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Adidas Hima Das-ed: Signs endorsement deal with the sprinting sensation

OpIndia Staff
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Adidas Hima Das-ed: Signs endorsement deal with the sprinting sensation

Sprinting sensation Hima Das has signed an endorsement deal with leading sportswear brand Adidas. Indian division of the company announced on Tuesday that Hima Das would be its new brand ambassador.

It is very rare for a non-Cricket sportsperson in India to land an endorsement with a global sportswear brand like Adidas; therefore this comes as encouraging news for Indian athletes hoping to make it big on the international stage.

Hima shot to fame when she became the first ever Indian to win a gold medal in an international track and field event when she topped the 400-meter event at the World Under-20 Championships held in Finland this year. This was followed by three medals at the Asian Games in Indonesia, which included one gold and two silver medals.

Addressing the event announcing the endorsement deal, senior marketing director of Adidas India Sean Van Wyk said, “Hima is the biggest track and field athlete in India today. She was wearing Adidas sprint spike shoes when she won the gold medal in Finland, and we realised it was a great opportunity for us to join forces with her. Her amazing personality, perseverance and the drive to succeed embodies what Adidas stands for”.

Hima Das with Adidas India executives announcing the endorsement deal

Hima will appear in an integrated multimedia advertising campaign of the company which will be targeted at young athletes of the country. Wyk added that the company would leverage her presence in global campaigns of the company also.

Hima announced the endorsement deal with Adidas on Twitter, which featured a creative for the create history campaign of the company.


According to celebrity managers, Hima is estimated to receive an annual fee anywhere between ₹10 lakh to ₹15 lakh, along with various racing and training gear from the company. During the event, the company presented Hima with a customised pair of shoes with Hima Das written on one shoe and ‘create history’ written on the other.


Yesterday union govt has announced that Hima will be awarded the Arjuna award this year, while Assam government had announced a reward of Rs 1.60 crore for earlier this month. Hima comes from a very humble family in Assam and she shot to national limelight even without any formal training in sprinting.

It may be noted that Adidas will be providing Asian Games gold medalist Swapna Barman customised shoes to fit her feet with six toes each. Sports Authority of India has tied up with the company to prepare the specially-designed gear for the heptathlete.

Other than a number of Indian cricketers, squash player Dipika Pallikal, tennis player Zeel Desai and Siddhant Banthia, and boxer Nikhat Zareen are already part of the Adidas India family. In last few years Indian players have performed well in various other sports, and finally, they are getting what they deserve, including increased popularity among people, support from government and respective sports associations, and endorsement deals from the corporate world.

One of the constant complaints of Indian athletes and players of sports other than cricket has been the lack of financial support. While cricketers can give their 100% attention to the game as their financial security is taken care of by cricket boards and endorsement deals, players of other don’t have this luxury. Training for participating at the international level, purchasing proper kit and gear, hiring a top class nutritionist, trainer etc. cost a lot of money. And often only the affluent can indulge in such sports on a full-time basis.

Worldwide, the corporate sector provides the sportspersons with the necessary financial support. And it is encouraging to see it being extended to India. Till a few years ago, advertisers didn’t consider non-cricket players worthy of endorsement deals, but now that is changing. With Indian players excelling in sports like athletics, boxing, badminton, wrestling etc., it is expected that more and more companies will come forward to sign endorsement deals with them.

Uttar Pradesh state transport bus set ablaze by a woman protestor demanding separate Purvanchal state

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh state transport bus set ablaze by a woman protestor demanding separate Purvanchal state

A woman named Vandana Raghuvanshi, who claimed to be the National President of Purvanchal State Janandolan, fighting for a separate Purvanchal State in Uttar Pradesh, set a Volvo bus ablaze in Lucknow on Wednesday. Police reached the spot and immediately took the woman into custody. No casualties have been reported.

Vandana Raghuvanshi entered the bus, poured petrol on her seat and set it on fire. While no one was hurt in the incident, the act has cost a loss of Rs. 50 lakh to the state. Raghuvanshi has now been taken into custody.

Vandana, extremely angered by the State police said that everytime the PM is in Uttar Pradesh and the Purvanchal State Janandolan wants to meet him to express their demands she is put on house arrest by the police authorities.

On Wednesday morning, at about 10:30 am, the Varanasi bound UP state transport bus was parked in the depot when it was set ablaze. It created a panic-like situation and the authorities took about half an hour to douse the fire.

Vandana, while talking to the police said that the Prime Minister often talks of a developed Nation, but until every small town or sector is developed the nation cannot be considered developed. She furthered that Purvanchal should be given a separate state status and Kashi should be made the capital of the State.

While the police have started probing the case, Vandana Raghuvanshi asserted that she would continue with her agitation until her demands are not met.

Jammu and Kashmir Congress President promises to ‘safeguard’ Article 35A if elected to power

OpIndia Staff
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Jammu and Kashmir Congress President promises to ‘safeguard’ Article 35A if elected to power

President of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress party, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, has stated that if his party is elected to power, then they will work to safeguard Article 35A of the Indian Constitution. He said, “If Congress is voted to power, we will build consensus to address the concerns as per legislation of the state. We will safeguard Article 35A.”


Mir also stated that the Congress party will contest the local body elections in the state and will not give the Bharatiya Janata Party a free run.


Article 35A of the Indian Constitution grants Jammu & Kashmir the right to define the permanent citizens of the state and grant special rights and privileges to those residents accordingly. The Supreme Court was set to hear a PIL demanding the abolition of Article 35A but eventually adjourned the hearings.

Article 35A is a sensitive issue in the state marred by violence. Clashes had erupted in late August after rumours spread that Article 35A had been scrapped by the Supreme Court. There has been heated debate surrounding the provision with some arguing that the article only serves to alienate the state of Jammu & Kashmir with the rest of India.

Indian Express refers to Gilgit-Baltistan as ‘Northern Pakistan’ in its article

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Express refers to Gilgit-Baltistan as ‘Northern Pakistan’ in its article

Recently, 14 schools, mostly for girls were burnt down in Gilgit Baltistan. The residents and must of the world is suspecting Pakistan Army’s hand in the brutality considering it is also the area that CPEC, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, runs through. Gilgit Baltistan is considered an integral part of India and one of the reasons why India has strong objections to CPEC.

The New York Times recently published an article about the 14 schools being burnt down headlined, “Arson Spree at Schools Stokes Suspicions of Pakistani Forces”. It detailed the barbaric crimes that are being heaped upon the people of Gilgit Baltistan by the Pakistani forces. 

The article published by the New York Times was bound to have a certain slant that was not necessarily in favour of India given NYT’s long history with its anti-India and anti-Hindu bias.

However, at least the headline of the article was fairly neutral and focussed on the atrocities faced by the people.

Indian news agency Indian Express has a ‘special agreement’ with The New York Times, by which it can re-publish some of their articles. This fact is mentioned in the Indian Express author profile itself.

This article by The New York Times was re-published by the Indian Express. However, the headline of the article was completely different. The Indian Express headlined the article as, “After 14 schools burn down in northern Pakistan, locals wonder if the Army allowed it”.

It is interesting to note that Indian Express chose to alter the headline and referred to Gilgit-Baltistan as “Nothern Pakistan” in its headline. One would imagine that the editorial right to choose the headline even of re-published pieces lies with the publishing portal since the headline was drastically different. If the editorial right indeed lies with Indian Express, an Indian publication, one wonders why Indian Express would choose to refer to Gilgit Baltistan as “Nothern Pakistan”.

India has always maintained that so-called Gilgit-Baltistan which is a part of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India that Pakistan has illegally occupied. Recently, in May 2018, Pakistan had tried to declare Gilgit-Baltistan as a province of Pakistan and had met with strong opposition from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. The press release by MEA read:

The Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan to India was summoned today and a strong protest was made against Government of Pakistan’s so-called “Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018”.

It was clearly conveyed that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir which also includes the so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’ areas is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession in 1947. Any action to alter the status of any part of the territory under forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan has no legal basis whatsoever, and is completely unacceptable. Instead of seeking to alter the status of the occupied territories, Pakistan should immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation.

It was further conveyed that such actions can neither hide the illegal occupation of part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan nor the grave human rights violations, exploitation and denial of freedom to the people residing in Pakistan occupied territories for the past seven decades.

Government of India’s consistent position in the matter is reflected in the resolution passed by the Parliament in 1994 by consensus.

With Pakistan illegally occupying an inalienable part of India, Indian Express toeing Pakistan’s line by referring to Gilgit-Baltistan as “Nothern Kashmir” is extremely unfortunate, and suspect especially when The New York Time itself had not chosen this headline that Indian Express chose to run with. The Indian Express had earlier too during Pakistan elections displayed a distorted map of India.

We had even tweeted to The New York Times to clarify if the Indian Express has editorial freedom to decide the headline of the articles they choose to re-publish owing to the ‘special agreement’.


We will update this article if and when The New York Times or The Indian Express chooses to respond.

Preview: India vs Pakistan, can India upstage ‘favourites’ Pakistan?

Sandeep Singh
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Preview: India vs Pakistan, can India upstage ‘favourites’ Pakistan?

15 months after they last met, India and Pakistan will face off once again in what must be the one of the most high profile dead rubber in Cricket. On that day in London, in a game etched in Pakistan Cricket history, they handed India a comprehensive defeat to win the Champions Trophy for the first time ever.

Since that defeat, India has been in fine ODI form, having gone on to win ODI series against Sri Lanka (twice), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies before losing 1-2 against England during their recent tour. Pakistan on the other hand have played much less and arguably much weaker opposition, winning against Sri Lanka, losing on the tour to New Zealand and most recently, winning easily in Zimbabwe.

However, Pakistan will still enter the game as favourites, something that hasn’t happened too often in recent history for their games against India. Pakistan XI looks a lot more settled with two exciting openers, a fine young batsman at 3, the experience of Shoaib Malik and Sarfaraz in the middle order and Asif Ali, Shadab and Faheem Ashraf to give a big push at the end.

India, on the other hand, still looks heavily reliant on their top order to give them a good total. In the absence of the best batsman in the world, responsibility has increased further on Dhawan and Rohit to provide a good start.

The middle order problems for India have been well documented and even a game against Hong Kong yesterday didn’t provide enough answers. In all likelihood, Rahul, Rayudu, Dhoni and Jadhav will occupy number 3 to 6 and India will be hoping they can provide a good enough platform for Pandya and Dhoni to launch in the end.

Indian bowling attack looked a little toothless against Hong Kong with their opening pair adding 174 before Anshy Rath got dismissed. They will have to do much better against a vastly superior Pakistan batting line up and India will be hoping that Bumrah’s addition bolsters the bowling attack and provides the edge it was missing yesterday.

The wrist spinners did well to pull Hong Kong back and will be expected to control things in middle overs again on a slowish Dubai pitch. However, Bhuvi’s ODI form recently is a bit of a concern and Rohit might be tempted to go with the impressive Khaleel in place of the more experienced man.

Pakistan bowling attack, unlike India, made short work of Hong Kong in their first match and with two days’ rest, will be raring to go against the arch enemy. Only question for them is whether to include Junaid, someone with an excellent record against India, in place of Amir or Usman.

The heat and humidity of Dubai is likely to play a big part with Indians playing twice in two days more likely to suffer so the Indian team will be desperate to avoid fielding in the sun. Will an Indian Captain finally win a toss and elect to bat first? We find out at 5 PM today.

(Update: Pakistan has won the toss and they will bat. Winning the toss remains elusive, now over to the match)

Uttar Pradesh: Red Cards with dos and don’ts issued to ‘troublemakers’ ahead of Muharram processions

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Red Cards with dos and don’ts issued to ‘troublemakers’ ahead of Muharram processions

As per an Indian Express report, the Police in Uttar Pradesh has issued ‘Red Cards’ to ‘troublemakers’ to ensure a peaceful Muharram. The red cards carry do’s and do not’s for the processions along with information on the criminal charges that can be invoked should the instructions provided on them are violated. The cards also inform the people, who are suspected to foment trouble, of the quantum of sentence reserved for violations.

The red cards issued prohibit creating rumours against any community, use of objectionable words against any religion and warn against hindrance to Muharram processions. The cards also mandate that the same old routes be used for the ‘tazia’ and those participating in processions are also prohibited from carrying weapons as section 144 of the CrPC is in force.

In Bareilly, 2000 people have been issued the red cards. In Amroha, the Police issued the red cards to 1200 local residents. In Sambhal, 750 people have been issued the cards. The Police stated that the red cards were issued to people irrespective of their caste and religion if they were suspected to be troublemakers. The cards were issued 10 days before the processions began on the 12th of September.

“If anyone is found violating the directives, legal action will be taken against them,” said Additional Superintendent of Police, Sambhal, Pankaj Kumar Pandey. Assistant Superintendent of Police, Bareilly (Rural), Dr Satish Kumar said, “The red card notices were issued to put psychological pressure on nuisance creators. This is a kind of preventive measure taken by police.”

Bihar: Left-wing terrorists kill SSB Jawan when he was celebrating daughter’s birthday

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: Left-wing terrorists kill SSB Jawan when he was celebrating daughter’s birthday

In a shocking incident, a  Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan Sikander Yadav was inhumanly attacked and killed by left-wing terrorists in Bihar on Monday. The SSB jawan from 48th battalion had come on leave to his native village Pandethika in Bihar’s Jamui district and was shot down by the Maoists after dragging him out of his residence.

According to the reports, Sikander Yadav was killed when he was celebrating his daughter’s birthday.  Reportedly, two Maoists wearing police uniforms came looking for Yadav and as soon as the jawan came out, 20 other left-wing terrorists jumped on him, dragged him away at gunpoint and shot him dead.

SHO Sunil Kumar said, “Sikander was shot several times just a few feet away from his house”. Reportedly, before shooting him, the Maoists called him a police informer and said that they were punishing him for it.

According to the villagers, there were many women among the Maoist force who killed the jawan and fled to the jungle as soon as they shot the jawan.

The left-wing terror groups are in despair after the massive onslaught by the government throughout the country-both in urban and tribal areas. It seems that there are reacting to this crackdown more brutally than ever.

The extensive and targeted action on Naxals by security agencies combined with wide-spread socio-economic development has resulted in the massive desertion of Naxals, which has perturbed the left-wing groups and are into a violent charge against the security officials to reclaim their deteriorating mass support.

Recently, we had reported that how debilitated Communist Party of India (Maoist) is looking for new urban members and intellectual youth to assist the armed wing and educate tribals and Dalits.

India and Pakistan deny, but for Shekhar Gupta, Sidhu is a ‘BJP bashing’ stick that must be maliciously used

K Bhattacharjee
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India and Pakistan deny, but for Shekhar Gupta, Sidhu is a ‘BJP bashing’ stick that must be maliciously used

In an article in The Print titled, “As if hounding Muslims wasn’t enough, BJP is now giving the same treatment to Sikhs”, Shekhar Gupta gives vent to his heart’s desire as he claims that the saffron party is now alienating Sikhs after Muslims. At best, the article is merely an elongated articulation of a misinformed opinion and t its worst, it could very well be an attempt to sow seeds of division within the country to serve the political interests of certain parties.

Gupta writes in the article, “If the borders were opened here, literally millions of Sikhs and Sindhis would go (to Gurudwara Shri Kartarpur Sahib) for just a few hours’ pilgrimages. This is what Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa promised Sidhu, who duly wrote to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to move it forward.” Funnily enough, both Pakistani and Indian authorities have refuted Sidhu’s claims and yet Shekhar Gupta perceives Sidhu’s words as gospel truth. Pakistan had denied Sidhu’s claims and said that there was a wide gulf between the two countries and the Kartarpur Sahib issue cannot be considered in isolation.

The Ministry of External Affairs has also clarified that Pakistan has neither initiated any formal correspondence on the issue of Kartarpur Sahib nor agreed to include Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara for Indian pilgrims under the bilateral protocol. Now, Pakistan has also come forward and stated that there has not been any formal communication on the matter.


Quite clearly, Sidhu was either conned by his dear friends in Pakistan or he has concocted fiction out of thin air on the Kartarpur Sahib issue. However, his claims have been contradicted by authorities in India as well as in Pakistan. Under such circumstances, only a journalist who is more interested in peddling a certain narrative would take Sidhu’s words as gospel truth ignoring all the facts that point to the contrary.

The article states, “Now, calling the Indian Muslims names, raising questions on their patriotism is bad enough. But you think you can get away with giving the Sikhs the same treatment? And really, do you want to teach the Punjabis in general and Sikhs, in particular, the virtues of patriotism? You need to go see a shrink. A really good one.”

These are blatant biases of the author that twist his perception of reality far beyond what can be construed as efficient. The BJP has been attacking Navjot Singh Sidhu and the Congress party for making discredited claims about a Gurudwara as sacred to the Sikhs as the Kartarpur Sahib. It is unclear how exactly Gupta reaches the conclusion that the BJP is alienating Sikhs. At no point did the party denigrate the entire community or insult them or hurt their sentiments in any manner. Unless the author is suggesting that criticism of Sidhu is akin to criticizing the entire Sikh community, the article just does not make any sense.

The author warns BJP towards the end, “You are playing with fire that could burn you, and much else.” I wonder if Gupta is watching the same spectacle as everyone else. By all accounts, Sidhu’s trip to Pakistan, his hugging the Pakistani Army Chief and then making dubious claims about Kartarpur Sahib, all of it has been a complete disaster for the Congress party.

It is no secret that Pakistan uses fault lines within India to fan extremism. It is also no secret that Pakistan is spending a substantial lot in fanning not only Kashmiri separatism but also the Khalistan movement, both extremely detrimental to India’s interests. Given Pakistan’s ‘war by a 1000 cuts’ strategy, one truly wonders why Sidhu would fan controversy by evidently, lying blatantly. One also wonders why Shekhar Gupta would parrot the exact same lines that Pakistan wants to use to deepen the Indian faultlines.

“India is terrible to minorities” is a line that Pakistan would use to radicalise Kashmiri youth. “India is terrible to Sikhs” is an argument that Pakistan would use in its quest to fan the violent Khalistan movement. By peddling these two lines even after Sidhu’s assertions have been proven false not only by India but also Pakistan, serves nobody’s purpose. Not India’s, for sure. Why would Shekhar Gupta peddle this line of argument is anybody’s guess.

The article is really a word salad and the author ends up talking a lot and saying very little. It appears that the author was desperate to portray the BJP as anti-Sikhs. Bereft of any real opportunity to insinuate such a thing, he decided to interpret Sidhu’s political blunders as BJP’s antipathy towards the Sikh community.

Here is why BJP has won 96% of the seats uncontested in local body by-elections in Tripura

K Bhattacharjee
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Here is why BJP has won 96% of the seats uncontested in local body by-elections in Tripura

The Bharatiya Janata Party has won almost 96% of the seats in the Panchayat by-elections in Tripura uncontested. By-polls were scheduled to be held in 3,207 in gram panchayat, 161 in panchayat samitis and 18 Zilla Parishad seats. However, 3,247 of these were won by the BJP uncontested. The by-elections in most seats were necessitated due to either resignations or deaths of elected representatives.

Opposition parties have alleged that they were not allowed to file nomination papers and have demanded that the poll process be deferred and rescheduled. State Secretary of CPI(M), Bijan Dhar, said, “First, our elected representatives were forced to resign. Then, when we tried to field our candidates, they (BJP) they did not allow us to submit nomination papers.”

CPI(M) Central Committee member, Gautam Das, said, “The atmosphere is not conducive to holding free and fair panchayat elections in Tripura. Out of 35 blocks, non-BJP parties were not allowed to file nomination papers by ruling party supporters in 28 blocks.”

State Election Commissioner, G Kameshwara Rao, rubbished the claims of violence made by opposition parties. He asserted that no violence was reported in offices where nomination papers were filed, thus, their demands for postponement cannot be considered. He said, “There is not a single complaint against the Block Development Officers, who act as returning officers for gram panchayat polls or against district magistrates who function as returning officers for the Zilla Parishad polls.” He also added that there was no complaint against the Police either.

The BJP says that it won the seats uncontested because the opposition has no candidate to field. A spokesperson for the party, Mrinalkanti Deb, said, “Our people have won uncontested as the Opposition has no candidate to field. Their organisational base has shattered and the people have rejected them.”

The allegations made by the opposition parties appear to be based on half-truths as there have been reports of mass defections to the BJP. In March, it was reported that elected members of the Left Front in various local bodies had joined the BJP, which was a huge blow to the CPI(M) and its allies. In Kakrachera ADC village of Mungiakami block under Khowai subdivision, the Left Front had even turned minority as 4 of its members in the 7 member village committee defected to the BJP.

There has been a series of defections to the BJP since 2017 even before the party was elected to power in the state. Moreover, reports of major clashes involved the BJP and its ally IPFT and were limited to a single district. And as per reports, the CPI(M) filed nominations in only 115 seats, while the Congress in 120. BJP ally IPFT filed seats in only 63 while independents were contesting in 63 states.

Combined with the statements made by the State Election Commissioner and the fact that these are by-elections prompted by the resignation of elected members, it appears that the allegations of the opposition parties are mere political posturing.

‘If Sukhbir Badal has verbal diarrhoea, it is not my fault,’ Sidhu’s meltdown after Badal’s ‘mental’ comment

OpIndia Staff
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‘If Sukhbir Badal has verbal diarrhoea, it is not my fault,’ Sidhu’s meltdown after Badal’s ‘mental’ comment

Things have not looked good for Congress leader and a minister in Punjab government Navjot Singh Sidhu ever since he returned from Pakistan after hugging the Pakistani Army chief. Recently, after the Ministry of External Affairs punctured holes in Sidhu’s excuse of hugging the Pakistan Army chief, saying that Pakistan has not sent any official communication regarding opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal had called Sidhu a ‘puppet’ who was ‘dancing to the tunes’ of Pakistan.

Former Punjab chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal also had hit out on Sidhu and called him ‘mental’.


Badal had also asked his call details to be probed, accusing him of having relations with the ISI and Pakistan. However, that seems to have triggered Sidhu to a meltdown. Sidhu, today, said that if Sukhbir Badal has got verbal diarrhoea, it is not his fault.


“If he has a constipation of thoughts, it is not my fault,” Sidhu added. Now, even Pakistan government has officially denied having sent any formal communication on the Kartarpur corridor.

While the Congress party as a whole have defended Sidhu’s actions as ‘personal decision’, senior Congress leader and Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh had come hard against Sidhu and stated that it was wrong for him to show such affection towards the Pakistan Army chief while so many Indians soldiers are losing their lives.

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