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Muslim family prints picture of Lord Ram on a nikah card that was to be sent to Hindu invitees

As reported by Times of India, a Muslim family in Sultanpur has printed pictures of Lord Ram and Goddess Sita on a wedding card, setting an example of communal harmony and respect for another religion.

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Mohammad Saleem, a resident of Baghsarai village in Sultanpur, sent cards of his daughter Jahana Bano’s wedding to his guests from Hindu community with pictures of Ram and Sita, standing behind a ceremonial fire. It also has other traditional Hindu ‘pooja’ items such as Kalash, lamps, banana leaves and even a‘ pooja thali’ replete with coconut, flowers and fruits.

“I wish to bridge the gap between the religious beliefs of Hindus and Muslims. It is a goodwill gesture for my Hindu brothers who also respect our religion with their heart. If we respect their religious personalities, they will definitely show respect for the Muslim community,” said Saleem.

In today’s day and age where religion, communalism, casteism, all are being used as an instrument to divide people to accomplish personal political gains, this step taken by an ordinary Muslim family is worth the attention.

Supreme Court refuses to interfere in rituals of Ujjain’s historic Mahakaleshwar Temple

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere in the rituals which are performed in Ujjain’s historic Mahakaleshwar temple, as reported by PTI. The iconic Mahakaleshwar temple in Madhya Pradesh houses one of the 12 sacred Jyotirlingams.

Even though the Supreme Court refused to interfere in the traditions of the temple, it ordered that the temple be inspected in January 2019:


The Supreme Court has for some time been hearing the matter of protecting the Jyotirlingam inside the temple sanctum. August 2017, the apex court had created an expert committee to investigate and report about the rate deterioration of the Jyotirlingam and the means to prevent it. The committee was also asked to study other temple structures and suggest ways for its overall upkeep.

A few months down the line, reports claimed that new worship norms were approved by the Supreme Court, which included devotees being only allowed to use 500 ml of RO water for Abhishekam. The norms also supposedly included banning Abhishekams via sugar, milk and curd, as such products were allegedly responsible for its shrink in size. Besides this, it was also instructed that the Jyotirlingam be covered in a cotton cloth during the bhasm aarti.

Such norms had angered various devotees who had called it a judicial overreach.

Incidentally about a month later, it was reported that the Supreme Court had taken a strong objection to reports that it had passed an interim order imposing restrictions on offerings and rituals. Following a notice in this regard was removed by the management of the temple.

In the current report, the Supreme Court’s bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit have made it clear in their order that the court had not interfered in the religious ceremony of the temple.

The court though directed that resolution passed by the temple management committee with regards to using 500 ml water for Jalabhishek would stand.

Even on 5 April, the court had stated that it was only concerned with the protection of the Jyotirlingam, and the onus regarding the rituals observed in the temple lay only with the temple management.

All you need to know about ‘The Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance’

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White collar crimes are not new in India, they continue to occur from time to time reminding us that there are loopholes in our justice system that can be exploited and sometimes, people can get away with just about anything. With the liberalization of the economy in 1991, India faced more and more economic offences as the influx of money into the country increased, to tackle this growing problem an act was introduced by the then incumbent government known as  – The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). This gave the government the authority to seize and confiscate properties obtained by laundered money but that was all subject to the process of criminal prosecution. In simpler terms, the offender is able to flee from the jurisdiction of the Indian courts then his or her properties cannot be seized and persecuted. It became a farcical legislative remedy to the growing ailment of economic offences.

Thus, when the recent scams involving Nirav Modi and Mallya came into light, people were outraged by the fact that government is unable to bring the perpetrators to justice or even confiscate their properties acquired by dubious means to recover some of the money. The onus was on the incumbent government to bring about a legislative approach that tackles this problem comprehensively and without any concessions. The incumbent government introduced an ordinance – “The Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, 2018”.  This ordinance was approved by the union cabinet and then promulgated by the President on April 21st, 2018. It is important to keep in mind that the Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 12, 2018, and is currently pending.

This ordinance is brought with a clearly defined approach in mind that is to make sure that no economic offender can leave the country and even if they leave their assets can be seized and confiscated by the government without any hiccups, for this reason, the ordinance vests many special powers to the courts and the directors. The highlights of the ordinance are described below –

Who is a Fugitive economic offender?

The ordinance defines a fugitive economic offender as an offender whose offence is worth more than 100 crores and an arrest warrant has been issued on his or her name. The ordinance also goes on to add specific details about what constitutes a fugitive economic offender under this ordinance –

  1. A person who has left the country to avoid prosecution.
  2. Refuses to return to the country to face the prosecution.

The offences as stated in the schedule include –

  • Cheque Dishonour.
  • Transactions defrauding creditors.
  • Money laundering.
  • Counterfeiting government stamps or currency.

Modus Operandi  

Any Director or Deputy Director appointed under the PMLA, 2002 has been empowered to file an application before a special court to declare a person as a fugitive economic offender. The application can be made on various grounds stated in the ordinance such as reasons to believe that an individual is a fugitive economic offender or any information about the person’s whereabouts, the authorized person suspects that a number of properties are acquired by means which constitutes criminal offence and hence confiscation of them are sought and so on.

After receiving this application the Special Court (ACT, 2002) is to release a notice to the individual to appear in a specific place on a date which is not less than six weeks from the issuance of the notice. The notice will also state that failure to adhere to the directives of the notice the accused will be declared as a fugitive economic offender.

The powers of the Director

The director or the authorised officer is vested with the power of a Civil Court. He or She can attach any property to the list without the prior permission of The Special Court, provided they file the attachment before the court within 30 days. The officer is also empowered to search and detain any person the officer has reasons to believe to be involved in crimes mentioned in the schedule, provided that the detained person be produced before a Magistrate Court or to a higher ranking official than the detaining officer within the next 24 hours. The officer can also direct to search a place or seize documents.

The punishment  

Failing to adhere to the notice issued by the Special court will lead to confiscation of –

  1. Anything which deems as proceeds of the crime.
  2. Benami properties in India and abroad.
  3. Other properties in India and aboard.

After, the confiscation all rights and titles will rest with the Central Government and free from any claims made by other parties on that property. An administrator is to be appointed by the Central government for the purpose of managing and disposal of these assets.

Drawbacks

This is indeed a commendable legislative action taken by the Modi government to curb economic offences but how successful this approach will remain a question as confiscation of foreign properties are outside the jurisdiction of the Indian courts who will be issuing such directives. Although the ordinance empowers Indian courts to issue applications to the concerned authorities in the foreign countries, the feasibility of such an approach becoming effective is close to none. Also, the 100 crore slab is a bit arbitrary in nature as the issue of proportionate justice gets somewhat blurred here, by introducing this slab the government may give off a wrong impression that it is somewhat fine to commit fraud as long as it is under 100 crore INR.

While every step taken in this direction is bound to have certain limitations, the Government has taken strides in bringing the perpetrators to justice. The Fugitive Economics Ordinance is certainly a step towards that direction. Even earlier, the Benami Property Act, for example, was never notified by the Congress government and hence couldn’t be implemented. With such laws now being passed, notified and implemented, one can hope for a positive change.

World Health Organisation hails Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

World Health Organisation in its recent report on air pollution has appreciated the Indian government’s efforts to curb air pollution through one of its flagship schemes of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, which aims to safeguard the health of women and children by providing them with clean cooking fuel.

The report read, “While the latest data show ambient air pollution levels are still dangerously high in most parts of the world, they also show some positive progress. Countries are taking measures to tackle and reduce air pollution from particulate matter. For example, in just two years, India’s Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Scheme has provided some 37 million women living below the poverty line with free LPG connections to support them to switch to clean household energy use.”

Launched by Modi, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in 2016, the initiative aims to safeguard the health of women & children. BPL (below poverty line) families are given LPG connections with a support of Rs. 1,600 per connection in the following three years.

The report nevertheless estimated that 9 out of 10 people around the world breathe air containing high levels of pollutants. WHO estimates that around 3 billion people cook using polluting open fires or simple stoves fueled by kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal and around 7 million people die every year from exposure to polluted fine particles which is referred as PM 2.5 which causes noncommunicable diseases including stroke, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer. Ambient air pollution alone caused some 4.2 million deaths in 2016, while household air pollution from cooking with polluting fuels and technologies caused an estimated 3.8 million deaths in the same period.

The reports also show that low and middle-income countries especially of Asia and Africa are vulnerable to deaths related to air pollution and accounts for 90% of these deaths, followed by followed by low- and middle-income countries of the Eastern Mediterranean region, Europe and the Americas. The highest ambient air pollution levels are in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and in South-East Asia, with annual mean levels often exceeding more than 5 times WHO limits, followed by low and middle-income cities in Africa and the Western Pacific.

Rahul Gandhi as Kalidasa? Pidi media hits new low of sycophancy

There are certain things that you cannot “unsee”, once you have seen them. The following happens to be in that category.

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Indeed, now you have seen everything.

Here is modern day Kalidasa, trying to pronounce the name of legendary engineer M. Visvesvaraya.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyazA03yE_E?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent]

My first bit of advice is to watch that video before Congress IT cell tries to get it taken down with some nonsensical complaint.

My second suggestion is, do not go to read the article from Newslaundry whose headline I have posted in the screenshot above. We all know that among the crop of liberal websites, the deep state has a favourite plant, the one whose poison leaves they use to cook up sinister hitjobs against the BJP. That plant is not Newslaundry. The less favourite websites are trying to get attention through shows of extraordinary sycophancy towards the Dynasty. Do not add to the clicks they desperately seek.

Traditionally speaking, the Congress ecosystem has always set the bar high when it comes to sycophancy.  There was the famous Dev Kanta Barooah, who during his term as Congress President, (in)famously said that “India is Indira and Indira is India.” There was the one who was appointed as President of India shortly after publicly announcing that he would sweep the ground that Indira walked upon. There is also a long tradition of Congress leaders who received big career boosts after publicly carrying shoes and slippers of members of the Dynasty.

But those were different times. In those days, it was still possible for someone to be the President of the Congress Party without being a member of the family.

Despite the huge debacle of 2014, the ecosystem realized that the Congress and Rahul were still their best bet. They had their first task cut out: lift Rahul from the level of a joke and get him to be seen as a real politician in public discourse. The most difficult thing was to rescue the Shehzada from himself, with his penchant for disappearing on vacations whenever the party needed him.

So every time Rahul managed to do anything right, such as read out a speech without fumbling, land a jibe without making a joke of himself, spell his name correctly … anything, they celebrated like there was no tomorrow. The phrase “Has Rahul Gandhi come of age?” was repeated so many times by so many journos that it has become a social media punchline.

But Rahul never learned. And as the Congress party lurched from one defeat to another, Pidis had to get more and more creative in finding reasons to praise Rahul Gandhi. Thus the concept of “moral victory” was tailor-made for Rahul Gandhi. This came in very handy when the sycophancy race intensified in the run-up to the Gujarat election, even as Rahul’s elevation to the post of party president became imminent.

Suddenly Rahul was a winner for everything : he was a winner for showing up, he was a winner for holding a rally, then he was a winner for holding more than one rally, then he was a winner for giving “interviews” to journalists who appeared captivated not only by his charisma but the charisma of his pet dog Pidi.

And finally, of course, Rahul was a winner for losing. Even if the Congress had lost the state for the sixth time in a row. One editor for a prominent newspaper wrote an article explaining that the most important thing is that Rahul should not change a single thing about himself or about the Congress party. I personally believe that the editor in question could have saved herself some time by putting up something like this on the front page.

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Because a picture is worth a thousand words. Anyway.

Not long ago, when Rahul ended up making a fool of himself by calling the Prime Minister a “khoon ka dalal” in the aftermath of surgical strikes, several journalists wrote about the misery of poor Rahul who has all the right thoughts but fails to express himself in the proper language. Approximately 18 months later, Rahul is now Kalidasa. A symptom of how much the bar has been lowered and how quickly.

Two more things. First, if anyone ever tries to call you a Bhakt, remind them of these moments and laugh in their faces outright. Rahul Roushan says it best :

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The second thing is that Pidis and their sycophancy is actually standing in the way of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi. Pushed to the wall by the Modi wave that refuses to fade away even 4.5 years after it began in the autumn of 2013, the Congress has tried to make some changes. The party is in the process of revising history to say that it never believed in Hindu terror. The party no longer says that Muslims have the first right to India’s resources. From saying that those who go to temples are the ones who molest women, the Congress is now a party of “Janeudhari Hindus.”

But the typical Pidis, who are trained to rub their noses into the ground at the mere sight of a Gandhi, aren’t helping. Look at an article such as this, which recently appeared in Firstpost.

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A “maturing” politician? In his third term as MP, President of India’s longest ruling Party, PM candidate … all of which he has achieved purely by accident of birth or as this Pidi refers to him, because of his status as a “lofty dynast.” And he is still “maturing”?

The Pidis probably don’t realize that their slavish loyalty is rubbing people the wrong way. After all, this is a young country, with a significant chunk of the population below 35. Do you know how hard it is to get a seat in a good college? Forget that, do you know how hard it is to get a seat on a local train? This country makes you grow up fast … there are kids as young as 13 who are already slogging for a chance to go to IIT.

How do you suppose people much younger than him feel when we are told to bear the burden of the “maturing” process of this “lofty dynast”? By the way, Rahul ji, best wishes in advance for your 48th birthday, which is next month.

Kashmir : Islamist mob attacks school bus ferrying children, one student critically injured

A stone pelting Islamist mob today attacked a school bus carrying children in Shopian today. According to reports, the bus carrying about 50 children from Kellar village to Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir came under heavy attack by Islamist mob pelting stones.


Three children have been reportedly injured in the incident. One of them, a student of class 2, is said to be in critical condition. The bus was moving through the Kanipora area when it came under attack.


SSP of Shopian Shailendra Mishra has reportedly stated that the windows of the bus have been badly damaged and the perpetrators have strategically selected an area where there is no force deployment. Local reports suggest that the Islamists attacked the bus over the recent killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Sameer Tiger. Tiger was killed on Monday after a successful cordon and search joint operation by the 44 Rashtriya Rifles, CRPF and Special Operations Group of J&K police. Another local terrorist Aqib Wani was also killed in the operations. One ‘stone pelter’ pelted stones at the security forces to help the terrorists escape was critically injured too. Major Rohit Shukla of the 44 Rashtriya Rifles had reportedly been injured during the operation.

J&K CM Mehboooba Mufti has condemned the incident. It is notable here that CRPF, police and army personnel are very frequently targetted by Islamist mobs who pelt stones and hurl petrol bombs at them. The Islamists often form groups to pelt stones at the forces when they are engaged in critical combat operations. They help to divert attention and help the terrorists escape. The NIA has been taking extensive steps to identify and tackle the leaders who organise the jihadi mobs to pelt stones.

IIT Kharagpur introduces new course to link Ancient science and technology research to modern sciences

Indian Institute of Technology of Kharagpur has decided to link the research on Ancient Science and Technology to modern sciences. The university has started a new course on History of Science and Technology in Ancient India. It wants to create an enabling environment to know about the contributions by Ancient Indian Scientists and show its relevance for modern times.

“The study of the history of science and technology of India from ancient times to colonial times is a critical component of IIT Kharagpur’s Science & Heritage Initiative (SANDHI),” said IIT Kharagpur director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, who is responsible for this idea.

“It is directed towards research, documentation, preservation and dissemination of the rich confluence of our civilisation heritage in science, technology, culture, language, architecture, design and its intricate connections with the rest of the world,” he further added.

Professors of IIT-K were optimistic about this programme and asserted that this is an opportunity to give students a new perspective on Ancient science and technology.

The University intends to cover aspects of achievements of Indians in Physics, Astronomy, Architecture, Metallurgy, Measurements and Chemistry. It also covers Kerala School of Mathematics, mathematics in Vedic and Post-Vedic age, traditions of Computational techniques and other components include Ayurveda and yoga. The course is being offered for both the spring (January to June) and autumn (July to December) semesters as a regular three-credit elective course.

Recently, All India Council for Technical Education has rolled out for new courses in Engineering Colleges (other than IITs and NITs) on subjects such as Vedas, Puranas and Tark Shastra (logic).

Cardinal George Pell, third most important official after the Pope, to stand trial in child sexual abuse case

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Cardinal George Pell, third in seniority after the Pope, will face trial on charges of sexual abuse in a case that has gone on since June last year. The trial will be conducted after a two month long pre-trial hearing by the Melbourne magistrate Belinda Wallington found the evidence sufficient to proceed further.

Who is Cardinal George Pell?

Cardinal Pell, now 76, is the finance chief at the Vatican and the Holy See in Rome. He is the third most important official in the Vatican after Pope and was believed to be succeeding the incumbent Pope. This makes him the most senior Church official ever to be facing trial for historical sexual abuse charges. He has held many senior positions in the Catholic church in Australia e.g. the Archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne. He was appointed to the Vatican Church in 2014.

He was one of the inner circle of nine cardinals chose by Pope Francis to deal with issues such as sexual abuse of children by the clergy, fixing account books and financial reforms. The Pope had declined to remove Cardinal Pell after pressure mounted over the way in which the Church was handling such issues.

The sexual abuse charges

He was charged with historical sexual offences in June last year by Australian police. He took leave from the Vatican to appear for hearings which began on March 5, 2018. The magistrate Belinda Wallington was to determine if there are enough grounds for the Cardinal to stand trial. Majority of the charges have been withdrawn by the prosecution or dismissed during the course of the trial. Some of the charges even date back to the 1970s.

In 2016, in hearings before the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Cardinal Pell was accused of mishandling cases against clergy members while he was the leader of the Archdioceses of Melbourne and Sydney. The allegations emerged that he himself was involved in abuse since his priesthood days.

Robert Richter, the Cardinal’s lawyer, had expressed confidence that there is ample evidence to prove his client’s innocence. He added that his client is being targeted due to the failure of the Church to protect sexual abuse victims. Beginning May 2nd there are two more hearings to determine the evidence which will be admissible in the court.

Reports from his hometown, Ballarat, a town near Melbourne, suggest that the sexual abuse of children was going on since the 1960s and the Catholic clergy of child sex abusers had targeted generations that has resulted in broken families, fatherless drug addicted kids and the victims committing suicide. One Gerald Ridsdale, the former chaplain of a primary school was imprisoned for sexually abusing 65 school children between 1960s and 1980s.

A book by one Louise Milligan, who works for Australia’s ABC network, titled ‘Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell’, triggered the police to file abuse charges. The author had interviewed the accusers for more than a year for cases that are decades old.

Implications of the sexual abuse trial

Cardinal Pell had himself acknowledged that the Roman Catholic Church had been unsuccessful in protecting the thousands of children who have been abused the priests.

Bail rejected for convent’s ‘junior father’ who sent obscene messages and pressurised minor girl to convert

The bail application of a junior father cum Vice-Principal of a convent school’s in Rajasthan’s Alwar, was rejected by a SC-ST court, which had sent him to a 14 day police remand, as reported by Patrika and Dainik Bhaskar. The junior father named Georgish Britto has been accused of harassing a class XI student of his school and also pressurising her to convert, supposedly to Christianity.

It has also been alleged that Britto used to send obscene messages to her on phone, after she refused his demand of religious conversion. As per a report in Dainik Navjyoti, after being made aware of the incident, irate acquaintances and Hindu groups like VHP, Bajrangi Dal, protested at the school named St. Anselms.

This also caused an altercation between the local councillor and police station in-charge. After the matter kept escalating, a police force reached the spot and calmed the situation. They later helped the father register a case in the matter.

Following the complaint, Britto was booked under section 354 of the IPC and sections 11, 12 of the POCSO act. After the protest and the subsequent registration of the case, Britto who also used to be the school’s vice-principal tried to flee the region.

Later a police team was constituted to trace him, which tracked him down via his mobile location and was finally apprehended on 19 April. He was then sent to a 14 day judicial custody. It has been claimed that Britto was planning on fleeing to Kanyakumari where he hails from.

After being lodged in custody for about 10-11 days, Britto moved a bail application contending that he was framed in the matter, and also cited his time spent in the judicial custody. This bail plea was opposed by the public prosecutor who apart from detailing the charges against Britto, also accused him of planning to forcibly take the girl student to Kanyakumari. The prosecutor also reminded the judge of Britto’s intention to evade arrest, which as per him insinuated his guilt.

After hearing both the sides, the judge denied Britto bail.

‘Don’t allow BJP to come to power, vote for Congress’: Ghulam Nabi Azad’s appeal to Muslims

Consolidation of Muslim votes has become the cardinal focus of the Congress party prior to elections in India’s religion-sensitive Karnataka state, where next month’s polls are expected to have national repercussions. Siddaramaiah and Karnataka is the last bastion of Congress, and the party seems to be doing everything in its power to retain it.

The leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Tuesday that the results of the Karnataka Assembly elections will be an indicator of the outcome of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

“Hence, the BJP shouldn’t be allowed to come to power in the state at any cost. Muslims should en masse cast their votes in favour of Congress candidates” he said. Azad was speaking while canvassing for Gulbarga Dakshin constituency Congress candidate Allama Prabhu Patil here on Tuesday.

“If you criticise Hindus, the BJP will come to power. Instead of criticising Hindus, cast your vote in favour of Congress candidates,” Azad said.

Criticising the Union government for interfering in the triple talaq issue, the Congress leader said that BJP-led government at Centre is misleading Muslim women on triple talaq Bill.

Cautioning people against getting carried away by the false promises of BJP leaders and appealed to the people to defeat what he called a ‘communal party’ through electoral participation and by voting the Congress to power again.

Muslims, who form 13 percent of 60 million people in the Hindu-majority state, can tilt the electoral balance if they vote en masse, particularly in certain pockets where they are as high as 20 percent. This might be the reason why Congress is all out to make such gibberish remarks while campaigning for their party.

The Congress party seems to have scant regard for the laws of the land. The Supreme Court, as well as the Election Commission, had instructed political parties to desist from seeking votes in the name of religion.

This is not the first time that the minority appeasement and women empowerment stance has been used as a propaganda tool by the Congress party. They have always played politics of minority (Muslim) appeasement in the name of secularism while doing paltry little on the ground. We had earlier interviewed rebel leader Shehzad Poonawalla who had also asserted that the Congress party uses Muslims as a tool without working for their upliftment.
It is stupefying though, how the Congress party wobbles in its approach trying to attain their ambition. During the Gujarat Assembly elections, however, sensing the mood of Gujarat, Congress ditched their Muslim appeasement agenda to woo angry Patidars. It promised them the reservation and adopted the “Soft Hindutva” approach. Rahul Gandhi visited several temples during his campaign and even declared himself as a Janeudhari Shiv Bhakt. It is always interesting to see the various shades of the Congress party in its desperate quest to attain power.