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86th Air Force Day: Nine decades into the India’s guardian angels ensuring that the skies remain safe

OpIndia Staff
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86th Air Force Day: Nine decades into the India’s guardian angels ensuring that the skies remain safe

The Indian Air Force (IAF), established on 8th October 1932, is one of the most dynamic armed forces in the world, that has fought numerous wars as well as affected scores of civilian rescue operations.

From safeguarding India against China and Pakistan to rescuing stranded civilians affected by natural calamities and civil wars, the IAF has time and again proved its valour and dedication.

India today celebrates its 86th Air Force Day, and our efficacy has only multiplied in these nine decades.  A grand parade-cum-investiture ceremony is being held at the Air Force Station at Hindon near Delhi.

The air display at the Hindon air base began with flag-bearing skydivers of the famous Akash Ganga team dropping out of AN-32 aircraft in their colourful canopies. President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others wished the Indian Force.


Here are few captivating images from the ceremony which is being held at the Air Force Station at Hindon near Delhi:

Image of the grand ceremony underway at the Air Force Station Hindan in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.
86th Indian Airforce day celebration


The official twitter handle of the Kerala Chief Minister today expressed its gratitude to the Indian Air Force for its relentless efforts to help the state that was devastated by the flood in August this year. The Kerala flood rescue operation was the largest disaster relief exercise the Air Force has ever conducted, with its powerful aircraft dropping a total of 2.47 lakh kg of relief material.


As part of 86th Air Force Day celebrations, Eastern Air Command headquarters in Shillong has also organised an Air Force festival ‘Air Fest 2018’. The festival was inaugurated at the Shillong Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) by Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal R Nambia.

Naxalism will be eliminated in 3 years, says Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh

OpIndia Staff
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Naxalism will be eliminated in 3 years, says Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh

On the occasion of their 26th Raising Day celebrations on Sunday, while addressing the troops of Rapid Action Force in Lucknow, Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh claimed that Naxalism will be eliminated from the country in the coming 3 years.

Acknowledging RAF’s contribution towards ensuring national security, Rajnath Singh said that their actions should be rapid and quick but not reckless. He asserted that within a time span of maximum 3 years, Left Wing Extremism will be completely annihilated from the country.


In last one year, the forces have neutralized 131 Maoists, whereas 1278 of them have been arrested and 58 have surrendered during the same time.

He also declared that the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where CRPF is deployed as the main counter-insurgency force, is and will always remain an integral part of India. Talking about specific roles of task force RAF, Singh urged the soldiers to be rapid but never be ‘reckless’. One should know how to behave during crowd control and should always be conscious of how much and when to use force, he said. According to him police forces should behave in a civilized manner and shouldn’t resort to brutality under any circumstance.

The Rapid Action Force (RAF) is a specialized wing of the country’s highest paramilitary force i.e. CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) to deal with riot and crowd control situations. It has a strength of around 1000 personnel, equipped with gadgets and non-lethal weapons like pump action guns, tear gas, smoke grenades etc. It currently has 10 specialized trained and equipped battalions, which are numbered 99 to 108 in the CRPF. Each battalion is headed by an officer of the rank of Commandant. The battalions are located at New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Aligarh, Meerut, Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Coimbatore, and Allahabad.

It is notable here that the NDA government has achieved significant success in the fight against Left Wing terrorism. There have been several deadly encounters and an all-around approach of brute force combined with infrastructure development, technological advancements and social welfare programs for tribals in Naxal-infested areas, the strength and control of Maoists have greatly reduced in many of their former strongholds.

Gujarat: Police confirm Congress leader instigated violence against non-Gujaratis

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Police confirm Congress leader instigated violence against non-Gujaratis

As already reported earlier, certain districts in Gujarat is facing widespread violence against non‑Gujaratis, mostly against people from Bihar and UP. The violence followed rape of a minor girl in a Thakor dominant village, after which a labourer from Bihar was arrested by police accusing him of the crime. After it was known that a person from Bihar has allegedly raped a Gujarati Thakor girl, it was reported that Kshatriya Thakor Sena instigated revenge violence against people from Bihar and UP working in the state, in various industries as well as people working as street vendors. The attacks were instigated by messages circulated in various social media networks. Following the attack, hordes of people from the two north Indian states have been leaving the state via buses and trains.

The president of Kshatriya Thakor Sena is Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, who has intensified the demand for reserving 80% jobs for locals in the state after the incident. To contain the violence, police have arrested over 300 people, most of whom belong the Thakor Sena. Alpesh Thakor had denied that Sena has instigated the violence, and had demanded that all arrested Sena members should be immediately released by the police.

But now evidence has come up which show that it is Thakor Sena leaders who have started the violence against non-Gujaratis. Earlier a video footage had emerged where a man was seeing threatening non-Gujaratis. Now, police have identified the person and confirmed that he is MV Thakore, a local leader of the Congress party and elected Taluka Panchayat member. Police have arrested three persons who were seen along with Thakore in the video, but MV Thakore himself is absconding.

In the video, Thakore was seen threatening non-Gujarati people of massive violence if they don’t leave the state, and he had given them time till 9 PM on 8th October to do so. He says that after the deadline is over, he does not want to see anyone from Bihar and UP in his village. Everyone from Bihar and UP will have to leave, and they will come again to check, he adds.

It is important to note that while the violence against non-Gujaratis is happening for almost a week now, it didn’t find much attention from national media like they cover other similar incidents. There is such a large-scale violence against mostly economically weaker people in a BJP ruled states, and it was a not a top news for media outlets. Perhaps the reason behind this is the instigators of the violence. When some random people beat up cow thieves, it becomes a national crisis, but when Congress leaders lead a massive attack against thousands of people driving them out of the state, it does not deserve an outrage.

Woman claims sexual harassment at NDTV, claims Barkha, Prannoy Roy never responded to her complains

OpIndia Staff
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Woman claims sexual harassment at NDTV, claims Barkha, Prannoy Roy never responded to her complains

Social media has been abuzz lately with a lot of women calling out sexual harassment at workplace including media and film industry. Latest to this list is NDTV where a woman has claimed that back in 2014 she had faced sexual harassment in NDTV by one man. She even claimed that he harassed multiple women there, who had to quit while he continued to work.


To that Barkha Dutt, former group editor, NDTV expressed that she was unaware of such incident. The woman then claimed that she had written to Dutt and NDTV head Prannoy Roy multiple times but she never got any response from them.


Today, three days after, Dutt replied that Convergence department was not under her and since 2014 she has been a consultant with NDTV. She said she neither had any jurisdiction nor she knew who Nikita was talking about. Nikita then said that she had written to Dutt with confidence that she would be heard but she wasn’t.


Meanwhile, NDTV’s Group CEO Suparna Singh has claimed that Nikita’s complaint will be investigated on the basis of what she has shared.

Growth in India solidifying, will propel upwards says World Bank

OpIndia Staff
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Growth in India solidifying, will propel upwards says World Bank

Extolling the growth of the Indian Economy once again, the World Bank on Sunday said that the Indian economy is in the consolidation phase and is projected to accelerate to 7.3% in the 2018-2019, and 7.5% in the next two years with stronger private spending and export growth as the key drivers. The bank asserted that the economy seems to have recovered from the ephemeral disruptions caused by Goods and Services Tax(GST) implementation and demonetization move.

“Prompted by the adoption of the GST and the recapitalization of banks, growth in India is firming up and is projected to accelerate further,” the World Bank said in its latest report on South Asia.

On the production side, the turnaround in the second half was led by manufacturing (that grew at 8.8% versus 2.7% in the first half). Agriculture growth improved, and services growth held steady at 7.7%. On the demand side, the pick-up in growth was reflected in a sharp acceleration in gross fixed capital formation to 11.7% in the second half from 3.4% in the first.

Ascribing the unfavourable external situations, the World Bank has said that a worsening trade deficit has caused the current account deficit to widen- on the back of strong import demand, higher oil prices and exchange rate depreciation- from a mere 0.7% of the GDP in the fiscal 2016-2017 to 1.9% in this fiscal year.

Of the internal and external risks that India faces, the World Bank has cautioned high crude oil price and uncertain global trade environment may pose risk for the economy.

A few days back, the World Bank had lauded Modi Government’s policies, particularly Swachh Bharat mission, and claimed it to be world’s biggest sanitation movement.

Delhi Minorities Commission issues notice over circular recommending Gayatri Mantra during morning assemblies

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Minorities Commission issues notice over circular recommending Gayatri Mantra during morning assemblies

The Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) has issued a notice to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) after NDMC issued a circular asking schools run by it to ensure that the Gayatri Mantra was recited by students during morning assemblies.

The DMC demanded an explanation from the NDMC as to “why a circular has been issued to its schools to make students recite Gayatri Mantra in morning assemblies.”

The notice says, “Is this not against our secular polity and will this not cause division in the ranks of students and teachers as many belong to minority communities who may not like to recite mantras of religious nature.”

Ritu Goel, chairman of the BJP-ruled NDMC, clarified that recital of Gayatri Mantra was not mandatory. “We have already clarified it’s not mandatory in our schools,” she said. She added that the circular was not limited to the recital of Gayatri Mantra, it had directions on personal hygiene, moral education, general awareness and physical exercise to be conducted in morning assemblies of schools apart from the recital of the National Anthem and patriotic slogans. The NDMC currently runs 765 schools with 2.2 lakh enrolled students.

How ‘independent’ journalists and Congress tried to fan discord after election dates were announced

OpIndia Staff
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How ‘independent’ journalists and Congress tried to fan discord after election dates were announced

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the dates for the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Telangana. As soon as the election dates have been announced, it seems like a section of the media has gotten busy trying to sow discord by peddling lies and half-truth on social media. Two such incidents came to light today.

Recently, large-scale violence has erupted at several places in Gujarat following the alleged rape of a 14-month-old girl in the state. Following the arrest of the perpetrator, attacks on people from Bihar and UP took place in several places in the state including Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Patan and Ahmedabad districts in the last one week. The attacks were instigated by hate messages against people from UP and Bihar being circulated on social media.

In this entire incident, Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor had raised the issue of ‘non-Gujaratis’ while raising the issue of justice for the child who was brutalised. A mob of around 200 people, allegedly led by Thakor Sena members, attacked a factory near Vadnagar town of Mehsana district on October 2 and thrashed two employees. Similar violence has happened against people from Bihar and UP in many places in the state, either led by Thakor Sena members or people belonging to Thakor Community.

While Alpesh Thakor has denied these charges, the Congress MLA and his men seem to be smack in the middle of this violence.

News surfaced today that a mass exodus of North Indians is taking place from the affected areas. The Director-General of Police has reportedly said, “If people are leaving for home for a festival, it should not be seen otherwise. I have told my officers to visit residential areas, and if required, visit bus stands and railway stations and if people are found leaving due to fear, (then to) persuade them to come back.”

However, a section of the media seems to have a tough time reporting the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

While reporting journalist Mahesh Langa wrote an article for The Hindu that finds no mention of the Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor inciting violence against non-Gujaratis in the state, which has now been confirmed by the police.


In an almost concerted effort, controversial Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam who has in the past made distasteful comments multiple times shifted the blame of the violence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that if people of UP, Bihar and MP are being beaten up and driven out of Gujarat, the Prime Minister should remember that he too has to return to Gujarat to seek votes. Interestingly, the fact that Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor was involved completely got lost in the rabblerousing.

This same narrative was even furthered by The Wire ‘journalist’ Rohini Singh who has been caught furthering lies several times. She quoted a person who alleged that non-Gujaratis are being attacked in “Vibrant Gujarat” because of huge joblessness. Rohini Singh, in turn, quoted that tweet and asserted that people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar should remember this when “people from Gujarat” come to seek votes in 2019.

Clearly, when Rohini Singh said “people from Gujarat” she was hinting at the Prime Minister who is from Gujarat. However, the staggering dishonesty displayed by Rohini Singh was all too glaring considering she, as a ‘journalist’, did not once mention that it was Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor who was in the middle of the violence that broke out in Gujarat.

 

In another incident, some ‘independent’ journalists took to Twitter to add fuel to fire whole sowing discord in the society. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta shared a news article where a 90-year-old Dalit man was allegedly burnt alive while trying to enter a temple in Uttar Pradesh.

 

The same news was also shared by Saba Naqvi, another self-proclaimed ‘independent journalist’ who has been caught lying several times.

Interestingly, this news article shared by both these ‘independent’ journalists on the same day is from 2015, when the state of Uttar Pradesh was ruled by Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party.

This news about the 90-year-old too was fake news which was spread by the media. This story claimed that the Dalit man was killed because he entered a temple. This was subsequently picked up by various media outlets. But other media houses reported that the Dalit man was in fact killed by a drunkard. They reported that the Dalit man was going to the temple when he was asked for money by a drunkard. When he refused, the drunkard hit him with an axe, and later burnt his body. This was also confirmed by the District Magistrate. Indian Express also confirmed the money angle and further reported that the deceased was, in fact, coming out of a temple and that to a temple built by members of the SC community. So the bogey raised by Hindustan Times was proved to be totally untrue. We had busted this lie in 2015 itself.

One wonders why an old news of 2015 which happened under the rule of Akhilesh Yadav was drudged up today and also, why a section of the media is towing Congress’ line in obfuscating the fact that Gujarat violence was allegedly incited by Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor and his men.

With the race to 2019 general elections heating up and 5 states heading to polls before 2019, the media seems to be in overdrive to ensure that the crimes of the opposition are whitewashed while holding the Modi government and the mythical ‘rising intolerance under fascist regime’ responsible for every ill perpetuated or enabled by the players of the mahagathbandhan.

UNICEF applauds PM Modi for his efforts on India’s health and sanitation issues

OpIndia Staff
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UNICEF applauds PM Modi for his efforts on India’s health and sanitation issues

The UNICEF executive director, Henrietta Fore has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for investing political time and efforts on issues like health and sanitation. This comes a few days after PM Modi received the ‘Champions of the Earth’ award from UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres in Delhi.

Fore, who was in Mumbai to attend an event jointly organized by the UNICEF  and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday, said that once a person starts feeling that their community is doing better, it is then that they start looking around at other things that need improvement.

While talking to PTI Fore furthered, “If you invest a dollar in sanitation solutions, the benefit will be four dollars in terms of health cost prevention, the (reduction in) number of visits you go to a doctor and in the medicines that you don’t have to buy“.

Referring to Prime Minister’s ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan‘ Fore said, “The prime minister invested political time and effort and what it meant was people began picking up that story. They want to do it for Mahatma Gandhi, for their country and they felt pride in it“.

Stressing on the importance of sanitation she said that though sanitation does not have any economic return benefit, it indicates that the community is doing better. “It makes one think that does he have clean water and the solutions for open defecation for all animals in their village, is there a community healthcare clinic, is there enough nutrition for children; not just latrines, what about lighted pathways for all of the girls going to schools. It makes you improve your world,” said the executive director.

When questioned about UNICEF’s view on the child mortality rate (CMR) in India during the past decade, Fore said it has shown betterment. “Since the 1990s, when the numbers first began, there was a significant reduction in child mortality. Sanitation, clean India should bring numbers down further. What we don’t know yet is how much further they should bring them down. But it’s an exciting journey for India and we really are on the right path,” she said.

Fore acknowledged health, malnutrition, learning new skills, getting more women in labor force as the few challenges an emerging country like India could face in its journey towards a clean and developing nation.

She further said public policy makes a difference in a developing economy. “So if you begin to look at all these areas a country can look at, India says it wants to skill it youth and (wants to) have a digital future. That vision for future India is what UNICEF and generation unlimited is focused on,” she said.

Fore said if India gets it right for the age group of 10-24, it would mean that the country fares well in the future decades to come. “If this young population is not caught between those ages, then it is next to impossible for a country to do well. India’s outreach for these young people will be the tipping point for the developing country,” she furthered.

When asked how sustainable according to the UNICEF is the Prime Minister’s flagship programme, ‘Swacch Bharat’, she stresses that it depends on every individual, every community, every household to put a value to it. “It’s going to be on each one of us to keep those programmes going that we think to benefit the health, education and nutrition in our communities,” she said.

The flagship cleanliness drive, launched by the prime minister in 2014, aims to clean up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India’s cities, towns, and rural areas.

PM Modi, last month while launching ‘Swachhta Hi Seva’ campaign had said the sanitation coverage in the country has increased from almost 40 percent to nearly 90 percent and asserted that the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ is playing a central role in creating a healthy India.

Mamata Banerjee government refusing to share data for CAG audits, reveals RTI response

OpIndia Staff
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Mamata Banerjee government refusing to share data for CAG audits, reveals RTI response

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India(CAG) has expressed discontent for delayed or no submission of various information for audit of its various social welfare schemes operational in the state of West Bengal, reveals an RTI. According to a report in India Today, the RTI has revealed that the Mamata Banerjee government has not replied to repeated requests on this regard.

Article 151(1) and 151(2) of the Indian constitution, makes it mandatory for the central government and state government, respectively, to let CAG present its audits before the legislature. In other words, every state government has to comply with CAG and let it audit its various schemes relating to public and also assess its law and order.

In March, the governor of West Bengal had stated that CAG audits for the year 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 were not submitted on time in the legislative assembly and about pending ones, because of delay by the West Bengal government.

In August, this year  Mamata Banerjee government had clearly disapproved of sharing reports with CAG regarding law and order in the state as it considered it to be an internal matter.

According to recent RTI, Mamta government refused to share details about e-procurement in various government departments and data for Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme launched under the Women and Child Development department, despite a letter and many reminders.

CAG in past has reminded Mamta government, that they are not outside the scope of the constitution. According to CAG, audit reports of West Bengal become even more important as it has 2.5 thousand kilometers of International borders, making it of paramount importance to national security.

In the past, CAG reports have helped agencies unearth various discrepancies in welfare schemes and unroll giant scams like Coal Scam and 2G spectrum scam.

While the constitution does not lay down definite time interval for submission of reports,  Mamata Banerjee government can land in fresh trouble, if the government is dragged to court, for deliberate refusal to share information.

Tanushree Dutta files complaint against Nana Patekar accusing him of sexual harassment on sets of a film in 2008

OpIndia Staff
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Tanushree Dutta files complaint against Nana Patekar accusing him of sexual harassment on sets of a film in 2008

Film actor Tanushree Dutta has filed a complaint against actor Nana Patekar for allegedly misbehaving with her on the sets of the film ‘Horn Ok Pleassss’ in 2008. Dutta has claimed Patekar had inappropriately touched her while shooting a song in the film. Filing a police complaint related to the case, Dutta has named Patekar and choreographer Ganesh Acharya. An FIR has not yet been filed in the case.

Her lawyer has claimed that while Tanushree had filed a case in 2008, the police at time ‘fooled’ her by registering a case only against the attack on her car and didn’t mention anyone’s name.


He claimed the original report was in Marathi and since Dutta didn’t know Marathi, she wasn’t aware of what was written in the FIR. He claims she went into depression and now that she has recovered she wants to take action against them. A case has been filed under section 354, 354 (A), 34 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code for outraging the modesty of a woman.

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