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Maharashtra plans to bring law to protect and encourage inter-caste, inter-faith marriages

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra plans to bring law to protect and encourage inter-caste, inter-faith marriages

The Maharashtra government is planning to enact a law to encourage inclusion in society through inter caste and inter religion marriages. The government plans to enact a law to provide security for couples who may be threatened by acts of honour killing.

Minister of Social Justice Mr Rajkumar Badole said, “The couples – where spouses are from different religions or castes – have to face various problems, including social boycott and the threat of honour killing. Hence, besides other aspects, the law will focus on what kind of protection can be given to the couples who are facing threat to their lives.”

Maharashtra ranks 4th in the list of honour killings as per National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB) Data. The NCRB, in its report ‘Crime in India 2016 Statistics’, stated that out of a total 69 such cases reported to it that year, eight people were killed in the name of ‘honour killing’

He also said that the proposed law will provide all the benefits of reservation and concessions to children, which is hitherto claimed by either of their parents. The drawback of existing laws was that the concessions and reservations would not continue if one of the spouses is from a backward community and another from the general category. Apart from that, the government will provide special concessions such as fee waiver to the children born out of intercaste and inter-religion marriages, he said. “There are also instances where such couples face social boycott. They will be given protection,” he said.

He said that he would consult law experts from Muslim and other communities to ensure that it does not interfere with their personal civil law. He said his government intends to bring a law which is implementable on the ground as the existing laws had several lacunae. The bill also provides for funds for these couples to start and support new life in case of social boycott. A few days back, the minister held a review meeting of the committee constituted to frame the law and asked it to prepare the draft in the next two-three months.

Supreme Court lawyer tries to moral police IPS officer who gives her a fitting reply

Nirwa Mehta
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Supreme Court lawyer tries to moral police IPS officer who gives her a fitting reply

Twitter was all about sharing terrible Hindi songs and Guy Kawasaki and Mallika Sherawat following everyone back. Till 2014 happened and along with India, even Twitter India changed. The microblogging platform is now hijacked by toxic people from either side of the political spectrum who believe in being holier than thou and dishing out moral certificates.

Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy, who believes criminalization of triple talaq goes against freedom of speech, tried to moral police IPS officer D Roopa, who had shared her picture with BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy, who was instrumental in unearthing the 2G scam.


Soon enough, those who identify themselves as ‘liberals’ and accuse people with opposing political views as ‘intolerant’, came out in swarm to question D Roopa on why would she get a selfie clicked with the man who brought the National Herald scam to public light.

D Roopa, however, gave it back to most who were casting aspersions on the picture.


Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nundy also jumped on the bandwagon and tweeted how she was ‘disappointed’ to see the image.


Nundy didn’t just stop there, she also endorsed tweets which cast aspersions on D Roopa’s neutrality and work ethics.

However, not to be bogged down by the bullying of so-called liberals, the IPS officer called her out for trying to play the dangerous divisive games on Twitter.

Soon, Congress supporting lawyer Sanjay Hegde too chimed in and tried to shame her for admiring Dr. Swamy.

D Roopa, however, took it in her stride and took the snide remark and turned it into a compliment.

D Roopa was present at the Times Now conclave which saw a public debate where Dr Swamy destroyed Modi liar actor Prakash Raj. Perhaps the fact that the new favourite tool of the so-called liberals was left speechless, might have triggered the outburst.

In tweets preceding this, she had tweeted pictures with AAP cheerleader and dishonest journalist Saba Naqvi, but none of these so-called liberals called her out on that.

Turf war between Government and Judiciary witnesses a showdown in Supreme Court

K Bhattacharjee
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Turf war between Government and Judiciary witnesses a showdown in Supreme Court

The ongoing turf war between the Government and the Judiciary witnessed a showdown at the Supreme Court when the Center took the Collegium head on for recommending few names to fill up massive vacancies in the High Courts.

The bench was hearing a matter related to the vacancy of judges in High Courts in the Northeastern states after a petition was filed by a man seeking a transfer of his case from the Manipur High Court to Gauhati High High Court. During the hearing, AG Venugopal referred to a resolution where the Collegium recommended that Justice Serto should continue operating from the Gauhati high Court despite being appointed to the Manipur High Court and remarked that it was “very strange”. “That time, only two judges were there in Manipur High Court. It should not have been said that he (Justice Serto) would continue in Gauhati High Court. It was necessary to bring him back to Manipur High Court,” he said. The bench replied, “maybe the Collegium does not want to get him back to Manipur. We do not know.”

“I don’t know, I will have to find out,” said Attorney General KK Venugopal when the Bench inquired how many names recommended by the Collegium were pending with the government to which the bench retorted, “when it comes to the government, you say ‘we will find out'”.

The Attorney General said, “The Collegium will have to see the broad picture and recommend more names,” before adding, “some high courts have 40 vacancies and recommendation of the Collegium is only for three. And the government is being told that we are tardy in filing up the vacancy”.

The most recent source of conflict between the two pillars of democracy was the recommendation of the Collegium to elevate Justice Joseph to the Supreme Court. According to reports, the Collegium had deferred the decision on reconsidering Justice Joseph’s elevation to the Supreme Court after the government sent it back. Reports had emerged which quoted a source stating that the Collegium was of the view that it will “not send any other names for elevation to the Supreme Court, at least until as long as this Collegium is in place” if the Center did not approve Justice Joseph’s recommendation by the Collegium.

The Center is, however, of the view that Justice Joseph’s elevation would give “seniority and regional representation a go-by.” Justice Joseph features quite low on the seniority list of High Courts Judges and there is already another judge at the Supreme Court who hails from Kerala and is a member of the Christian community. As was decided in Second and Third Judges Cases, these factors contribute towards elevation to the Supreme Court. The Center claims that it duly followed the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) which was finalized by the Collegium on March 13, 2017. The MoP said in paragraph 5, “In case of elevation of a chief justice of an HC or a judge of the HC as a judge of the Supreme Court, a fair representation shall be given to all HCs. The criterion of ‘seniority’ as an HC judge, subject to merit and integrity, will be followed.”

In a letter to CJI Dipak Misra in April, Justice Kurian Joseph accused the government of abusing its power and sitting on the recommendations of the Collegium for months. “Failure to discharge their duty by sitting over on the recommendations of the Collegium doing nothing, in administrative law, is an abuse of power. More than anything else, it sends a wrong message which is loud and clear to all Judges down the line not to cause any displeasure to the Executive lest they should suffer. Is this not a threat to the independence of the judiciary,” he wrote in his letter.

The primary conflict between the Legislature and the Judiciary arose when the NJAC which was passed by the Parliament and State Assemblies was struck down by the Supreme Court to continue the Judiciary’s monopoly over the appointment of Judges to the Courts. At one point during the showdown, Mr Venugopal remarked jocularly, I think NJAC was a better option to have.” It is still unclear, meanwhile, how the current predicament will be resolved.

‘UttaraPrachand’: AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal’s Rahul Gandhi moment has Twitter in splits

OpIndia Staff
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‘UttaraPrachand’: AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal’s Rahul Gandhi moment has Twitter in splits

In an undated video clip that has gone viral on social media today, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Supremo Arvind Kejriwal had his Rahul Gandhi moment where he is seen struggling to pronounce Uttarakhand.


Never to lose a chance to mock Dear Leader Kejriwal, Twitter users donned their creative hats on an otherwise boring Sunday and unleashed their humour. Soon enough, #UttaraPrachand was trending with some of the most hilarious jokes. Here are some of them.


All in all, an entertaining Sunday evening.

Congress spokesperson ‘likes’ Tweet calling security forces in Kashmir, ‘Indian occupation forces’

OpIndia Staff
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Congress spokesperson ‘likes’ Tweet calling security forces in Kashmir, ‘Indian occupation forces’

The election season is heating up, not just owing to the impending Karnataka assembly elections but also the 2019 general elections. The Congress party, which has been wiped out in mostly the entire country, and is now holding on by a thread to their last bastion, Karnataka, seems to be getting increasingly desperate to stay politically relevant in a country that seems to have vehemently rejected their politics.

In Congress’ desperation to stay relevant, it has often done things that go squarely against National interest. Whether that move is diving Hindus, indulging in under the table electoral deals with radical Islamist groups like the PFI, playing with national security by lying about the Doklam scenario, questioning the surgical strikes conducted by India, being smack in the middle of caste-based violence, and the list is fairly endless. It now seems like the Congress party and its sympathisers and its loyalists are willing to shed all pretence of speaking for the nation.

Earlier today, news surfaced of an 18-year-old Islamist evidently being identified as Adil Ahmad Yadoo from Kashmir being “mowed down” by a police vehicle while throwing stones at another CRPF vehicle. Ignoring the fact that the Islamist was killed while trying his best to injure CRPF vehicles and the jawans returning from the encounter of Laskar-e-Tayyaba terrorist, the usual suspects tried to humanise the Islamist and in the process, even lied about the facts of the case.


For the likes of Shehla Rashid, the 18-year-old Islamist pelting stones at Jawans became an innocent 14-year-old unarmed boy.

What was more shocking was Congress National spokesperson, Sanjay Jha going a step forward and ‘liking’ a tweet that called the Indian forces “Indian occupation forces” thereby implying that India was illegally occupying the Indian state of Kashmir.

Sanjay Jha ‘likes’ tweet calling Kashmir ‘Indian occupied’

The original tweet was posted by CJ Werleman who is a congenial India and Hindu hater. He is also a habitual liar who has been called out many times. The US-based anti-Hindu propagandist was caught spreading lies during the Kasganj violence that lead to the murder of Hindu youth Chandan Gupta. He was also caught using a video of the Bhima-Koregaon violence to allege that the video showed ‘Hindutva fanatics’ destroying Muslim owned shops in Aurangabad, in a bid to malign Hindus and flare communal tension.

Werleman referred to Indian forces as “Indian occupation forces” in his tweets and that was in turn quoted by one Reyaz to allege that “occupation is ugly” and that the “Indian occupation” is a shame on organisations like the United Nations.

Sanjay Jha, the National spokesperson of the Congress party “liked” the tweet by Reyaz who has earlier too spewed venom against India, as evidenced by a cursory search of his Twitter timeline.

He has on several occasions supported violent Islamists attacking security forces in Kashmir and also derided India in support of Pakistan.


Sanjay Jha’s evident hate towards India, which is probably a manifestation of his hatred towards Modi was not taken kindly to by many netizens as they reacted sharply to Jha’s treacherous behaviour.

TimesNow journalist Prashant Kumar reacted sharply to Jha’s behaviour.


Rebel Congress leader Shehzad Poonawalla also expressed his shock at Jha’s behaviour and remarked how it was similar to Sandeep Dikshit’s “sadak ke gunde” remark, referring to the Indian Army.


It is indeed tragic that political rivalry is now manifesting itself in the form of anti-India sentiments as far as Congress and its leaders are concerned.

Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander among five gunned down by security forces

OpIndia Staff
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Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander among five gunned down by security forces

In an operation that commenced at 05:30 this morning the security forces have eliminated five terrorists including Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Saddam Padder in South Kashmir’s Shopian district. The Director-General of Police S.P. Vaid informed that the operation was carried out in Badigam-Zainpora in Shopian and five bodies have been recovered.


The security forces had launched a ‘search and cordon’ after receiving specific information about presence of militants in the area. The security forces were fired upon by the militants after they were pinned down during the operation. Then the security forces used public address system to persuade the militants to surrender peacefully but to no avail.

Hizbul Mujahideen commander Saddam Padder, a close associate of slain militant Burhan Wani, was among the five terrorists eliminated. One of them was Dr. Muhammad Rafi, the missing assistant professor of the Kashmir University, who went missing two days ago. He was a contractual professor at the university and a resident of Chundina area of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. The police had filed a missing report after their were rumours of him having joined the militants. Security forces had earlier gunned down three other terrorists a day ago in a similar operation in Tabela Chattabal in Safakadal.


An army jawan and a policeman were injured during the operation. One youth was also injured who was taken to Srinagar hospital.

VIDEO: ‘The OpIndia Recap’ with Sham Sharma: On dishonesty of Audrey Truschke

Editorial Desk
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VIDEO: ‘The OpIndia Recap’ with Sham Sharma: On dishonesty of Audrey Truschke

We are back with another episode of ‘The Opindia Recap’ by Sham Sharma, an MBA student at the Roosevelt University, Chicago and a sales professional.

Audrey Truschke, pro-Aurangzeb ‘historian’ who whitewashes Mughal barbaric crimes, recently tweeted false and derogatory statement on Lord Ram and called Him a pig.

In this edition of the recap, Sham talks about the dishonesty of Audrey Truschke. Denigrating Hinduism is a surefire way to become a darling of the intellectual circles, and Audrey Truschke has figured the golden formula out: 1. Tell Hindus their culture is bad and oppressive, and 2. Paint oppressive, radical Islamic rulers in a sympathetic light.

You can also watch the video on YouTube.

We thank Sham for this collaboration!

Urban Naxal threat to India: Why the Soviet Union needed to exist

Abhishek Banerjee
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Urban Naxal threat to India: Why the Soviet Union needed to exist

This might sound strange, coming from someone who hates Communism. In fact, I regard Communism as one of the three Great Evils that the world has seen in the last 100-150 years, along with Nazism and Islamism. I have never made a secret of just how much I despise this vile ideology, the blood soaked red flag with the dreaded hammer and sickle. Give me liberty or give me death.

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Two weeks ago, in an event that grabbed eyeballs across the world, North Korean Communist dictator Kim Jong Un stepped across the line to shake hands with the President of South Korea.

As the two Koreas begin a historic process of reconciliation, the inevitable question is at the back of everyone’s mind. Is this the beginning of the end of Communism in North Korea?

Obviously, Kim Jong Un does not want it that way, but he runs the risk of unleashing forces beyond his control. The Communist dictatorship of East Germany didn’t want it that way either; they only meant to ease travel restrictions a little for their subjects to travel to the West. But in that historic moment, the trickle quickly became a torrent and the wall came crashing down. North Korea could go that way too.

So why do I sound so worried? Aren’t the events on the Korean peninsula a net gain for the forces of liberty?

I am afraid not. Right now, we may enjoy the heartburn on the left as they squirm at Trump making Obama and his Nobel Peace prize look more like a joke than it already was. But this joy is transient. One can only imagine how much the lovers of liberty around the world would have celebrated when  eight years of Ronald Reagan followed by four years of George H W Bush brought Soviet Communism to its knees.

I will pause here to include this video of Reagan telling jokes about Communism. For no particular reason. Just listen.

They don’t make ’em like that any more, do they?

Well, the joy at the fall of Soviet Communism was but transient. Three decades after America crushed Communism, the poison is back and gaining tremendous traction among American youth.

You don’t believe me? Listen here to The Young Turks, the most widely followed Internet news show in the US and the world as they talk about the so called workers movement and Mayday.

“Cops like cracking people’s heads. That’s why they are cops. They didn’t randomly pluck cops out of society. Cops join on purpose because they have a certain mentality.”

Yeah, urban Naxalism is hardly limited to our country. In fact, it originated there and made its way over here.

This is the new media in America and this is what young people over there are getting. Bernie Sanders may have failed to win this time, but the cult of Bernie was palpable among the youth. The man barely stopped short of identifying himself as a Communist. But for how long? In 2020, another chunk of young lefties will join the ranks of the voting population. How long before a self-identified Communist is sitting in the White House, with the leadership of the “free world” in their hands?

How did the young generation go so far left? Because the liberal media and the left wing college professors, the so called ‘tenured radicals,’ bred them to be just that : Communist bots. In 1975, as Pol Pot was overrunning Cambodia, the headline in The New York Times read : “For most, a better life.” Articles in the Harvard Crimson echoed similar sentiments.

This is what Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge, darling of The New York Times and Harvard, left behind in its wake.

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This is how elite media and academia have always been, so what’s new now?

Well, as sad as it sounds, there was a lid on these tendencies while the Communists were still heaping up human skulls across the world. Public memory is short. As long as the body bags were coming in, as long as people heard of literally lakhs of people being exterminated by Communists in death camps, they were wary of Communism in their own free lands. No spin from the New York Times or Harvard could do away with the nightmares that Americans would have of life under a brutal Communist regime in Russia or Cambodia or North Korea.

As long as the threat from thousands of Soviet nuclear warheads was around, the propaganda from the left had no real hope of succeeding.

But once Communism collapsed (almost) everywhere, there was the golden opportunity for the myth-making to begin. The forces of left wing propaganda in media and academia now had a free hand. Just go to the “Soviet Century” section on the website of The Wire to get a taste of what this looks like. Talk of a workers’ paradise, of a flowering of cinema and art in Communist lands. No word about the 1000 lakh people crushed to death under the Communist boot. If North Korea goes down, expect left wing propaganda to intensify further.

Listen to student leader Kanhaiyya Kumar say “Communism is the highest form of humanism,” as the interviewer looks on in admiration.

The “highest form” of humanism? Now scroll upwards to the previous photograph to see the real harvest of Communism. Highest mountain of human skulls ever?

This is the poison and it keeps spreading. Open Twitter if you dare and see “humanism” in action in the killing fields of Kerala, or the forests of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. How long before a “humanist” shows up at your door with orders for you to be sent to die in a gulag?

As gloomy and pessimistic as this article has been, let me end with a flicker of hope. Like I said, things are going really downhill in the United States, the most powerful nation in the world. But there is no reason free people in a different part of the world cannot carry the light of freedom.

India!

India that is Bharat. We have a robust (and possibly growing!) consensus against Communism. The Communist Party has been swept out electorally and pushed into the forests where they carry out guerilla warfare. Even in the forests, the Communist Party has been put under intense pressure. On the other hand, Communism has become a growing force in our living rooms through TV, newspapers and internet.

As of this moment, Communism in India is still running at a net loss. Being anti-national is not popular … yet. And this shows in the voting booth and even in the TRPs of news networks. So that gives me hope. But the enemy is extremely well-funded, well-heeled and very cozy with experienced propagandists in the West. With their ability to drive academic and media discourse, they are even able to cook up incidents right out of the blue to hit at the bedrock of India’s national identity. They are making up the deficit at a furious pace. Unless we seize the moment, it’s going to be all over for us.

Congress delayed four Bills that could have changed India

Anubhav
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Congress delayed four Bills that could have changed India

There has been much ruckus about the inefficiency in the Parliament. If we look at this year’s budget session of the Parliament, it has been the least productive in the last 18 years. The first brief part of the session had 134 percent productivity in Lok Sabha and around 96% in Rajya Sabha but during the prolonged second session, this number took a nose dive with Lok Sabha figures standing at 4% and Rajya Sabha at 8%. The overall productivity of the budget session is estimated at 23% for Loksabha and 28% for Rajya Sabha.

This is not new. Congress, after assuming the opposition position, has deliberately log-jammed the parliamentary sessions. The incumbent BJP government has issued statements time and time again urging the opposition to not log-jam these sessions just for the sake of it. Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, commenting on this specific issue stated the need to propose and oppose for the sake of democracy but condemned such disruptions and reflected upon how it undermines democracy.

Due to this constant log-jamming initiated by political expediency, the country has suffered gravely. Bills which could otherwise have transformed India economically and socially have been pending on the floor.  Here are four examples of bills that could have made a huge impact but did not –

The National Medical Commission Bill,2017 –

Introduced on – 29.12.2017, Introduced by- J. P. Nadda (Minister of Health and Family Welfare)

This bill [pdf] was introduced in Lok Sabha by Minister of Health and family welfare, J. P. Nadda on December 29, 2017. The Bill aims to set up the National Medical Commission (NMC). The NMC is to serve as a replacement to the Medical Council of India (MCI). This Bill was introduced after repeated shortcomings from MCI to self-regulate its undertakings. MCI is an elected body will a representation of 100 % medical practitioners. The NMC is to have 25 members, a search committee will recommend the names for the post of Chairman and the part-time members, with 80% representation of medical practitioners and three relevant experts from the non-medical field and two administrative officers. This approach is more pragmatic as the chances of personal preference of medical professionals taking precedence over social interest is more than high as the stakeholders of the current system are only medical professionals, a more diversified structure of the authority will ensure that the social aspect of such an institution is maintained. The reference of the UK’s GMC can be brought here, where half of its members are non-medical members and in Canada, even medical students are members of its medical body.

Four autonomous boards are to be set up under the supervision of the NMC. The boards will focus on undergraduate and post-graduate medical education, assessment and ratings and ethical conducts. This is a commendable step as time and time again Doctors with poor clinical skills are being produced, under the current system.

This Bill also seeks out to make medical education more accessible and affordable for the general populous. This bill gives the NMC the authority to regulate the fees structure of up to 40% of the seats offered by private medical colleges.

The MCI has failed to take any disciplinary action against doctors, thus this bill ensures that proper grievance redressal mechanism is in place by empowering the state medical councils to look into such complaints and the accused or the accuser both can approach the successive higher authorities.

In a country where doctor to population ratio is less than the prescribed 1:1000 of World Health Organization, such a law could prove to be game changing but this bill like others is still pending.

The National Sports University Bill, 2017 –

Introduced on – Aug 10, 2017, Introduced By – Vijay Goel (MoS, Youth Affairs, and Sports)

It is well known that Indian sports infrastructure with the exception of cricket is not of the contemporary standards, though Indian athletes have made India proud despite all the shortcomings, the recent Commonwealth games success is a perfect example of that. Despite this issue of lack of infrastructure being brought forth time and time again the said bill is still pending in Parliament.

This bill [pdf] seeks to establish a National Sports University located in Manipur. The university will promote –

  • Sports sciences,
  • Sports technology,
  • Sports management,
  • Sports coaching.

The university is also proposed to be a national training centre for selected sports disciplines. The university is empowered to open new campuses in different parts of this country and subsequently authorized to confer degrees, diplomas, and certificates.

The executive council of the University will handle all the administrative affairs. The members include Vice-Chancellor, who will be appointed by the central government. The chancellor also will be appointed by the Central government, adhering to the clause of that person being an eminent person in the field of sports.  The functioning of the university will be reviewed by the central government and if it fails to provide satisfactory results or take action according to the center’s inspection report then it would have to comply with the direction issued by the central government.

The Government of India in an effort to make this facility a world class one has already signed a memorandum of understanding with two Australian universities, University of Canberra and Victoria University.

Such an institution will prove to be vital in creating and sustaining India’s future and current athletes but just like the previous one, this bill is also pending in Parliament.

The National Council for Teacher Education(Amendment) Bill,2017-

Introduced On – December 18, 2017, Introduced By – Prakash Javadekar(Minister of Human Resource Development).

This is another example of a commendable legislative action taken by the incumbent government which is yet to be fruitful due to constant disruption by the opposition.

This Bill [pdf] seeks to amend the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993. This act aims to establish a National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). Which will serve as an authority to plan and coordinate teacher education system throughout the country, bringing uniformity and standardized teacher education for all. It is also empowered to curate the norms and standards of the teacher education system in this country.

This bill seeks to give retrospective recognition to educational institutes which are notified or funded by central or union territory government.  Institutions which are outside the recognition of the act and institutions offering teacher education courses on and after the establishment of NCTE act until the academic year 2017-2018. Such an approach will even out any disparity in the curriculum in different institutes offering teacher education, saving hundreds of students from students from harassment.

This bill will also authorize the NCTE to grant permission to such institutions for starting new courses. This will further restrict the possibilities of different curriculum and disparities and aid in achieving the desired objective, which provides students with world-class teaching education so that competent teachers can be produced.

In a country which has yet to reach the desired teacher-pupil ratio, such causal approach to education legislation can prove to be costly.

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill,2016 –

Introduced on–  November 21, 2016, Introduced By – J. P. Nadda (Minister of Health and Family Welfare)

This Bill seeks to prohibit commercial surrogacy but the altruistic aspect of surrogacy is preserved. This bill defines commercial surrogacy as where the surrogate mother is being compensated in addition to the medical cost and insurance coverage, by cash or kind.

It also details the couples eligible for surrogacy and makes it mandatory for all applying couple to procure ‘certificate of essentiality’ to authenticate the request by the couple and make sure they fall under the said terms mention in the bill. These include but not restricted to –

  1. A proven certificate of infertility of one or both members of the family from the district medical board.  
  2. Insurance coverage for the mother.

These are required to ensure that both parties are opting for surrogacy, not for any reason other than having a child and the surrogate mother is not being exploited in lieu of monetary compensation. The couple must also possess a ‘certificate of eligibility’ establishing their eligibility for applying. These include but not restricted to –

  1. The couple has to be married for at least five years and both of them must be an Indian citizen.
  2. They do not have any surviving child (biological, adopted, or surrogate).

There are exceptions to the second rule and these exceptions are subject to specified regulations.  The Bill also sets a 90-day time limit for central and state government to appoint an appropriate authority who would be responsible to carry out functions which include but not restricted to –

  1. granting, suspending or cancelling the registration of surrogacy clinics;
  2. enforcing standards for surrogacy clinics;
  3. investigating and taking action against breach of the provisions of the Bill.

This bill was introduced with the objective of curbing commercial surrogacy which puts the surrogate mother’s health at risk and creates an ethical issue as commercial surrogacy often leads to buying a life while putting the biological mother’s life at danger. This also could not be implemented. In a country like India where most of the population is economically backward and there exists a lack of such practices and understanding, this delay in implementing a comprehensive surrogacy law is a matter of shame.

These are some of the bills which have been affected by the constant parliamentary log-jam. It is time that the opposition comes forward and act responsibly. In a democracy, the legislative process being hampered by political adventurism is a rare and shameful act.

Dear Rahul Gandhi, why in God’s name should I repose my trust in you?

nandini
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Dear Rahul Gandhi, why in God’s name should I repose my trust in you?

Dear Rahul Gandhi,

In this season of Open Letters, all addressed to PM Narendra Modi you might be feeling a little ignored & left out that no ‘eminent’ citizen, ‘intellectual’, activist or actor thought of offloading their disappointments, fears, even perhaps, dreams of a New India to you, the Congress President & a Prime Ministerial aspirant.

Hence this ordinary citizen who has never written an Open Letter to anyone has taken it upon herself to write to you. One learns, as you know, something new every day, especially when our ’eminent’ citizens are there to show the way.

What does one say to a man who belongs to a lineage of three prime ministers, aspires to be one too but seems to be a tourist on a flying visit?
 Someone who exposes time and again, like any visitor, his lack of knowledge in history and even sometimes in the geography of this large, diverse, great country.

We have seen you as this foreign looking, little boy who lived with his grandmother, PM Indira Gandhi.
 A picture of you celebrating your birthday with a special cake on a plane comes to mind. Then we saw you as the hesitant, rather unsure son of PM Rajiv Gandhi and a little more of you when you zipped in and out of the country during the regime of your mother, Sonia Gandhi.

However, it has been clear from the day you tore up with great flourish, the Ordinance of Dr Manmohan Singh, a man who served your mother’s government, that you considered yourself senior to him though you held no position in the government.

It also became clear that you thought it was your Divine Right to Rule. No doubt, you had in mind a devoted retainer who would hold fort and be accountable for your deeds while you flew in and out having outsourced the country.

Something like your mother’s well-oiled system.

However, all your wonderful plans and dreams were put to rest by one man – Narendra Modi.

Not only did this man show us Indians what being a Prime Minister of 1.2 billion means, but he also showed us what integrity of intention is and the meaning of hard work.
 With such zeal and unimaginable working hours not only were the men in his own party caught unawares but you Rahul, were shown up as a very, very poor alternative.

A Chaiwala proved to this country that not only a Gandhi, their cronies or a puppet can be a prime minister but also an ordinary citizen through sheer dint of hard work. Of course, nerves of steel were also required because at every stage your family set the dogs upon him to tear him down and destroy him.

When the thumping mandate for Narendra Modi sank in, it seems that was when your uncles sat you down under the instructions of your mother.
 After all, she was the first to recognise Narendra Modi as a threat, way back in 2002 and now she was quick to grasp that your days of gadding were over.

In all probability, a laundry list of expenses, foreign trips, the cost of the family’s luxurious lifestyle was presented to you.
The payroll & expenditure on maintaining ‘friends’ in the media, devoted civil servants & judges were shown to you…

Leaving you no choice but to get to work for The Family– something you were quite unused to…

It has to be said that since then, it’s been one big circus!
 Loads of laughter, jokes on your speeches, gaffes and goof-ups, a whole industry of memes! 
It seems you’re not happy to just keep it at home. You go out to Singapore, the US and spread the fun there too.

All very well Rahul.

But PM material? 
You’ve got to be kidding.
 In fact, it’s cringe-worthy. After all that laughter, the reality of it is frightful and dangerous.

In the past four years, we Indians have realised how many depend on you for their livelihood, how many have got accustomed to living beyond their means & hence push and plan, employ the services of dubious organisations to achieve their goals.

AND HOW YOU GO ALONG NO MATTER WHAT THE COST TO THE COUNTRY.

In Gujarat, you are a Janeudhaari Shiv Bhakt. in Karnataka, you divide Hindus.

You criticise the PM for always travelling even though it’s on work. Whereas, you disappear on Election Day to meet your Italian grandmother, to play Holi you’ll like us believe.

You take ownership of your legacy when you flaunt the prime ministers in your family.
 You hide behind youth when you are asked to explain the 1984 Sikh Pogrom which your own father encouraged and abetted.

You talk about corruption in the Rafale deal even though you’ve been called out with facts several times.
You never mention Bofors and Agusta.

You encourage hit jobs on competent, able men which crumble under scrutiny but are mum on the misuse of office and the corruption of the man who was your mother’s Home Minister and Finance Minister.

You go on and on about Ambani and Adani but have nothing to say on an entire ecosystem of industrialists, media magnates, journalists that thrived on criminal activities and made hay during the UPA.

You are out on bail yourself but thought nothing of wanting to impeach the CJI.

You talk about Saving the Constitution but it’s your grandmother who declared Emergency, the darkest day in this country, post- Independence when our liberties & rights as citizens were suspended & the Opposition was thrown into prison.

Your message comes across entirely negative when it’s not incoherent with wild, unsubstantiated allegations.

You mock everything but offer nothing new.
 More often your team sound like wealthy, entitled kids in a school yard poking fun at the not so privileged. Brand & name dropping at its worst which exposes an unfortunate disconnect.

Tell us in which way are your plans for India better than PM Modi’s? What will you do now that you couldn’t do for sixty years?

You talk of spreading ‘love’ and how we lived happily as one people during Congress rule conveniently forgetting a terrible, bloody list of communal violence.

Your claims are suspect and your compassion hollow when you vulture hop from a rape victim (only Muslim please) to suicide victims (only Dalits please) to murders (only minorities please).

Shamefully, Amethi your bastion of 15 years is of sub- Saharan standards.
So where can you showcase your abilities that the electorate can consider giving you the responsibility of India?

The answer is, unfortunately – No. Nowhere.

Hence, dear Rahul Gandhi,
 this ordinary citizen of India considers you the least likely candidate for the top job.
 Why in God’s name would I repose trust in you?

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