Delhi based media had so far ignored the north-east region. News from the rest of the country occupied much of its coverage. However, after the BJP’s focused outreach and rising probability of performing well in the region, the media seems to have turned its cameras towards the north-east.
One must say, thanks to the @BJP4India ‘s challenge, polls in the north eastern states are attracting deserved attention! #Meghalaya#Nagaland#Tripura
This is one thing I agree with. With @BJP4India‘s entry in northeast, these states are finally getting attention from distant Delhi #media (definitely still not enough, but much more than the past). Hopefully this doesn’t change irrespective of the results. https://t.co/E6mjPSdxVX
Another Twitterati felt that development issues which were hitherto not focused would get highlighted if BJP wins some of the states today in the region.
And if BJP wins,all issues of north-east like infrastructure, electricity, jobs etc will start getting highlighted better.. https://t.co/w6yJgCdg7Q
Never before has our racist media ever showered so much attention on elections in our North East ( Tyranny of Distance was the excuse ). But in 2018 it’s wall to wall coverage.
Still people say nothing has changed under Modi.
Others felt that attention of northeast region in rest of India was a good development for the entire country. They felt that northeast was important for rest of India from the point of view of defence and infrastructure development.
Yes, NE has come in national focus. In fact it is d mainstream.Importnt visits; defence watch; border road & infra devlopmnt; BJP’s robust approch to fan out in d countryside, unlike d aged congres aunties, who prefered to rule from delhi, or max, mov to state capitals.
Dynamic! https://t.co/eUk2qH30h5
The outreach for the northeast region must not only involve the politicians but also media so that problems and issues of the region can be highlighted and resolved. Fortunately, this change seems to be happening in the past few years.
The political scenario of Tripura has undergone a tectonic shift during the past one year. Until now, the BJP has always been a minnow without any real chance of winning any seats. The symbol of the party could be seen in public only a month or two before the elections and nobody really was interested in them at all. There was no serious structural organization, no vision and no real determination. But with Himanta Biswa Sharma taking over the reigns of the North East for the BJP, the Tripura state unit was rejuvenated and galvanized into a machine capable of producing the desired results.
Tripura has been rocked by protests from Tribals demanding a separate state, upset over the utter lack of development in areas dominated by tribals. Earlier, it was unthinkable that tribals could contemplate voting for any party other than the CPI(M) but times, they have changed. And along came the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). After a long series of negotiations with the Saffron Party, ultimately they agreed on 9 seats for the IPFT. As of the moment of writing this article, the IPFT is leading on 8 out of the 9 it contested.
After the alliance was finalized, the tribals gave up their demands of a separate state and instead looked forward to ushering in a new era of prosperity working with the BJP. The IPFT has contested from Simna and Mandaibazar constituencies in West Tripura, Takarjala in Sipahijala district, Ampinagar in Gomati district, Manu in South Tripura, Raima Valley in Dhalai, Ramchandraghat and Asharambari in Khowai district and Kanchanpur constituency in North Tripura. In a joint statement, the parties said, “After assuming power and forming the government, the BJP-IPFT(NC) alliance will draw a roadmap for the functioning of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (ADC). The investigation into the corruption cases will be carried out by the appropriate agency once the new government is formed.”
2013 Assembly Elections in the state showed that the CPI(M) was indeed vulnerable. Of course, the communist party went on to win 49 seats that year but the campaign reflected the deep frustration within large sections of the population with the party. During the next 5 years, the frustration has only festered. And Amit Shah is too ruthless to not pluck a fruit that is ripe for the taking. The alliance between the IPFT and the BJP has indeed proven to be the proverbial nail in the coffin for the CPI(M) it looks at the moment as Tripura looks set to turn saffron with the alliance being ahead in 39 out of the total 60 seats (at 11:52AM, according to the EC website).
Today morning, on Holi, we woke up to an article which made bizarre claims that Holika, the sister of asura king Hiranyakashipu, who tried to kill her nephew on her brother’s behest and got burnt herself instead, was a “Bahujan woman”.
Religious bigotry in the name of feminism
There are a few things wrong here. Firstly, the lady who wrote the article conveniently forgets that Holika was trying to set her own nephew on fire, and got burnt herself. Like those numerous terrorists who accidentally blow themselves up while trying to throw grenades elsewhere.
Secondly, a bit of a research would have revealed to her that Holika was not a Bahujan, but a Brahmin – a community that is ‘liberally’ maligned as oppressors of the Bahujan people (a vague term that will include OBCs when convenient, but the same OBCs will become ‘upper caste’ when they are at odds with Dalits).
As a marginally privileged upper caste Brahmin myself, I may have been shielded from the caste prejudice which is still prevalent in many parts of India, but social media activism has made me realise that more often than not, a lot of these religious and caste issues are raked up to push bigotry under guise of social justice or feminism, as is the case here with this article on the website called ‘Feminism in India’.
As usual, the self-declared left-liberals chose to propagate the blatant untruth, but many exposed the falsehoods:
Tweet by TrueIndology
This is not for the first time this website has portrayed Hindu festivals and Hinduism as inherently misogynist:
Hinduphobia under the guise of liberalism
Hinduism has many goddesses, as against a male god or prophet in some other major religions, but the website must try to downplay it.
And when they are not busy painting Hinduism as oppressive, women-hating religion, they spend their spare time painting Islam as the most women-friendly religion, which is paragon of feminism:
Unequal inheritance, unequal role in jurisprudence, women put under control of male guardians and many such issues with Islam, but it is apparently at harmony with feminism.
Feminism or whitewashing Islam?
There are many issues with this website that is promoted as being authoritative feminist voice in India on many platforms like Reliance owned Firstpost, and that is why it becomes important to call out the bigotry and propaganda of this so-called feminist portal.
Just take for example the last screenshot above. ‘Legal Islamic marriage’ would mean it falls under Shariyat laws. Please note, that ‘Sharia’, which endorses polygamy, unequal inheritance, nikah-halala (practice of a divorced woman having to consummate the marriage with another man and then getting a divorce from him before remarrying her previous husband) and unequal rights for divorce among others, is showcased as championing the cause of female sexuality. Is it Feminism or Islamism?
While Islam is hailed as progressive and champion of female sexuality, not a single article has been written on this website that shows Hindus and Hinduism in harmony with feminists themes. The blatant bias and double standards hint at an agenda, which they have not been pretty smart to hide.
However, what they have been pretty smart at, is to use a term like ‘feminism’ to push their agenda. This attempt to marry Islamic themes with liberal ideas is not limited to India though. Even in the West, there are scores of newly propped feminists who can be seen endorsing hijab as a feminist symbol:
If I was oppressed by my hijab, I wouldn’t be wearing it. Trust me. A piece of cloth doesn’t oppress, people do. So stop oppressing me.
Self proclaimed progressive feminists from the west like Linda Sarsour, who is an American political hijab endorsing Muslim activist regularly turn a blind eye to the misogyny in Islam, and the same is being done by this website in India.
American Muslim Reform Movement co-founder Asra Nomani calls such people and outfits the ‘honor brigade’, which are an organised attempt to silence a debate on Islam, where a group of anonymous bloggers and armies of trolls on social media organise campaigns to silence criticism of Islam.
Hijab and Shariah law defenders like Sarsour led a march in Washington after Donald Trump became US President, which expressly portrayed the veil as a symbol of feminist struggle. Linda and other Muslim feminists have never joined feminists movements like the one against compulsory hijab in school in Iran or stepped up for exiled Saudi women’s activist Moudi Aljohani in her push to stop Riyadh’s enslavement of women; it just shows the hypocrisy veiled under the garb of feminism.
A lot of these feminists and activists have hijacked the liberal catchphrases to push their religious bigotry or whitewash Islamic crimes against the same liberal values. For example, wearing a hijab or burqa is showcased as freedom of choice to wear one, completely ignoring the fact that in many Islamic states, this is not a choice, but compulsion and a glaring symbol of oppression. So much that they organised ‘World Hijab Day’. A very subtle, but quite effective, way of appearing liberal while pushing religious bigotry.
The website Feminism in India too endorses burqa as a ‘choice’:
The objective of this website is to have Feminism in India or Islam in India?
One can only imagine what this website will do to any Hindu woman who says that wearing sindoor or mangalsutra is her choice.
This trend of using liberal themes and pushing Islamic agenda is not limited to feminism only, however the trend is too obvious to miss. In places like United Kingdom, groups demanding Shariyat to be imposed have been allowed freedom to operate and propagate their thoughts under the guise of ‘multiculturalism’, while Shariyat is just opposite to what multiculturalism stands for. UK woke up, a little, only after connections of such groups and people with terrorist group ISIS came up.
Open espousal of Shariyat could be rare, but every occasion to talk about some liberal value has been used to push Islamic agenda:
If only teaching of Islam could improve status of women in Islamic societies.
Back home, we have seen how the Kashmiri separatists, inspired from their ideas of Islam and desirous of creating a caliphate like ‘pure land’ in Kashmir, try to camouflage their bigotry and violence by pushing their agenda under the banner of ‘human rights’.
These are similar sinister attempts, though fortunately sans the guns and grenades.
We have to give it to the propagandists though. You think of almost any liberal catchphrase and there will be at least one example of an Islamic agenda married to it. Feminism, human rights, social justice, tolerance, et al. Perhaps only thing missing is ‘gay rights’ and Islam. Oh wait:
Inspired by their western fellow travellers, perhaps ‘Feminism in India’ website is soon going to write about how Islam is the best religion for lesbians.
Anushka Sharma’s latest movie “Pari” which released in theatres today has run into trouble in Pakistan for its alleged “non-Islamic values” and “anti-Muslim sentiments”. As per reports, Pakistan’s Central Board of Film Censors has decided to ban the movie in cinema halls across the country. This decision was supposedly prompted by the movie’s content which promotes “black magic, some non-Islamic content and anti-Muslim sentiment”.
As per a Pakistani report, the provincial censor boards had decided of Sindh and Punjab had approved the movie, but it was the central censor board, which banned it. The report claimed that owing to the provincial approval, the movie could have released in Sindh and Punjab (but not Islamabad), but the distributors decided to not go this route.
As per a senior CBFC member, the movie’s script, dialogues and storyline went against Islamic Values. Other claims were that the film mixed Quranic verses and Hindu chants. Besides this, it also portrayed Muslims in a “negative light” as they were seen chanting Quranic verses to do black magic. The Chairman of the Pakistan Film Distributors Association Chaudhry Ejaz Kamran, too outright proclaimed that any film which went against their culture and history should be banned in the country.
A Pakistani filmmaker quoted by PTI too surprisingly gave the same opinion and stated that local film distributors and exhibitors need to educated about the films they are importing from abroad. He claimed that Padmavaat too should not have been released in Pakistan as it portrayed Muslims in a “very negative light”.
The banning of Bollywood movies is nothing new in Pakistan. Just last month Akhsay Kumar’s Padman was banned in the country for being against the country’s culture and traditions. Some of the other banned movies include Ek Tha Tiger, Chennai Express, Agent Vinod, Baby, The Dirty Picture and Khiladi 786 to name a few.
The ruling Liberal Party in Canada has successfully managed to thwart the Opposition’s attempt to have security officials testify on the Jaspal Atwal controversy. Conservative Quebec Senator, Jean Guy Dagenais, introduced a motion to have National Security Adviser Daniel Jean explain before the national security and defence committee how Atwal made it to the invite list.
Justin Trudeau has been in hot waters recently after he lent credence to the conspiracy theory that Indian officials were to be blamed for the invite to a convicted terrorist. Responding to a question by a Conservative leader on the allegations made by a top security adviser, Trudeau had said, “When one of our top diplomats and security officials says something to Canadians it’s because they know it to be true.”
The Indian government has strongly criticized the allegations labelled against it by their Canadian counterparts. Official spokesperson for the Indian Foreign Ministry, Raveesh Kumar, said, “Let me categorically state that the government of India, including the security agencies, had nothing to do with the presence of Jaspal Atwal at the event hosted by the Canadian high commissioner in Mumbai or the invitation issued to him for the Canadian high commissioner’s reception in New Delhi. Any suggestion to the contrary is baseless and unacceptable.”
Justin Trudeau’s diplomatic visit to India, which was already a train wreck by then, hit a further low when it was revealed that Jaspal Atwal, a Khalistani terrorist, who was convicted in an attempt to assassinate an Indian Minister received an invitation to an official dinner during the visit. Ties between the two countries have been in turmoil recently over India’s concern with the rise of Khalistani forces in Canada. Although Justin Trudeau assured that Canada believes in a united India, the invitation to Atwal caused further damage to the already strained ties.
The security forces in the early hours of Friday eliminated 12 Naxals including a top commander at the Pujar Kanker village near the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border. The area of the encounter is dubbed to be the Tadapalagutta and Pujari Kanker forest areas.
This encounter was spearheaded by Telangana’s elite Greyhounds force which was formed to tackle the menace of Naxals in the state. Unfortunately, the intense gunfight resulted in the death of one Greyhound police constable named Sushil who hailed from the Vikarabad region of Telangana. Two constables are believed to have been injured. The encounter finally ended at 7 AM.
Out of the 12 slain Naxals, one of the deceased is believed to be Hari Bhushan alias Jagan, who was a top leader belonging to the Telangana State Committee of CPI (Maoists). Jagan used to be a military tactician. Another senior leader named Bade Appa Rao is also believed to have perished. Out of the remaining dead Naxals, six are supposed to be women.
The encounter began when the security forces received Intel that the Naxals were hiding in area’s jungles which resulted in the Greyhounds and local police launching a combing operation. After surrounding the Naxals, the security forces demanded that they surrender, but the left-wing terrorists decided to open fire instead.
Apart from Naxals, the security forces also found various upscale weapons like four Insas rifles, an AK-47 and an SLR at the encounter site.
This success means that the security forces are going strength to strength in 2018 when it comes to eliminating the threat of Naxals. As per data updated till 25th February on the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), a total of 22 left-wing terrorists have been killed this year. Besides that, a total of 25 cadres have surrendered to the authorities.
As analysed by us, the total deaths and surrenders in 2017 stood at 149 and 547 respectively and it remains to be seen if this figure is improved in 2018.
There has been a lot of chatter about the ongoing “war” between the Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and the Prasar Bharati Chairman, Surya Prakash. Many have speculated about what the possible reasons for this “war” could be. Was it ideological? Was it because as many from the opposition say, Smriti Irani is an incorrigible control freak who won’t let anyone else run the show as they deem fit? Or are the reasons hidden? Carefully hidden in plain sight?
OpIndia accessed some documents from its sources in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that tell a very different tale. But before we get into that, we must back up a little and take a trip down memory road. To a sting operation called “Operation Prime Minister” that was conducted in late February 2014.
In the sting operation, it was revealed that some opinion poll agencies were allegedly willing to fudge the data for money, to favour candidates and political parties. Shocking as it was, some big agencies were also involved in this sting operation. One person, however, is of relevance to today’s article. Kishore Kumar Malviya.
Newszstreet Digital Media Pvt Ltd said they receive black money for opinion polls. ‘We received only Rs 12 lakh by cheque, rest of the Rs 12 crores was received as cash which was black money,’ said Kishore Malviya, a consultant of the company. Kishor Kumar Malviya was also caught on tape contemplating how the numbers should be fudged just enough to make it seem “believable”.
Such a person who was allegedly caught on camera accepting that he takes cash to manipulate polls in favour of political parties and candidates, was for some reason, eventually found in the employment of Prasar Bharti.
We accessed a document which proved that Kishore Kumar Malviya was hired as a consultant in Prasar Bharati. He was not only hired as a consultant but also made the Creative Head of DD Kisan on 8th of December 2014. This is a good 10 months after the sting operation surfaced. Interestingly, Malviya’s contract was terminated only on 8th December 2017.
We also accessed an Office Memorandum (OM) where it is clearly stated that the so-called “consultants” were imposing their decisions on officers and there were complaints regarding the same. The Memorandum also details how consultants close to the Chairman have been misusing their proximity to the Chairman.
The most interesting part is that even though Kishore Kumar Malviya’s contract got terminated on the 8th of December 2017, we have been informed that the Chairman, Surya Prakash, allegedly didn’t want to let go of Malviya and he continued to work. The above office memorandum was in connection with the same, detailing why Malviya and the remaining consultants could not be retained.
The OM clearly states that the need to terminate the contracts of consultants was communicated by the Ministry on 5th February 2017 and Prasar Bharati did not respond to the same. There were 381 consultants and Malviya was one of them. 46 of these consultants were with Kisan DD, of which Malviya was the creative head. In fact, the OM also talks about the ‘clip of one of the consultants that have objectionable matter’. We have been told that this reference to the sting video that featured Kishore Kumar Malviya, allegedly fixing opinion polls.
Incidentally, the leftist propaganda website came up with an article blaming the I&B ministry for not releasing funds owing to which, Prasar Bharati had to dig into its contingency funds. The I&B Ministry issued a clarification stating that for the release of funds, a MoU has to be signed, and despite repeated reminders, Prasar Bharti had not signed the said MoU.
The question thus arises if this ongoing “war” between Minister Smriti Irani and Prasar Bharat Chairman is owing to this cleansing of tainted consultants? Is it also because the Minister is putting a stop to the financial drain that these consultants come with? Is it because Minister Smriti Irani took action, or sought to take action against the consultants who were misusing their proximity to the Chairman Surya Prakash? These questions will perhaps remain unanswered till either the Minister or the Chairman come out in the open and either confirm or deny this hypothesis. Till then, we can perhaps only hope that Minister Smriti Irani succeeds in cleaning up the system.
Note: We emailed Mr Surya Prakash a set of questions to be answered regarding this story. We will update this article with his replies when he responds.
Controversial leftist media outlet ‘The Wire’ on Thursday came up with a story written by a well know abusive troll, which alleged that Smriti Irani led I&B ministry has withheld the salaries of Prasar Bharati employees. In the story it is alleged that due to a dispute over Prasar Bharati’s refusal to pay Rs 3 crore to private company, the I&B ministry has decided to withhold funds, required by the public organisation to pay its employees’ salary.
The report alleged that in light of the crisis, the Prasar Bharati had to resort to using its contingency fund, to pay its staff the January and February wages. There are supposedly about 5000 employees in Prasar Bharati.
Financially the report claims that about Rs 2,800 crores were earmarked in the budget for Prasar Bharati which is then issued to the organisation by the I&B ministry on a monthly basis. The trouble as alleged began when Surya Prakash the head of the “autonomous organisation” had started questioning actions taken by Smriti Irani. One of the actions allegedly being the I&B ministry demanding that Doordarshan pay Rs 2.92 crores to a private company for a work which allegedly shouldn’t have been outsourced to the private company in the first place.
Taking things to the next level, the Wire report even alleged that at a Prasar Bharati board meeting on 15th February, the Prasar Bharati chief Suraya Prakash and I&B’s representative Ali Rizvi had a heated argument regarding the money withholding saga.
Soon after the predictable outrage from mainly leftist corners, the PIB in a possible damage control, today came up with a clarification regarding the matter.
In the clarification issued by the I&B ministry, it claimed that it had come to the ministry’s notice that a deliberate, sinister, motivated campaign was launched by “some elements” to tarnish the Ministry’s image. This tarnishing as per the press release involved reporting that, “money to Prasar Bharati is not being released after December, 2017 as a retaliation to Prasar Bharti not obeying certain dictates of the Ministry”.
This claim as described in the press release is based on “ill will and incorrect appreciation with half baked fact”, which is equal to”causing loss of reputation of the Government in public eyes”. After calling it defamatory, the ministry then proceeded to bring out what it described as “facts”.
This facts include claiming that prudence and accountability is the basis of any government organisation’s functioning. Prasar Bharati it claimed is equally bound to the General Financial Rules (GFR) of the GOI like any other ministry or any organisation which receives aid from the government.
Under these provisions the ministry claims that any autonomous organisation which revives the Grant-in-Aid needs to sign an MoU with the ministry which details the financial and physical targets required to be achieved in a given financial year using those funds. But as claimed by the ministry, no such MoU has been signed by the Prasar Bharati till date.
The press release ends with the statement that, “However, the Ministry would like to re-iterate that the Government remains committed to protect the interest of all Prasar Bharati employees”.
Since the release of the press release, the author of the post has decided to respond to them:
Dear @smritiirani thank you for confirming my story that you’ve not paid the salary of GOI employees out of personal animus. Why is this MoU relevant? Why does your own @prasarbharati not want to sign it? https://t.co/vcSeI5hT3w
Here she is seen claiming that her story has been somehow confirmed by Ms. Irani and questioned why the MoU angle is relevant. And finally in a contradiction to her own claim in the article that Prasar Bharati is an autonomous organisation, she questions why “Smriti Irani’s own” Prasar Bharti did not want to sign it.
You read about some of the MUDRA success stories we shared yesterday. We have found some more positive stories from the internet. This time it is from the handle of @MudraCampaign. The handle managed by department of financial services of finance ministry has shared many success stories of those who got MUDRA loans which have gone unnoticed in the mainstream media
This story of Kakoli Ghosh who is a second generation entrepreneur who brought her father’s business back to track after his death is inspiring. Her firm ‘Bigyan Jantra Silpa’ manufactures lab equipment at a workshop in Kolkata. She took a MUDRA loan from United Bank of India and currently employs five localites in her firm.
Another lady from Ludhiana, Nivedita tells that she started off her garment business with just a single sewing machine. But now, she owns 8 of them. She thanked the prime minister and her bank manager for helping her to expand her business. Nivedita tells that she now employs several people at her firm after expansion.
This story from Varanasi shows how a small scale detergent manufacturer who has expanded his capacity to 1 tonne per day shows how funding the unfunded can generate wealth and employment. Shailendra Kumar was running a producing 15 to 20 kg of detergents per day for three years before he secured a MUDRA loan of 5 lakh rupees. Now he has plans for further expansion and employs people at this facility.
Anwar Ali tells that he got to know about the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA yojana. He says that he got his loan within a month and now he employs three other people. He is a jute craft artist. Ali tells that he is happy that he now self-employed and hopes to expand his business. He is optimistic as jute products are being promoted by the government.
Urmila, a woman from Muzaffarnagar in Bihar earns her daily livelihood by driving an e- rickshaw. She purchased her e- rickshaw with the help of MUDRA loan. This is yet another example of how common people are being empowered through loans for self-employment under MUDRA scheme.
There might be more such stories out there. Some of them are captured and shared on the DFS_Mudra twitter handle. The media and economists who wish to study the impact of MUDRA scheme must go in search of these stories rather than criticise it from their AC rooms.
The Narendra Modi cabinet on Wednesday approved the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018, which has been dubbed as a historic law to curb Human Trafficking. As per a press release by the PIB, the union cabinet has cleared the bill for the introduction in the Indian Parliament.
Under the press release, human trafficking is referred to as the third largest organised crime which violates human rights, and is described as a, “pervasiveyet invisiblecrime affecting the most vulnerable”. Despite the seriousness,till date there is no specific law combat this menace, for this reason the aforementioned bill has been brought into play.
Under this bill, the issue of trafficking is addressed from the point of view of prevention, rescue and rehabilitation. The forms of human trafficking addressed include: individuals trafficked for forced labour, begging and trafficking of women and children on the pretext of marriage.
This bill also seeks to maintain the confidentially of victims and witnesses, which also includes the statements recorded via video conferencing. This remote testimony would aid in the matter of trans-border and trans-state crimes. It is also claimed that the trial and the victim’s repatriation will be done within one year.
The proceedings also promise immediate protection and rehabilitation of the victims. The relief includes means to address the victim’s physical and mental trauma and rehabilitation would include education, skill development, health care/psychological support, legal aid and safe accommodation.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will be playing the role of an Anti-Trafficking Bureau on the national level, apart from this, dedicated institutions will be created on the district, state and central level for prevention, protection, investigation and rehabilitation regarding trafficking.
Those convicted of human trafficking would see themselves incarcerated from a duration ranging from a minimum of 10 years to life. The fine amount is pegged at, at least Rs 1 lakh.
Human trafficking in India has become a big menace in recent years. In 2016 the number of Human Trafficking cases rose to 8,132 cases, a 20% rise as compared to 2015.
This proposed bill has been welcomed by Nobel Laurate Kailash Satyarthi who in a statement called it a victory of the 1.2 million people who had participated 11,000 km long Bharat Yatra regarding this demand. After calling it a historic achievement in the fight against trafficking, he urged the Indian Parliament to pass this law.
