On Friday (24th November), Madhya Pradesh Police arrested an individual identified as Moin Khan for harassing and abusing Hindu women in a local park in Indore. The accused reportedly hurled abuses at the Hindu women practicing Yoga in the park. He was apprehended by the police after the women sought help.
According to the report by Nai Duniya, the accused entered a local garden where a group of Hindu women were practicing Yoga. Khan sat on a nearby bench and started playing pornographic clips in a high volume.
Indore, MP: Mohd Moyeen infiltrated a garden, sat next to Hindu women who were practicing yoga early in the morning, and began playing porn videos.
When the women objected, he started hurling abuses at them.
The woman felt uncomfortable and asked the accused to stop playing the video. However, the accused refused to stop and attempted to show the porn film to the women. He also hurled abuses at the women.
The Hindu women then contacted the local police station with the help of their Yog Guru identified as Ratnesh. The police arrived at the spot and arrested the accused. The Police have also filed an FIR in the case based on the complaint of the women.
On 26th November (local time), India’s IT industry giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was ordered to pay $210 million (₹1750 crores) in damages to DXC Technologies (formerly known as Computer Sciences Corporation/CSC) by a Texas federal court jury.
As per reports, the jury found TCS guilty of misappropriating DXC’s trade secrets to develop its insurance software platform. The case against TCS was filed in 2019. It was based on two insurance software platforms developed by CSC, Vantage-One and CyberLife.
These software platforms were used to manage large annuity and life insurance policy portfolios. TCS won a $2 billion deal from Transamerica in 2018. DXC’s predecessor, Computer Sciences Corp, filed a lawsuit against TCS, claiming that the software was licensed to Transamerica subsidiary Money Services Inc, in its complaint.
DXC alleged that TCS gained access to the company’s trade secrets by hiring several former CSC employees who worked on CyberLife and Vantage-One platforms. According to DXC, these employees provided confidential information about the platform used to develop its insurance platform, which is known as TCS BaNCS.
Notably, the complaint pointed out that a TCS employee “copied and pasted the actual Vantage source code pertaining to this calculation, and resulting Vantage calculations, into an email and sent it to his TCS colleagues”. It was alleged that the goal was to “determine what the calc is/should be doing to provide to the BaNCS team.”
The lawsuit against the Indian tech giant pointed out that the deal with TSC was for third-party administration and not for accessing the source code. Furthermore, the complainant pointed out TCS’s alleged history of Misappropriating sophisticated business software.
Citing the example of Epic, a healthcare software provider, the CSC said, “Misappropriating sophisticated business software is, apparently, TCS’ method of entering new business markets in the United States.”
It added, “TCS entities accessed Epic’s web portal without authorization while servicing a mutual client.” Epic case also went against TCS and the jury awarded Epic substantial damages in 2017.
In its verdict, the jury found that TSC accessed CSC’s trade secrets using “improper means” and the use of the information was “malicious and wilful”. On the other hand, TCS has denied the allegations and said it would appeal the jury’s verdict.
The company maintained that the BaNCS platform was developed independently and did not break any intellectual property law. A TCS spokesperson said, “TCS respectfully disagrees with the jury’s advisory verdict. The Court will now decide the matter which has ordered further briefing from the parties. We plan to continue to prosecute this ongoing case. We will have no further comment as the case remains pending.”
Earlier in June this year, Transamerica ended its 10-year deal with TCS, two years ahead of schedule. Transamerica is reportedly shifting to an in-sourced model instead of outsourcing the services to a third party.
The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar has sparked another controversy regarding holidays in government schools. The RJD-JDU coalition government has reportedly reduced the number of Hindu festivals and increased the number of Muslim festivals in government schools for the academic year 2024.
A press release by the Bihar Education Department reads that while making the 2024 holiday calendar, the required criteria of 220 days of teaching as per the Right To Education Act (RTE) is fulfilled.
In the new calendar, the number of days for summer vacations has been increased from 20 to 30. Holidays for Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha (Bakrid) have also been increased to three days each at the cost of Hindu holidays including Hartalika Teej and Jitiya which have been cancelled.
Revered Hindu festivals including Makar Sankranti, Rakshabandhan, Saraswati Puja, Janmashtami, Ram Navami, Bhaidooj, and Shivratri have not even been included in the holiday calendar.
Moreover, only four Hindu festivals have been factored in which include Diwali (1), Durga Puja (3), Chhath Puja (3), and Holi (2). The total holidays on Hindu festivals account for nine days.
Whereas six so-called Muslim festivals have been included in the holiday calendar including shab-e-barat (1), Eid-ul-Fitr (3), Eid-ul-Zoha (3), Muharram (2), Chehallum (1) and Prophet Mohammad’s birthday (1). Islamic festivals account for 11 days.
What’s more is that Urdu language schools can have the weekly holiday on Friday instead of the gazetted Sunday holiday.
Bihar govt notification on school holidays
Union Minister Giriraj Singh took to X, formerly Twitter, taking a jibe at the Nitish Kumar government. “Islamic Republic of Bihar. Nitish and Lalu government extended holidays for Muslim festivals in schools, ended holidays for Hindu festivals,” he wrote.
Moreover, he said that the decision is a part of “Ghazwa-e-Hindi”. A similar post was shared by BJP Bihar X handle with the text, “Islamic Republic of Bihar”.
Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey also took a dig at Nitish calling him the “tushtikaran ke sardar (Warlord of appeasement)” and “Bihar ke kursi kumar (chair prince of Bihar)”.
“Once again the anti-Hindu face of the uncle-nephew government came to the fore. On one hand, holidays for Muslim festivals are being extended in schools, while holidays for Hindu festivals are being abolished. Shame on the government that hates Sanatan for vote bank,” Choubey wrote.
The controversial move is a repeat of a similar decision that was taken by the Bihar government to cut down Hindu holidays between September to December from 23 to 11 days.
Back then, the Rakshabandhan holiday was scrapped, the number of holidays for Durga Puja was reduced from six to three and nine holidays for Diwali to Chhatth were reduced to four.
However, amid severe backlash, the government had to withdraw the decision only to bring it back now.
The controversy comes just a day after Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav while addressing an extremely backward caste community in Darbhanga mocked UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s attire and slammed him for “showing off” his Hindu faith.
He said that ringing bells (during Hindu prayers), donning a tilak (a Hindu symbol worn on the forehead) and saffron robes “is not true devotion, they not bring food to the table, they are only for show off”.
On 27th November (Monday), the Director of the film Chhapaak, Meghna Gulzar admitted that Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone’s controversial visit to JNU just three days before the film’s theatrical release badly impacted the fate of their movie.
Speaking at the Express Adda, she stated that Deepika’s controversial visit to JNU took the conversation away from the subject of the movie.
While referring to Deepika’s JNU visit in 2020, Meghna Gulzar said, “I am sure that the answer is pretty obvious. Yes, of course, it made a dent on the film. Because the conversation went from acid violence, which I intended the film to amplify, to somewhere else. So, of course, it impacted the film. There is no denying that.”
Released in January 2020, Chhapaak was a biopic film based on the life of Laxmi Agarwal, an acid attack survivor and activist for other acid attack victims. Deepika had also made her debut in production with Chhapaak. The film was made on a budget of Rs 50 crore but it only grossed Rs 55.44 crore at the box office.
Deepika’s controversial JNU visit in 2020
Notably, Deepika Padukone participated in a protest held by Left-wing students at Jawaharlal Nehru University on 7th January 2020, just three days before the release of the film Chhapaak. The left-wing students had come under attack by masked goons, in which the JNUSU president was also injured. Altough left-wing student unions had claimed that they were attacked by ABVP students, the latter denied those allegations.
Strikingly, a large number of ABVP students were also attacked by left-wing groups and the latter were preventing students from registering for the winter semester.
During her JNU visit, Deepika was seen standing behind JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh, who was later booked by police for leading a mob that had vandalised the server room of JNU. Though she didn’t address the protestors, her visit in response to the protest against the 2020 JNU attack and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act created a social media uproar.
Several hashtags like #BoycottChhapaak and #BlockDeepika and others trended on Twitter and other social media portals. Several users calling to boycott her film highlighted the incidents that transpired at JNU and how she displayed a biased stance through her visit.
The violence in the JNU campus against which the left-wing students staged a protest, in which Deepika Padukone participated, was the culmination of several days of conflict between left-wing groups and students wanting to continue studying. The left-wing groups had been calling for a boycott of class and protesting against fee hikes.
As part of their ‘protest’, they had physically prevented students from registering for the next semester. They also had damaged the server room and disabled internet services on the campus and prevented students from registering online.
A large group of left-wing students had also assaulted students wanting to register and ABVP members, and as a result, several ABVP leaders in JNU were admitted to AIIMS.
The Kerala State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) has asked the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) administration to file a report within two weeks after investigating the circumstances under which the tech fest stampede took place, which left four students dead and around 60 students injured.
In this regard, the commission has registered a case and also asked to check the security breach angle.
Commission member VK Beena Kumari sent a notice to the Superintendent of Police (Rural), Aluva, and the CUSAT Registrar. The action is based on a complaint alleging security lapses in the university, according to officials.
The complaint alleged that there was only one door to enter the hall. Having only one door in the 2,500-seating auditorium was a mistake. There was no police security.
Human rights activist Guinness, Madasami also demanded that precautions be taken to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
Earlier, CUSAT Vice-Chancellor Dr PG Sankaran on Monday said that a three-member committee has been formed to investigate the tech fest stampede incident.
“Today we chaired a meeting on this incident. We formed a 3-member committee to investigate the incident. They will look into the aspects of the incident. They will also give suggestions that we can follow in the future,” VC Sankaran said while speaking to ANI. CUSAT Vice-Chancellor further stated that a safety audit will be conducted on campus.
“We have also decided to take care of all the medical expenses of the injured people. We will also have decided to conduct a safety audit. Guidelines will be formed to avoid such incidents in the future. The current Principal of the School of Engineering Dr Deepak Kumar Sahu will be replaced by Dr Shobha Cyrus, she will take charge from tomorrow,” he said.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
In a live chat on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that there is “no choice” other than to destroy the Hamas terror group in order to bring about a better future for Gaza, according to The Times of Israel.
During the live chat, Musk said that he would like to rebuild Gaza after the current war. Musk also remarked that civilian casualties are “unavoidable” and that Israel is trying to avoid them in its war against Hamas.
“You need to pair firmness with taking out the terrorists and those intent on murder, and at the same time help those that remain, which is what happened in Germany and Japan,” he added, according to The Times of Israel.
The Tesla CEO also underlined and agreed with Netanyahu that Hamas has genocidal intentions towards the Jewish people.
Musk, the founder of SpaceX and the owner of X, does, however, stated that he would like to assist in Gaza’s reconstruction following the ongoing conflict and that the region’s rehabilitation is a critical first step in averting further hostilities.
“If you want security, peace and a better life for Gazans, then you need to destroy Hamas. You first have to get rid of the poisonous regime as was done in Germany and Japan,” Netanyahu said in his chat with Musk, to which the Tesla CEO responded by saying, “There’s no choice.”
Recalling the atrocities committed by Hamas, Netanyahu said, “…That’s what Hamas is— children were murdered in front of their parents, and parents were murdered in front of their children. They beheaded women and men.”
“It’s tragic, and we try to minimise it…on behalf of civilians amid the ongoing war. They (Hamas) are not in army, or on ground…They are implanting themselves in residential areas, in schools, in hospitals…,” Netanyahu added as he discussed the October 7 Hamas assault on Israel with Musk.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and @ElonMusk held a meeting today, following their tour of Kfar Aza this morning,” the Prime Minister office of Israel said in a post on X.
“The PM showed Musk sections of the film that was prepared by the IDF Spokesperson and which shows the horrors of the massacre perpetrated by Hamas on October 7,” it added.
The conflict in Gaza escalated after the October 7 attack by Hamas, where about 2,500 terrorists breached the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, leading to casualties and the seizure of hostages.
Israel has characterised its Gaza offensive as targeting Hamas’ infrastructure with the goal of eliminating the entire terror group while making efforts to minimize civilian casualties. (ANI)
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
The video of a ‘burqa-clad fashion show’ doing rounds on the internet has created an uproar with Muslim clerics issuing threats against the college administration. The event was reportedly held at Muzaffarnagar’s Shri Ram College and it was led by Muslim students.
According to the event organisers, it was a platform for Muslim women to show their creative side. However, when the videos of the incident went viral, it angered the local unit of Jamiat-e-Ulema. The Muslim organisation objected to the fashion show by burqa-clad women. It claimed that the event was an attempt to instigate the sentiments of Muslims and the event showed burqa as an “item for fashion display“.
In viral videos, burqa-clad participants can be seen walking the ramp in black glasses, and high heels with loud music playing in the backdrop.
In Muzaffarnagar's Shri Ram college, burqa wearing girls walked on the ramp at a fashion show program on Sunday.
One of the participating students, Alina explained that they wanted to showcase that the burqa could also be fashionable and not just a garment to be worn at home. According to Alina, she couldn’t take part in the kind of fashion show where short dresses are worn, so she wanted to do something for the women of the Muslim community.
As per media reports, a teacher at Muzaffarnagar’s Shri Ram College, Dr Manoj supported the students’ initiative. He claimed that the hijab or burqa can boost confidence among Muslim women and that there are growing opportunities in fashion related to these garments globally.
He told reporters, “They are very hardworking students. One of them thought that they should do something creative for Muslim women and show that even hijabs can be fashionable.”
However, the district convener of Jamiat-e-Ulema, Maulana Mukarram Qasmi expressed strong disapproval of the event. He said that the burqa is not an item for fashion display and that such an act targets a specific religion, potentially hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community.
Warning the administration not to allow such events in the future, he added that if similar events occur in the future, legal action might be pursued.
According to the Jamiat-e-Ulema, this fashion show in which burqa-clad women participated hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims. It said, “If you are doing a fashion show then do it but do not target any one religion.”
An investigation has been launched by the Ireland government against UFC fighter Connor McGregor for alleged “online hate speech”. This comes after the MMA fighter criticised the Irish government for its policies following the Dublin attacks.
Any update on the wellbeing of those stabbed today? Absolutely horrific scenes all day, my stomach is churning. With no action being taken at all during these ever more frequent events, like literally zero action taken whatsoever, how do we expect an end to this? We need reform.…
At least four people including three children were attacked on 23rd November by an Algerian Muslim – who was “naturalised” as an Irish citizen – outside a school in Dublin.
Riots broke out in the Irish capital later that day with angry protesters attacking everything that came in their way at the Dublin City Centre. Irish social media users were also furious venting their anger and criticism across platforms.
Shortly after the murder, McGregor took to X, formerly Twitter, and wrote, “Do not let any Irish property be took over unannounced. Evaporate said property. It’s a war.” The veteran fighter posted again, “Ireland, we are at war.” He called for action and reform in subsequent posts and criticised the government.
Moreover, 24 hours after the Dublin riots, Connor McGregor said that he does not condone the riots but added a challenge for the Leo Varadkar government.
McGregor announced that change needs to be ushered in and fast and that he is in the “process of arranging”, announcing a possible leap into politics.
He wrote, “I do not condone last nights riots. I do not condone any attacks on our first responders in their line of duty. I do not condone looting and the damaging of shops. Last nights scenes achieved nothing toward fixing the issues we face. I do understand frustrations however, and I do understand a move must be made to ensure the change we need is ushered in. And fast! I am in the process of arranging. Believe me I am way more tactical and I have backing. There will be change in Ireland, mark my words. The change needed. In the last month, innocent children stabbed leaving school. Ashling Murphy murdered. Two Sligo men decapitated. This is NOT Ireland’s future! If they do not act soon with their plan of action to ensure Ireland’s safety, I will.”
I do not condone last nights riots. I do not condone any attacks on our first responders in their line of duty. I do not condone looting and the damaging of shops. Last nights scenes achieved nothing toward fixing the issues we face. I do understand frustrations however, and I do… https://t.co/FFx7d0ZROb
The Irish fighter has dared the government to “make change or make way”. He also hit out at the Irish government for the murder of Ashling Murphy, an Irish citizen who was brutally murdered by a Slovak national.
On 24th November, the Irish PM announced the passage of two legislations including permit to authorities to use facial recognition technology to probe the riots and to prosecute those deemed to promote hate speech online.
“It’s clear to anyone who may have doubted it that our current laws addressing incitement to hatred are inadequate for the social media era,” he said.
Varadkar has been facing a lot of flak online for failing to secure Irish citizens from the harm posed by immigrants in view of recent incidents and for curbing free speech of Irish people instead.
Elon Musk too joined in on the criticism. Resharing a post by a X user, he wrote, “Language being proposed as law in Ireland means this could literally happen to you for having a meme on your phone.”
Language being proposed as law in Ireland means this could literally happen to you for having a meme on your phone https://t.co/qz9sKyjw62
Connor McGregor has been an outspoken critic of the current “progressive centre” government led by Fine Gael party. He has come down heavily on the pro-immigration policies of the government and has promised bring a solution to the problem.
On Monday, November 27, PM Modi visited the revered Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirumala and ‘prayed for the good health, well-being and prosperity of 140 crore Indians.”
PM Modi took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share pictures from his visit to the hallowed temple.
At the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala, prayed for the good health, well-being and prosperity of 140 crore Indians. pic.twitter.com/lk68adpgwD
One of the pictures, however, created quite a flutter on X, with social media platforms, where users remain perpetually outraged or carry on with the pursuit of finding new reasons to outrage, filled with posts attacking the Prime Minister and creating a negative perception about him in public. A picture posted by the official Twitter handle of BJP with the caption expressing salutations to Lord Venkateswara and an image of PM Modi triggered outrage on social media.
In the picture that sparked outrage on social media, PM Modi is seen standing in front of the Sheshnaag of the presiding deity at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, with malicious claims ranging from Prime Minister insulting the deity by showing his back to Lord Venkateswara to PM Modi indulging in narcissism by posing for a picture in front of the deity.
A raft of social media users, including members of the Congress IT cell and those loyal to the Congress party, jumped the bandwagon for what has been catnip for them for over two decades now: maligning Narendra Modi by making presumptuous assumptions and rallying negative sentiments against him.
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Many others wondered if PM Modi was God to be posing in front of the deity.
Others remarked that it was disrespectful and blasphemous to pose in front of God.
Is PM Modi the only one to pose in front of Sheshnaag of Lord Venkateswara?
As it turns out, PM Modi is not the only one to pose in front of Sheshnaag as social media outrage over the picture would have us believe. Several notable personalities, ranging from different walks of life have posed at the very same place where PM Modi posed for a picture.
Former CJI N V Ramana also visited the temple and got his picture clicked at the concerned place. Here’s his picture:-
Similarly, former vice president M. Venkaiah Naidu also posed for a picture at the same spot.
The photos above show various individuals taking pictures at the same location inside the Lord Venkateswara temple as Prime Minister Modi. The controversy surrounding Modi’s recent visit and the uproar over his photo can be seen as, at best, misinformed, and at worst, a deliberate attempt to criticize and portray him negatively.
Contrary to claims made by the outrage mill, PM Modi did not violate the sanctity of the temple and its presiding deity by posing for a photograph before the Sheshnaag, and the place where he stood is a common place for devotees to click their pictures to the revered temple.
Even the official X account of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, the trust that oversees the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, also clarified after outrage swept over PM Modi’s pictures from the temple.
"Honoring dignitaries after darshan of Sri Venkateswara Swamy in front of Sesha Vahanam at Ranganayakula Mandapam is a decades-old practice," said TTD Chairman.
— Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (@TTDevasthanams) November 27, 2023
“Honoring dignitaries after darshan of Sri Venkateswara Swamy in front of Sesha Vahanam at Ranganayakula Mandapam is a decades-old practice,” said TTD Chairman.
On 27th November (Monday), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) informed that it had detected a single confirmed human case of influenza A(H1N2)v, the UK government’s official press release said. According to the official statement, Influenza A(H1N2)v is similar to flu viruses that are currently circulating in pigs in the United Kingdom.
According to the release, the individual concerned had experienced a mild illness and has fully recovered. Now, the health agencies are tracing the close contacts of the concerned individual.
This was the first detection of this strain of flu in a human in the UK. However, the source of this infection has not yet been ascertained and health experts are investigating the matter. The UK’s Health agency is working closely with partners to determine the characteristics of the pathogen and assess the risk to human health, the release added.
The first human case of this strain of influenza virus was detected as part of routine national flu surveillance. It was undertaken by the UKHSA and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). The infected individual was tested by their GP after experiencing respiratory symptoms.
As per the health release, Influenza A(H1N2)v virus was detected by UKHSA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and characterised using genome sequencing.
Incident Director at UKHSA, Meera Chand said, “It is thanks to routine flu surveillance and genome sequencing that we have been able to detect this virus. This is the first time we have detected this virus in humans in the UK, though it is very similar to viruses that have been detected in pigs.”
Further, Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss highlighted that some viruses found in animals can transmit to humans which is why it is important to focus on animal healthcare. The official said, “We know that some diseases of animals can be transferred to humans – which is why high standards of animal health, welfare, and biosecurity are so important.”
Influenza Virus and notorious ‘Swine Flu’
Influenza A(H1) viruses are endemic in swine populations in most regions of the world. But when an influenza virus, normally circulating in swine, is detected in a person, it is referred to as a ‘variant influenza virus’. The major subtypes of swine influenza A viruses present in pigs but have infected humans are H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2.
These infected cases mostly take place after direct or indirect exposure to pigs or contaminated environments. Since 2005, around 50 human cases of influenza A(H1N2)v have been reported globally however none of them relates genetically to this strain, and this Influenza A(H1N2)v was not previously detected in humans in the UK.
As per initial information, the infection in a human detected in the UK is a distinct clade (1b.1.1). This strand is different from recent human cases of influenza A(H1N2) detected elsewhere in the world. However, the strain is similar to viruses present in UK swine.
In 2009, a human pandemic was triggered by an influenza virus, specifically the influenza A H1N1(pdm09), often called ‘swine flu.’ This virus carried genetic material from viruses present in pigs, birds, and humans during the 1990s and 2000s. Influenza A H1N1(pdm09) now circulates seasonally among humans and is no longer labeled as swine flu. It differs from the viruses currently active in pig populations.
