under the banner of Dharma. The Kumbh Mela unites Hindus in a manner that very few other Hindu festivals can. It’s a festival of religious piety, a reflection of the great diversity of traditions in the polytheistic Hindu faith.

Leftists cast aspersions on the enormous gathering at the Kumbh Mela because they are threatened by it. They claim that they seek unity and yet when a Hindu festival provides the platform for it, they feel threatened. The motivation to link the Kumbh and earlier the Kanwar Yatra, with unemployment arises from the inherent aversion that leftists have towards the Hindu faith.

Ownership of CMIE and their alleged proximity to P Chidambaram raises questions on the credibility of its Job Survey

Editorial Desk
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Ownership of CMIE and their alleged proximity to P Chidambaram raises questions on the credibility of its Job Survey

The last couple of weeks has witnessed a growing focus on the number of jobs that have been created by the current government. A major reason behind this has been the lack of availability of an official source of employment statistic but the government has tried to change this as it has undertaken the Periodic Labour Force Survey. The results of this survey for the last year will be released soon by the government, however, as we wait for the official statistic on jobs, CMIE has come up with its own pessimistic estimates of “jobs” in India.

In several cases, analysts are not as pessimistic, with reason. For example, an analysis today says that in 4 years, 18 million jobs have been created in the transport and professional sector alone.

Here is the crux of the matter that is not widely known: CMIE, that brings out periodic Job Survey, is wholly owned by Mr Ajay Shah (and his family), the same person who also happens to be one of the main accused in a mega scam commonly known as ‘NSE Co-location’ scam.

Mr Shah has been accused of accessing data from NSE on a preferential basis in connivance with the authorities and sharing this data with certain stockbrokers for use in High-Frequency Trading. The scam is being investigated by SEBI, CBI as well as by Income Tax authorities.

The current MD of CMIE is Mr Mahesh Vyas, who happens to be the brother-in-law of Mr Ajay Shah. The timing of the commencement of this Job Survey raises suspicion on the motivation as well as the credibility of the data. The co-location scam came to public light in late 2015, and the first Job Survey was out in April 2016.

There are several eminent economists who are consistently questioning the veracity of the data, as well as methodology adopted by CMIE. It is pertinent to note that as the co-location scam keeps progressing further (FIR has been filed by CBI against Mr Shah in June 2018), the CMIE reports are getting shriller with bleaker unemployment picture, quite in contrast to several other data points and anecdotal pieces of evidence. Could it be a strange coincidence?

Another interesting aspect to note about this “Survey” is that, ever since its first release where the number of those employed was pegged at 410 million, the trend line of jobs has been steadily declining, despite a ‘V’ shaped recovery in the GDP growth rates during this period.

One fails to understand how can an economy grow at 7% per annum while steadily losing jobs quarter after quarter, as claimed by CMIE? As evident from the growth figures, there was indeed a temporary slowdown in the GDP growth rate, however, the economy recovered immediately, and the growth rate accelerated. Surprisingly, the jobs as measured by CMIE does not provide such a rebound for the employment situation and that seems highly unlikely.

If the labour employed is going down then how can there be an increase in the growth rates? This points at deep inconsistencies within the CMIE data base and it categorically indicates that this data is unreliable. The question that does exist is that whether such inconsistencies are because of genuine errors or are they a case of a deliberate attempt to cause confusion and paint a pessimistic picture of India’s job creation? Given the ownership of CMIE, it appears that it is not a case of a genuine mistake.

A comparative chart of CMIE Job Survey and GDP growth rates are given below.

Source: CMIE website, Trading Economics

A damning story on Ajay Shah in the Hindu Business Line talks of another angle: Ajay Shah routed many of his clients through his wife’s sister, Ms. Sunita Thomas’ IT firm – Infotech Financial. Ms. Thomas is also the wife of Mr. Suprabhat Lala, who was chief of the trading division of NSE, at the time of this scam. Interesting to note that even in this story (as well as in several other stories across various media outlets, links for which are given at the end), Mr. Ajay Shah’s ownership of CMIE is never ever mentioned.

Screenshot from the latest audited Balance Sheet of CMIE showing the shareholding pattern:

Screenshot from the latest audited Balance Sheet of CMIE showing the shareholding pattern

Even the website of CMIE lists Ajay Shah (Director) and Mahesh Vyas (Managing Director).

CMIE list of directors

Several of the news articles (as well as Wikipedia entry on NSE Co-location scam at the time of writing this article) mentions that Mr. Ajay Shah is a very close confidante of Mr P. Chidambaram. Given this information, and the ownership pattern of CMIE, any ‘Job Survey’ from CMIE should be taken with a pinch (or a tonne) of salt, as one would take it from a Congress IT cell.

Related links :

bloombergquint.com

sundayguardianlive.com

moneylife.in

Nagaland ‘Tourism Police’ found handing out Bible to tourists in Hornbill festival

OpIndia Staff
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Nagaland ‘Tourism Police’ found handing out Bible to tourists in Hornbill festival

In a video which has gone viral on social media, Nagaland ‘Tourism Police’ can be seen handing out the Bible at the Hornbill festival in Nagaland.


The video was originally posted by Karl Rock, a traveller, shows the ‘Tourist Police’ in Nagaland handing out free copies of Bible to all the tourists entering the Hornbill festival. The Hornbill festival is celebrated in Nagaland from 1st to 10th December every year.

Karl Rock, in the video, can be seen describing how the ‘Tourist Police’ is distributing Bible to the visitors entering the festival. “I have heard about Christians converting people of the North East India, but I didn’t know that even the government was involved in it as well,” he says. Another tourist with him says she took the Bible, assuming it to be a tourist guide, but gave it back upon realising it was the Bible. “It shouldn’t be the government officials doing it,” she says.

A farmer in West Bengal helped by Health Minister JP Nadda, as state has opted-out of Ayushman Bharat Yojana

OpIndia Staff
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A farmer in West Bengal helped by Health Minister JP Nadda, as state has opted-out of Ayushman Bharat Yojana

A farmer from Bardhaman district of West Bengal suffering from cancer was helped by Health Miniter JP Nadda for treatment at Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital, as his state has opted-out of the ambitious Ayuhsman Bharat Scheme.

According to an Indian Express report, Anant Kumar Roy was ascertained to have adenocarcinoma after biopsy and was referred to the Mumbai Hospital. The farmer earns less than Rs 5000 a month, and hence eligible for the scheme. Under the scheme, a patient is eligible for nation-wide treatment up to 5 lakhs in any empanelled government or private hospital. However, as the state has opted-out of the scheme, he was not able to apply for benefits and get a PMJY’s Gold card. However, after intervention from the Union Health Ministry, the person was issued benefits citing it as a “special case”.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had decided to pull out from Ayushman Bharat scheme, Modi government’s flagship healthcare programme launched in 2018, under the Ayushman Bharat Mission that intends to provide coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually. CM Mamta Banerjee had accused PM Modi of taking full credit for the roll-out of the scheme and neglecting state government’s contribution. Not only this, earlier this month, around 200 Trinamool Congress activists led by MLA and Nadia chief, Gourishankar Dutta had threatened to shut the Krishnagar head post office down, unless the delivery of the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme letters were stopped immediately.

“We tried to reach out to the state (West Bengal) because we are yet to have any clarity on whether or not they are reconsidering their decision as we had requested. However, we have not got any response from the state. He may require a series of surgery which will cost Rs 1-2 lakh, and as a special case the minister has taken a decision to allow his treatment.” Ayushman Bharat deputy CEO Dr Dinesh Arora was quoted by reports.

West Bengal is not the only state that has opted from the roll-out of the scheme due to political reasons. States like Congress-led Chhattisgarh and Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi, too have undermined the ambitious scheme and have turned it down.

Ayushman Bharat Yojna has so far helped around 900,000 lakh patients in India and is also helping the country fight the menace of non-communicable diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Recently, Ayushman Bharat Scheme earned major accolades when Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates congratulated the Indian government on completion of 100 days of Ayushmaan Bharat initiative. Ayushman Bharat is the world’s largest state-sponsored welfare scheme in the world. Recently, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Direct-General of WHO also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Health Minister J P Nadda for their visionary leadership which helped around seven lakh people avail benefits of the healthcare scheme Ayushman Bharat in the first 100 days of its launch.

Shut down madrasas across India as ISIS ideology is being promoted to influence students: Shia Waqf head Waseem Rizvi to PM Modi

OpIndia Staff
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Shut down madrasas across India as ISIS ideology is being promoted to influence students: Shia Waqf head Waseem Rizvi to PM Modi

Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board Chairman Waseem Rizvi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a shut down of all madrasas across India stating that ISIS ideology is being promoted there to influence the students, reports ANI.

Reportedly, in a letter addressed to PM Modi dated January 21, Shia leader Rizvi said that if madrasas in the country are not shut down with immediate effect, then within the next 15 years half of the country’s Muslims will get influenced by Islamic State ideologies.

“I write to you seeking the shut down of all madrasas in the country…because we have seen across the world that children are the first targets when it comes to plotting and planning terrorist activities, and with the increasing threat from Islamic State, there is fear that it will influence India as well,” Rizvi’s letter read.

Rizvi went on to allege that the ISIS is luring children in Jammu and Kashmir with money and financial stability and in return the Islamic terrorist organisation is teaching the young children hostile doctrines in the name of Islamic education and misleading them, adding that it could prove dangerous to the well-being of the country.

The Waqf Board chairman urged Prime Minister Modi to bring in provisions to allow students who have cleared high school to enrol in madrasas if they want to choose a career in religious paths. “That way, a child can attain proper education in regular schools and learn communal harmony and at the same time, have the opportunity to follow the religious path if so desired,” the letter read.

This is not the first time that Shia leader Waseem Rizvi has issued such bold statements as earlier he had said that homosexuality is prevalent Madrasas across the country leading to his expulsion from the Islam. In the past, he had sent a video to media stating that the Muslims who keep beard without moustache are fundamentalists who have become the scary face of terror in India and the world.

It is notable here that the Shia Board chairman has been severely opposed by Sunni groups and has been very vocal against the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He had earlier stated that mosques built over Hindu temples should be returned to Hindus. He had also been supportive of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Interestingly, he had also stated in the past that madrasas are the breeding grounds for terrorists, for which a Muslim group had put a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on his head. There had also been threats to his life and in April, the Delhi police had arrested some suspected aides of Dawood Ibrahim over a plot to kill Rizvi.

Also read: Dear journalists, in your hate for Modi and Doval, don’t become terror apologists. Read about IEDs first

Tertiary care for non-communicable diseases most expensive, now affordable to poor through Ayushman Bharat: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Tertiary care for non-communicable diseases most expensive, now affordable to poor through Ayushman Bharat: Report

Ayushman Bharat Yojna which has so far helped around 900.000 lakh patients in India, is also helping the country fight the menace of non-communicable diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Ayushman Bharat Yojana is Modi government’s flagship healthcare programme launched in September 2018, under the Ayushman Bharat Mission of MoHFW. The scheme aims at making interventions in primary, secondary and tertiary care systems, covering both preventive and promotive health, to address healthcare holistically. The scheme intends to provide coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74 crore poor families or over 50 crore people. Rs 10,000 crore were allocated for the scheme by Health Ministry, last year.

According to a Livemint report, 77% of total monetary help or ₹931.7 crore availed by patients have been spent on tertiary healthcare activities or non-communicable diseases. The tertiary healthcare specialities for treatment include cardiology, cardiothoracic, orthopaedics, urology and neurosurgery.

The report states that about 900,000 patients have availed the benefits of the scheme so far, amounting to approximately ₹1210 crores.

“Major focus of PMJAY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna) is on tertiary care which so far has been beyond the reach of poor which includes treatment for cancer, heart, respiratory and kidney diseases.” Indu Bhushan, Chief Executive of Ayushman Bharat Yojna, was quoted in the report. He added that diseases such as stroke, heart and kidney problems are rapidly increasing in the country, and poses a great threat to the pocket of a poor man in the country. Ayushman Bharat Yojna according to him, is proving itself life saviour for those people.

The report further states that according to a WHO study, diseases like NCDs and diabetes are rapidly increasing due to increased urbanization, sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets and excessive tobacco use. The organization states that in India, in the age group of 20-70, around 8.7% people are suffering from diabetes, which in turn can deadly by giving rise to strokes. A report by the Indian Council of Medical Research states that in 1990, around 37.09% people, used to lose their lives due to NCDs. Now, according to study, a whopping 61.8% people lose their lives, for same diseases.

As per the National Family Health Survey 0f 2015-16, 1 in 10 women and 1 in 7 men of age 15-49 are suffering from hypertensive health problems, with chronic diseases related to kidney being the 8th leading cause of death.

“NCDs such as stroke, kidney and heart diseases are being diagnosed fast in rural population also. It impacts the poor the most as their treatment causes catastrophic expenditure and further worsens their poverty situation.” Health minister, JP Nadda asserted. He also said that Ayushman Bharat is delivering affordable treatments to patients for NCDs.

Recently, Ayushman Bharat Scheme earned major accolades when Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates congratulated the Indian government on completion of 100 days of Ayushmaan Bharat initiative.

Ayushman Bharat is the world’s largest state-sponsored welfare scheme in the world. Recently, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Direct-General of WHO also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Health Minister J P Nadda for their visionary leadership which helped around seven lakh people avail benefits of the healthcare scheme Ayushman Bharat in the first 100 days of its launch.

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