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World Bank projects 7.3% GDP growth for India in the next fiscal

OpIndia Staff
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World Bank projects 7.3% GDP growth for India in the next fiscal

The World Bank on Wednesday said that driven by private consumption, investments and exports, India’s economy is expected to grow at 7.3% in the next fiscal. According to reports, the Washington based agency stated that India’s growth story is credible in the long run.

For the current fiscal, the GDP growth has been predicted at 6.7%. For the 2019-20 fiscal the growth is expected to be more than 7.5%.

The World Bank in its India Development Update said that India’s GDP growth saw a temporary dip in the last two quarters of 2016-17 and the first quarter of 2017-18 due to demonetisation and disruptions surrounding the initial implementation of GST (Goods and Services Tax). It added that services will continue to be the main driver for economic growth.

Junaid Ahmed, World Bank country director in India stated that India’s long-term growth has become more steady, stable, diversified and resilient. The organisation has also predicted that with the implementation of GST, manufacturing is expected to accelerate and industrial activity will grow.

“India’s long-term growth has become more steady, stable, diversified and resilient. In the long-run, for higher growth to be sustainable and inclusive, India needs to use land and water, which are increasingly becoming scarce resources, more productively, make growth more inclusive, and strengthen its public sector to meet the challenges of a fast-growing, globalizing and increasingly middle-class economy.” : Junaid Ahmed, World Bank Country Director for India 

The report, which was discussed with chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian last week, added that the Indian economy will soon recover from the impact of demonetisation and GST and growth rates will slowly revert to a consistent level.

The report also added that in order to achieve a growth rate of over 8%, India will have to exercise continued reforms and widening of its scopes while resolving issues related to credits and investments and enhancing the competitiveness of exports.

The growth of India’s GDP saw a slight dip in the last two quarters of 2016-17 and in the first quarter of 2017-18 due to disruptions related to demonetisation and GST. Since August 2017, the economy has begun to stabilise and register a steady growth rate.

Kerala bids farewell to its King of Beauty, legendary elephant Thiruvambadi Sivasunder

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Kerala bids farewell to its King of Beauty, legendary elephant Thiruvambadi Sivasunder

Kerala’s legendary temple elephant Thruvambadi Sivasunder died early on Sunday morning after prolonged illness. Sivasunder was one of the most beloved elephants in Kerala. He had a devoted fan following among the masses. He was nicknamed Azakinthe Thampuran or the King of Beauty by his admirers.

Sivasunder was employed at the famous Thiruvambadi temple and has been carrying the idol of the temple in the famous Thrissur festival for the past 15 years. He was one of the main attractions of the Thrissur Pooram (festival). Sivasunder was 46 years old. He was earlier known as Pukkodan Sivan. In 2003, a businessman named Sunder Menon had bought him from a timber merchant and gifted him to the care of the Thiruvambadi temple. He was given the name of Sivasunder after he was employed by the temple board.

According to reports, the honour for carrying the main idol at the festivals is reserved for the tallest and the most majestic elephant. Sivasunder looked and behaved the part. He has several fan clubs dedicated to him in Kerala and he was the principal attraction in temple festivals.


Sivasunder also used to carry the idol of the temple at other prominent festivals of the state such as the Arattupuzha Pooram, Nenmara-Vallangi Vela, Uthralikavu Pooram and Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam festival.

Thousands of people including political leaders and ministers gathered to pay homage to the mighty pachyderm on Sunday. People had his last darshan and paid him respect. People were seen bowing down to him, touching his tusks and many even broke down in tears in their grief.


The elephant had been under treatment for impaction since the last 66 days. He was tethered in a closed tent in the premises of the Thiruvambadi Devaswom at the Kaustubham auditorium after his illness. Animal lovers and devotees made a beeline to see him. However, Sivasunder grew weak despite best attempts and collapsed on Saturday. Efforts to make him stand were unsuccessful, even after using cranes to provide him support.

Admirers from all across the state visited to pay homage to the elephant. He was reportedly the second elephant after the legendary Guruvayur Kesavan to attract such a grand farewell.

Sivasunder’s popularity can be guessed from the fact that he was the winner of several titles in festivals in his long career. He won the Gaja Kesari title in Gajaraja Samagama in 2007. He also held the title of Mathanga Kesari in 2008.


Professor M Madhavan Kutty, the secretary of the Thiruvambadi Devaswom has stated that Sivasunder cannot be replaced. He was popular for his beauty and obedience and it is a huge loss for the Devaswom. He also dismissed the claims of certain activists that Sivasunder was overworked. He added that Sivasunder was a gem for the temple and no efforts were spared in his treatment and care.

Fellow elephants too paid their respects to the legendary elephant.

Sivasunder’s body was taken to Kodanad for the last rites.

Akhilesh Yadav cribs about EVMs even after winning UP bypoll

OpIndia Staff
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Akhilesh Yadav cribs about EVMs even after winning UP bypoll

Blaming EVMs has become a habit among opposition parties in India. When the UP assembly elections results came out in 2017 both Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati had blamed misuse of EVMs. Akhilesh blamed the EVMs for his party’s loss in civic polls as well in December 2017.  But another disturbing trend has started with Akhilesh Yadav’s commentary on the result of UP by-elections. He has claimed that the anger of people has not been demonstrated adequately because of EVM tampering.


Even as votes were being counted, the SP candidate had raised doubts on the EVMs before final the election results were declared. He had claimed that the government could do anything to win the elections.


This trend has made it very convenient for the opposition to claim that the government is always involved in foul play. If the opposition parties lose an election they claim EVMs were faulty. If the opposition parties win they say that the margin of victory could have been better if the EVMs had worked properly. This is ridiculous and dangerous for democracy in India.

Pro congress journo and abusive troll post insensitive tweets after BJP loses Gorakhpur bypoll

OpIndia Staff
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Pro congress journo and abusive troll post insensitive tweets after BJP loses Gorakhpur bypoll

The BJP suffered a blow on Wednesday after it lost the Lok Sabha by-polls in UP’s Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies which were previously held by current CM Yogi Adityanath and deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya before they assumed power in the state.

This resulted in a flurry of excitement in the media, which included MK Venu, the Founding Editor of the leftist propaganda website ‘The Wire’ issuing a warning to bureaucrats and government agencies, suggesting that BJP will lose the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and a government sympathetic to his ilk will come back to power (that will teach a lesson to bureaucrats he does not like).

Besides this, it was seen that Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose started voluntarily dishing out strategies on ways to defeat the BJP in 2019.

Things though were taken to another shameful level by abusive troll Swati Chaturvedi and pro congress journalist Pallavi Ghosh, who decided to put out insensitive tweets post-BJP’s loss.

Swati Chaturvedi soon after news of the BJP’s loss became clear, decided to bring in the kids who had died due to lack of oxygen in Gorakhpur’s hospital back in August 2017:


As seen in the tweet, Chaturvedi also decided to crack a pun, for possibly making a political statement, disregarding the sensitive nature of the matter.

A similar route was chosen by Pallavi Ghosh who apart from invoking the kids, also insinuated that it was the BJP which was responsible for their deaths:


This act angered many Twitter users who proceeded to slam them:


In order to not fall behind, popular student protester Shehla Rashid too put out a similar tweet.

This episode raises the question about the level of a section of Indian journalists, who rather than coming up with a reasoned analysis of an event, try to come up with hate-filled analysis and are willing to use any party however inappropriate may be, to further their agenda.

Bengaluru hits rock bottom in Janaagraha annual survey of India’s city-systems

OpIndia Staff
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Bengaluru hits rock bottom in Janaagraha annual survey of India’s city-systems

Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy (Janaagraha), a Bengaluru-based non-profit released its 5th edition of its Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) report yesterday. It ranked 23 Indian cities based on 89 questions [pdf]. The survey evaluates the quality of governance in cities by assessing the quality of laws, policies, institutions and institutional processes that together help govern them.

The NGO, in its press release [pdf] said (emphasis added) :

ASICS does not measure quality of infrastructure and services such as roads and traffic, garbage, water, housing, sanitation and air pollution, but instead measures the preparedness of cities to deliver high quality infrastructure and services in the long-term by evaluating “city—systems” of spatial planning and design standards, municipal finance, municipal staffing, political leadership at the city level and transparency and citizen participation“ said Anil Nair, Deputy Head, Advocacy and Reforms at Janaagraha.

Scores in the range of 3 to 5.1, with 12 out of 23 cities below 4 on 10, strongly signals that Indian cities are grossly under-prepared to deliver a high quality of life that is sustainable in the long term. The recurring floods, garbage crises, fire accidents, building collapses, air pollution and dengue outbreaks are only symptoms of this deeper governance crisis in our cities. 

While Pune grabbed the top spot, Bengaluru, which is considered one of the top cities of India has hit the rock bottom. The Congress government in Karnataka has been patting itself over its achievement in developing Bengaluru.


However, this report demonstrates that the claim is hollow. The city-specific report [ pdf ] suggests that Bengaluru does not have a sanitation plan and comprehensive mobility plan. Bengaluru scores low in all 4 parameters i.e. urban planning and design (UPD); transparency, accountability and participation (TAP); Empowered & Legitimate Political
Representation (ELPR); Urban Capacities & Resources (UCR).

Bengaluru scores

The mayor of city body BBMP who also hails from the Congress party has failed to improve governance in the city. The scores of all 23 cities on a scale of 0-10 can be found below in the table:

Bengaluru, the IT capital of India is at the bottom in terms of urban governance (Source: Janaagraha ASICs report)

While Pune has overtaken Thiruvananthapuram to secure the first spot, Kolkata has managed to secure the second spot. Even though Indian cities are improving, the pace of the change is very slow according to the NGO. As India urbanises at a fast pace, the quality of governance, planning and infrastructure in urban India has to improve quickly. This report is a wake-up call for all cities to check their ranks and improve accordingly.

Rape trial finally begins against Tarun Tejpal who was defended by his leftist comrades

OpIndia Staff
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Rape trial finally begins against Tarun Tejpal who was defended by his leftist comrades

The trial against Tarun Tejpal, the former Editor-in-Chief of Tehelka magazine began today in a Goa court. Tejpal is accused of raping his junior colleague in a lift of a Goa hotel, back in November 2013, during an event which was organised by Tehelka.

The trial incidentally was supposed to be carried out from 26th February to 1st March but was postponed owing to Tejpal’s claim that he had changed his lawyer.

As per the public prosecutor Fransisco Tavora, charges of “sexual harassment”, “assault or use of criminal force on a woman with intent to disrobe”, “wrongful restraint” and “rape” have been filed against Tejpal. This trial comes after a trial court in Goa’s Mapusa charged Tejpal with the aforementioned charges on 28th September, 2017.

Tejpal has pleaded “not guilty” to these charges. At the start of the trial too, Tejpal decided to brazen things by claiming that “truth will prevail”.

A video of Tejpal entering the courtroom was tweeted by Republic TV journalist Aditya Raj Kaul:


As per Kaul, the Rape survivor spoke to him to state that fighting patriarchy, sexual violence and harassment should be a cornerstone of progressive politics. She also blasted Tejpal’s supporters who have called for him to be forgiven as the “liberal cause needs him”.

Incidentally, over the years Tejpal has been openly defended by a section of the liberal brethren, owing to him being “one of their own”.

This includes a Mid Day column, urging media persons who were voicing their views against Tejpal, to rethink their stand, since in the day and age of ‘rising intolerance’ a ‘liberal voice’ was the need of the hour. One Outlook article by Manu Joseph actually sought to “raise questions” over the whole incident.

Tejpal after the allegations surfaced against him, was also invited at a literary festival as a guest speaker, which for many was an attempt to “rehabilitate him”. Later Bachi Karkaria, organiser of the literary festival, announced on Twitter that Tejpal had been asked not to attend because the festival did not want “extraneous noise.” Incidentally the same Bachi Karkaria had written an editorial in TOI where she brazenly defended Tejpal.

Mamata Banerjee’s TMC to celebrate Ram Navami, RSS claims moral victory and welcomes decision

OpIndia Staff
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Mamata Banerjee’s TMC to celebrate Ram Navami, RSS claims moral victory and welcomes decision

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has hailed Trinamool Congress’ decision of celebrating Ram Navami this year as a moral victory for the saffron organization. Last year, Mamata Banerjee had slammed the BJP for trying to hijack the festival for their political agenda. She had said then, “It has nothing to do with you (BJP). Don’t try claiming Ram Navami as your own programme.” However, earlier this month, the party had declared that it will celebrate Ram Navami this year in Birbhum with a massive procession.

The general secretary of the RSS in South Bengal stated, “It is a moral victory for the RSS that the ruling party is also saying that they want to celebrate Ram Navami. We welcome this decision.” He went on to add, “Last year, we had seen how activists of various Hindutva organisations were arrested for observing Ram Navami in the state. It is good that they have realised their mistake.” West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “Last year, Ram Navami celebration (of BJP) was a great success. This time too it will be a great success.”

In the aftermath of Ram Navami last year, FIRs were lodged against several members of the BJP and RSS, including Dilip Ghosh. Mamata Banerjee had accused the RSS and the BJP of playing ‘divisive politics’ for celebrating the festival with great fervour. But, with the rise of saffron organizations in the state and worried of its image as a minority appeasing party, Trinamool Congress, like Rahul Gandhi, is catering to Hindu sentiments to maintain her hold on power.

News18 report suggests Muslim population in Karnataka rose from 13% to 16% between 2011 and 2015

OpIndia Staff
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News18 report suggests Muslim population in Karnataka rose from 13% to 16% between 2011 and 2015

The Muslim population in Karnataka has seen a rise from 13% to 16% between 2011 and 2015 if a News18 report is to be believed. The report cites a certain “Socio-Economic Survey” whose findings are still in the “safe custody” of the government. By “safe custody” the reports means that the Siddaramaiah government is hesitant to publicise the findings, by calling them a “state secret”.

As per reports, this particular survey was commissioned by CM Siddaramaiah in April 2015 at the cost of about Rs 150 crores.

The report claims that the explosive content in question pertains to the falling numbers of the politically dominant Lingayats and Vokkaligas castes who currently account for about 50% of the MP and MLAs in the state. As per the census report, the two castes now comprise of about 14% and 11% of the population, which is less than the Scheduled Castes who are the largest caste entity at about 19.5%.

Such a waning demographic of the politically dominant castes is likely to send ripples across Karnataka’s political classes, which is allegedly the reason why Siddaramaiah government is in double minds regarding the publication of the report.

Incidentally, there’s another aspect to the whole exercise. As per the figures put out by News18, the Muslims are the second largest entity in the state, comprising of 16% of the population. If this is indeed true, it would mean that the community’s population has risen about 3.08% from 12.92% in 2011 as per census figures.

Even though the findings of the survey haven’t been extensively published, the claims of rising Muslim population in the state have been carried in disjoint media reports.

As per a Businessworld report from February, the number of “minorities” has been pegged at 16% of the total voters in the state. A local report from 2016 proceeded to peg the Muslim population in the state at about 15% while talking about their possible “under representation” in the state.

If the News18 figures indeed turn out to be true, the rise in Muslim population may raise a few eyebrows considering, their population rose from 9.87% to 12.92% between 1961 and 2011, and from 12.92% to about 16% just between 2011 and 2015.

Kolkata : 10 girls accused of being ‘lesbians’, parents allege attempt to cover up molestation

OpIndia Staff
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Kolkata : 10 girls accused of being ‘lesbians’, parents allege attempt to cover up molestation

West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, who has earlier opposed the uniform civil code in favour of triple talaq, has now said he does not ‘support lesbianism in schools’. On 8th March, a Kolkata school had allegedly ‘accused’ 10 girls of being lesbians and obtained a letter of admission that they touched fellow classmates ‘inappropriately’, sparking protest by the parents. The headmistress has reportedly said that their aim of making the girls write such letter is to ‘bring them back on right course’.


Reacting to the same, Chatterjee said that he won’t support the ‘idea of lesbianism in schools’. He also said that such incident (of lesbianism) is ‘against the ethos of Bengal’. On Wednesday, Chatterjee told reporters that the department is not taking the incident lightly.

Parents, on the other hand, have accused the school of doing this in an attempt to cover up allegation of sexual harassment by a school employer.


According to reports, a parent told media persons present that “If two persons hold hands, or put an arm on each other shoulders, that does not mean they are lesbians.”

Earlier, in February, one of the non-teaching staff of the same school was arrested on the charge of sexually abusing a class nine student.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s office under scanner in coal scam

OpIndia Staff
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Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s office under scanner in coal scam

The office of former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh is under investigation for alleged irregularities in allocating the coal blocks. According to reports, Minister of State for PMO and personnel Jeetendra Singh said in the Lok Sabha that the CBI is currently probing the ex-Prime Minister’s office. Singh did not take the name of the former Prime Minister.

The minister submitted a written reply in the Lok Sabha yesterday, where he stated that the CBI has obtained files in at least 20 cases related to the coal block allocations from the ex-PM’s office. He added that the former PM also acted in the capacity of the Minister of Coal.

The Minister said, “CBI has examined officers of PMO in this regard who have dealt the files of allocations of coal blocks. However, CBI has not filed any charge sheet against the officers of PMO in the court and also not referred any matter to the government for taking action, so far.”

It is notable here that the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was given clean chit by CBI court in September 2015 which stated that there was no prima facie evidence to suggest he was involved in allocating coal blocks to Jindal group of companies. Former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, who was one of the accused in the scam had alleged that if there was any conspiracy in allocation of Jharkhand’s Amarkonda Murdangal coal block, it could not have been done without the knowledge of the former PM Manmohan Singh who was also the coal minister at that time.

The coal block scam is regarded as one of the biggest scams in India. The final CAG report in the matter pegs the total loss to the country at 1.86 lakhs crores. After the NDA government came to power, the process of allocation of coal blocks was cancelled and reallocation was done in a transparent auction.

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