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UP CM Yogi Adityanath inaugurates India’s longest six-lane elevated road in Ghaziabad

OpIndia Staff
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UP CM Yogi Adityanath inaugurates India’s longest six-lane elevated road in Ghaziabad

Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday inaugurated the six-lane Hindon Elevated Road connecting Ghaziabad to New Delhi, which is being dubbed as the “longest of its kind” in India.

The news of this inauguration was also tweeted by the official twitter account of Yogi Adityanath, who opened the road near the Karhera Bridge:


The 10.3 KM long road is expected to drastically reduce a 60 minute journey between Raj Nagar Extension in Ghaziabad to UP Gate to about 18 minutes. This flyover would also connect motorists to the Hindon airbase and Delhi-Meerut Expressway, thereby making the drive to Delhi’s Akshardham signal free.

The flyover stretch built with the help of 228 single-pier pillars, cost an estimated Rs 1,147 crores.

As per District magistrate and Vice Chairperson of Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) Ritu Maheswar, the road is designed to allow commuters to drive at an average speed of 80 Kilometres per hour.

In the initial days, only two and four wheeler vehicles would be allowed to ply on the flyover and it is estimated about 4,000 vehicles use the flyover per hour.

This inauguration though has resulted in a political slugfest with SP leader and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav claiming that Yogi is taking credit for the project conceptualised during his regime:


This political tussle has also seen a Samajwadi Party MLC  Rakesh Yadav ‘inaugurating’ the project on 16th March after claiming that the construction was started during the SP rule. An FIR was later filed against him and his supporters.

The project initially was scheduled to be completed back in April 2017 but was delayed due to factors like shifting high powered transmission wires, a delay in the construction of a railway over bridge, and a lack of environmental clearance which was only obtained this February.

Some might say that, had the SP government managed to ensure there was no delay in the project, it could have then been completed during the Akhilesh government’s tenure or at the start of Yogi’s regime, thereby giving more political ammo to Akhilesh.

Two Bangladeshis awarded one year jail sentence for illegally living in India

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Two Bangladeshis awarded one year jail sentence for illegally living in India

A Thane court on Wednesday sentenced two Bangladeshis to an year in jail for residing in India without any proper travel documents. The assistant sessions judge H B Shelke, also fined them a sum of Rs 5000.

The two convicts in question, Mumtaz Rasul Shaikh (45) and Munira Akhtar Husein (30) were convicted under sections relating to Passport (Entry into India) Rules 1950. They are said to be hailing from the Nodaile district in Bangladesh.

The two women were apprehended by a team of Anti-Human Trafficking Cell from Mira road back in July 2017. As per the Additional Public Prosecutor Ujjwala Moholkar, they used to work as labourers and resided in impoverished areas. The prosecutor also claimed that these women were found to possess no valid travel documents.

As a result of this the judge sentenced them to a rigorous imprisonment of one year.

Incidentally Thane has seen another Bangladesh related activity in recent days, with the police arresting five Bangladeshi nationals for a robbery in the region. These people have been accused of robbing cash and jewellery worth Rs 9.98 lakh.

Based on preliminary investigation the police has ascertained that three of these nationals flew into India a few days and and two others came by train. While being armed they allegedly broke into a house in Thane’s Kashimira locality and tied up all the residents.

The five have been identified as Mohammad Ismail Hawaldar, Bappi Akbar Sheikh, Mohammad Latif Sheikh and Mohammad Akram Irfan Ali and Lukman China Mian. All except China Mian hail from Khulna in Bangladesh while China Mian hails from Sylhet.

Tejashwi Yadav accuses Mohan Bhagwat of ‘training’ people to incite riots

OpIndia Staff
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Tejashwi Yadav accuses Mohan Bhagwat of ‘training’ people to incite riots

Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD has accused Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of RSS, of giving “training on how to incite riots” in he aftermath of the communal violence that has gripped Bihar since Ram Navami.


Tejashwi Yadav also accused the BJP of inciting violence to divert attention from its failure to fulfill the promises it had made to the people of India. He tweeted, “We youth talk of jobs and unemployment so the BJP incites violence to divert attention. Modi ji should answer how many promises from their election manifesto have the fulfilled? Why did he betray the trust of the youth?”


However, as per reports, the riots broke out in the Nawada district of Bihar following the desecration of an idol of Lord Hanuman. Reports indicate that the violence, since then, has spread to other regions in the state.

Hizbul Mujahideen over ground worker arrested by J&K Police

OpIndia Staff
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Hizbul Mujahideen over ground worker arrested by J&K Police

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has caught an over ground worker (OGW) of the terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen by the Jammu and Kashmir Police. As per reports a huge cache of incriminating material has also been recovered from his possession.

Ganderbal SSP Fayaz Ahmed Lone, while briefing media, said, that they were acting on a specific information and had launched a cordon and search operation at Lobar Mohalla Pati-Shalabug Ganderbal. During the search operation, one Nazir Ahmed Malik was arrested who is an over ground worker of the terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. He is also accused of providing support to Hizbul Mujahideen.

A case has been registered and and investigation has been initiated. The Police expects more arrests in coming days.

Earlier today in a separate incident, another Hizbul militant was injured in a shootout with the Army in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district. He is currently under treatment in hospital. As per police statement, Asif Ashraf Malik is a resident of Shopian who has been active with the Hizbul since 2017. The police is investigating the case, including those who accompanied the injured militant to the hospital.

Congress social media head does a u-turn on her party’s use of psychoanalysis

OpIndia Staff
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Congress social media head does a u-turn on her party’s use of psychoanalysis

In a recent interview to Barkha Dutt over the Cambridge Analytica controversy, the Congress social media head Divya Spandana/Ramya had claimed that her party does not believe in psychoanalysis and stuff. However, Divya has admitted that the psychoanalysis was instrumental in influencing people on social media in an earlier interaction with students. The video exposing Divya Spandana’s u-turn has emerged on Twitter.


In her interview with Barkha Dutt, Ramya acknowledged that Cambridge Analytica may have approached the party. When asked ‘Why would the Congress party turn this firm down?’ by Barkha Dutt Ramya said (emphasis added) :

I think because, you know..we believe in an honest way of doing things. We don’t believe in manipulation or rigging of elections, pyscho-analysis and I think ideologically and also looking at their track record of what they did with Brexit and Trump’s election, I don’t think we are somebody who wants to work with a company like that. Ideologically they are not inclined they are more right wingers and therefore they didn’t seem someone whom we could we work with. Everything we do is in house. 


During an interaction with students at Commits College event, Ramya had admitted that social media interaction involved a lot of ‘science’ . The video of the interaction was uploaded on February 2018 by Ramya FC (fan club). She was answering a question asked by a lady in the audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6szAkM0XkEk

[see after 6:00 ] (emphasis added) :

Question by a person in the audience: Before you create a meme or anything you  put out on social media, what is the kind of research that goes into it? How do you choose the topic and how do you choose the outcome?

Ramya: So there is a science behind every meme, every graphic, every video that we make. The big difference between Congress and BJP is that, while the BJP doesn’t bother to get their facts right, they only peddle lies, they don’t really care so much about the truth, right because it is all propaganda. The Congress, the big difference is, we believe in backing up everything we say with data, statistics and figures. Yesterday we put out a video where we were fact checking the PM’s speech in parliament where he made innumerable mistakes. [..]

As far as the memes and stuff go I think, a lot of research, specifically which photograph, which angle, there is research done into what image people are more likely to pay attention to, the size of the font, the colours that we use, the words the we use. There is a lot of it that goes behind every single graphic and meme that we make. There is science behind it. Because social media is all about perception. It’s all about image building. It is all about, you know, it is about one person looking at it and how you communicate. And how you, I wouldn’t say condition, but how you take control of the other person’s mind and get them to see what you want them to see. That is what it is. I want you to see the truth, but the BJP probably wants you to see other things. But social media is all about controlling the other persons mind. There is  psycho-analysis…social media. 

In the interview with Barkha Dutt, Ramya says she doesn’t believe in psychoanalysis. One the other hand, she says that it is a part of her social media strategy in an interaction with students. Which version is true?

Karnataka Bank latest to report loan fraud by Gitanjali Gems

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka Bank latest to report loan fraud by Gitanjali Gems

Karnataka Bank has disclosed a loan fraud amounting to Rs 86.47 crores involving Mehul Choksi owned Gitanjali Gems. The Mangalore based private bank on Wednesday disclosed that it had reported the fraud to the Reserve Bank of India on fund based working capital facilities extended to the company.

The bank has added that since the loan was extended under consortium arrangements, they do not have any Letters of Undertaking (LoU) exposure to Gitanjali Gems. The fraud has been reported on account of non-realisation of export bills and diversion of funds.

With this disclose, the Karnataka Bank has become the latest bank to have been exposed to the widespread loan fraud of Gitanjali Gems. Currently, a large consortium of 31 private and government-owned banks are under scanner for a Rs 5280 crores loan fraud allegedly committed by Gitanjali Gems. The loans were being issued since 2009.

According to reports, the 5280 crores bank fraud is over and above the 13,000 crore PNB scam. In the PNB scam loans were issued to various firms owned by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi by overseas banks over fraudulent LoUs issued through the Punjab National Bank.

The Income Tax department and the ED are currently in the process of attaching the properties and bank accounts of both Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi owned firms. The income tax department had attached an SEZ property in Hyderabad owned by the Gitanjali Group in February which was valued at Rs 1200 crores.

Mehul Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems is also under the scanner for alleged irregularities involving the 20:80 scheme to import gold. In the wake of the loan fraud, the Securities and Exchange Board of India had last month revived investigations in an old case of alleged manipulative tradings against Gitanjali Gems. Several people have been arrested and the passports of both Mehul Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi have been revoked by the government.

CBSE paper leak: Crime Branch questions over 30 people, students to face re-examination

OpIndia Staff
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CBSE paper leak: Crime Branch questions over 30 people, students to face re-examination

Hundreds of students and parents gathered in protests outside the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) headquarters today in Delhi. The CBSE class 10th Mathematics (held on 28th March) and class 12th Economics (held on 26th March) question papers were leaked ahead of the examinations and since then there has been an environment of unrest and anger among lakhs of students who were affected by the paper leak. Hand-written question papers were found doing rounds on WhatsApp groups before the examinations.


CBSE chairperson Anita Karwal has stated that the exams will be conducted again and the decision of re-examination is in the favour of the students. Union HRD minister Prakash Javdekar also took to Twitter to calm the students and assured them that the culprits will be nabbed soon.


So far the police have questioned over 30 people over the allegations of the paper leak, most of whom are tutors and students of at different coaching centres. A dozen mobile phones have also been seized. The Delhi Police Crime Branch has stated that they are reverse-tracing the trail of the WhatsApp messages that leaked the papers and the private tutor of a coaching centre in Rajinder Nagar, who was named by CBSE in their FIR is being interrogated. RP Upadhyay, special commissioner of police, Delhi has also stated that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed and two cases have been registered for the matter. CBSE, in its complaint, had stated that they had received a fax naming the coaching centre owner from Rajinder Nagar to be behind the leaks.


Seven students of the DU were also among those questioned by the SIT and raids have been conducted at several places. According to reports, at least 24 students from different schools in outer and north-east Delhi had received the class 10th Mathematics paper through a particular WhatsApp group and the class 12th Economics paper was circulated among a group of 10 students. From them, it went viral. The students are also being probed.

The re-examination dates are expected to be announced on Monday.

Communal violence breaks out in Bihar following desecration of Lord Hanuman’s idol

OpIndia Staff
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Communal violence breaks out in Bihar following desecration of Lord Hanuman’s idol

Clashes broke out in the Nawada district of Bihar on Friday morning, following desecration of Lord Hanuman’s idol in the district’s Gondapur village. As per local reports, the discovery of this desecration resulted in irate locals blocking the Patna-Ranchi highway. This seems to have also escalated into a clash between two communities.

The said violence included torching of shops and vandalising vehicles and also resulted in the equipment of media persons getting damaged. In order to control the mobs the police had to resort to firing shots in the air.

Sensing the deteriorating situation, district official and the SP reached the spot and took charge. All the nearby police stations were put on alert and security was increased near religious shrines. The rapid action force too was called into action.

The administration has since then suspended internet services in the region and deployed a strong police force. District Magistrate Kaushal Kumar has claimed that the situation is now in control. He has also been quoted as saying that the administration is on alert and minutely monitoring the situation. He also claimed that they were monitoring social media with regards to possible rumour mongering by miscreants.

Such a news of communal violence in Bihar comes days after parts of the state were engulfed in communal strife following attacks on Ram Navami processions.

We had reported that the state’s Aurangabad and Kaimur districts have seen intense violence. In Aurangabad, stones were pelted on on a bike rally at Nawadih area, which caused tensions in the area.

In Kaimur district’s Malikasray village, a bike rally was taken out on Saturday during which property belonging to “another group” was accidentally damaged. Hence when Ram Navami’s Shoba yatra started in the village on Sunday, the “other group” stopped it by alleging that they had taken a wrong route. This resulted in the clashes.

Now latest reports have claimed that such communal violence has also been witnessed in Samastipur, Nalanda and Munger regions of the state.

Sanjay Raut indulges in inflammatory speech, calls for violence if democracy doesn’t work

OpIndia Staff
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Sanjay Raut indulges in inflammatory speech, calls for violence if democracy doesn’t work

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has been caught on camera indulging in an inflammatory speech in Belgaum district of poll-bound Karnataka. Belgaum is a border district of Karnataka with considerable population of Maharashtrians. There has been an active demand by a section of people to include the district in Maharashtra.


Raut was speaking on 29th March in Belgaum where he demanded that the district be declared a union territory till the courts decided on the final status of Belgaum. Raut reportedly said :

Whenever injustice is done to people in Belgaum & other border areas, its effect can be seen in all parts of Maharashtra. If the issue of Kashmir, Cauvery, Sutlej or Belgaum isn’t solved through ‘lokshahi’ (Democracy), we should opt for ‘thokshahi’ (violence)

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