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Assam CM launches portal to start application submission under Mukhya Mantri Atmanirbhar Asom scheme

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Assam CM launches portal to start application submission under Mukhya Mantri Atmanirbhar Asom scheme

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday launched a portal to start the application submission process for Mukhya Mantri Atmanirbhar Asom at a function held at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Sarma said that to create avenues of self-employment and make the youth of Assam self-reliant, Chief Minister’s Atmanirbhar Assam Abhiyan was launched on 23 September 2023.

He said that under the Abhiyan, steps will be taken to empower two lakh youth for entrepreneurial ventures. The beneficiaries under the scheme, are entitled to receive Rs. 2 lahks in two instalments as a combination of government grants plus interest-free government loans to establish micro-enterprises or service units.

The Chief Minister said that the scheme plans to target two lakh eligible beneficiaries over the next two years. He said that each of the two lakh youth will be given Rs. 2 lakh. Out of this Rs. 1 lakh will be given as a government subsidy and the remaining Rs. 1 lakh will have to be returned after the completion of five years of their business without any interest.

CM Sarma said that the scheme was launched to empower the youth financially and make them eligible for other loans from the Central government. He said that the web portal created for the scheme has so far witnessed the registration of 2,29,145 beneficiaries.

He moreover said that 1591 youth having professional degrees will be entitled to a loan amounting to Rs. 5 lakh under the scheme of which 50 per cent will be government subsidy and the remaining 50 per cent will be interest-free loan.

Chief Minister Sarma also said that the State has already witnessed a robust industrial climate.

He also mentioned that in the last couple of years under the present State government, MoUs worth Rs. 10,000 crore have been agreed upon with different business ventures. He said that as a result of a successful discussion with the Assam government, Tata Electronics Pvt. Limited is in the process of setting up a plant involving a financial outlay of Rs. 40,000 crore for assembling and packaging of semiconductors at Jagiroad.

Educated and skilled human resources will be required for the plant, as the government has drawn an elaborate arrangement with Tata Group for educating and skilling the youth of the state, CM Sarma added.

On the sidelines of the programme, Chief Minister Sarma witnessed an exhibition put up by the 14 start-up units.

Additional Chief Secretary to Industries and Commerce, Ravi Kota gave the welcome address to the programme which was also addressed by Industries and Commerce Minister Bimal Bora.

Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Transport Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, Finance Minister Ajanta Neog, PHE Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah, Revenue etc Minister Jogen Mohan, MLA Naba Doley, Chief Secretary Paban Kumar Borthakur and other senior government officers were present on the occasion.

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

Won’t take oath under the person who talked about finishing 100 crore Hindus in 15 minutes: BJP MLA T Raja after Akbaruddin Owaisi appointed pro-tem speaker

OpIndia Staff
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Won’t take oath under the person who talked about finishing 100 crore Hindus in 15 minutes: BJP MLA T Raja after Akbaruddin Owaisi appointed pro-tem speaker

Telangana’s BJP MLA T Raja Singh has started a new controversy by declaring that he won’t be taking oath as a new MLA on Saturday after AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi was appointed as the pro-tem speaker of the house. The pro-tem serves a temporary role in the house and presides over the oath-taking of the new members, after which the permanent speaker is selected by the members of the house.

T Raja Singh told the Indian Express, “I am not going to take the oath if Akbaruddin is sitting in the Speaker’s chair. Akbar is the product of Qasim Razvi, the head of the Nizam’s Razakar army, which massacred Telangana people.”

Talking to ANI, the firebrand BJP leader said, “It is very unfortunate. After Congress formed the government & Revanth Reddy became the CM, Congress’ real face has come to the fore. Every time Revanth Reddy used to make a statement that BJP AIMIM & BRS are one but the people of Telangana have known who is with whom”.

He said that he would not take oath under a person who had said that Muslims would eliminate Hindus in India if police forces were removed for just 15 minutes. We will not take oath under a person who influences people to eat beef, Singh added.

Akbaruddin Owaisi in the year 2012 had made a highly inflammatory speech asking to remove the police for 15 minutes so that he could finish off 100 crore Hindus. A case was lodged against him in the mater, but he was acquitted in April last year. He repeated the 2012 speech in 2019 too.

T Raja Singh said, “We will boycott tomorrow, will not participate in the oath-taking ceremony in front of Akbaruddin Owaisi”. He added that he will take oath in the speaker’s chamber the next day after the new speaker of the Telangana assembly is selected.

He also informed that a parliamentary party meeting will be held tomorrow morning to decide whether his personal opinion on the matter is also the opinion of the party. BJP has won 8 seats in the assembly polls, and the other seven MLAs have not made any comment on boycotting the assembly on its first day.

Earlier in the day, Governor Tamilisai Soundararjan notified the selection of Akbaruddin as the pro-tem speaker for being the senior-most legislator in the House. The AIMIM leader has won for the sixth time from Chandrayangutta. He will remain as speaker only for Saturday, after which the MLAs are expected to select the new speaker of the house under Article 178 of the Constitution of India. His only role will be officiating the Assembly session until the newly-elected members are sworn in and a Speaker is elected. The seniormost member is generally appointed the proterm speaker.

Assam cabinet gives nod to traditional buffalo fights during Magh Bihu, to issue detailed SOP to ensure no torture

OpIndia Staff
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Assam cabinet gives nod to traditional buffalo fights during Magh Bihu, to issue detailed SOP to ensure no torture

The Assam cabinet on Friday, 8th December 2023, decided to approve traditional buffalo and bull fights generally organised during Magh Bihu in January. Such animal fights are currently banned as per the Supreme Court order banning Tamil Nadu’s jallikattu in 2014.

In the weekly cabinet meeting of the Himanta Biswa Sarma government, in-principle approval was granted to issue detailed guidelines and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedure) for permitting traditional buffalo and bull fights at Ahatguri in Marigaon district and other districts in the state. The cabinet decided that the SOP will aim to ensure no deliberate torture or cruelty is carried out on the animals and their well-being is provided for by the organisers during the annual Moh-juj festival, an integral part of the centuries-old Assamese cultural tradition.

Buffalo fights in Assam became illegal after Supreme Court banned the Jallikattu in 2014. However, people in some areas, particularly in central Assam, have been organising the fights during Magh Bihu. The annual fights are being organised by owners of the animals, not by centralised committees, which was the practice before the ban. However, no fights were organised during the pandemic.

Apart from buffalo fights, other animal fights like cock fights, bulbul fights are also held in different parts in Assam.

Earlier, governments in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra had amended prevention of animal cruelty laws to allow traditional animal fights. The supreme court has upheld these decisions, allowing bull-taming sport Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu, buffalo racing in Karnataka (kambala) and bullock cart race in Maharashtra.

The apex court had said that its intention behind the 2014 order was not to ban animal fight altogether, but to reduce pain induced to animals. The court had further said that amendments made by the three states made a lots of changes to the way the events are organised, and ensure reduction of cruelty to animals.

Apart from the decision to allow buffalo and bull fights, the Assam cabinet also decided to conduct a socio-economic assessment of Assam’s indigenous minorities. The indigenous minorities in Assam largely incudes Assamese Muslims, descents of people who had converted to Islam, and not immigrants from Bangladesh.

Missionary school in Rajasthan suspends 8 students for chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, says they violated rules of the school

OpIndia Staff
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Missionary school in Rajasthan suspends 8 students for chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, says they violated rules of the school

In a shocking incident, a missionary school in Rajasthan has suspended 8 students for chanting the Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan. Emmanuel Mission School in Anta in Rajasthan’s Baran district has suspended the 8 students for 7 days, alleging that they violated the rules of the school. The school sent letters to the parents of the students informing them about the suspension, sparking protests against the school.

Following the incident, all 8 students wrote a letter to the District Education Officer to intervene in the matter and get their suspension revoked.

One of the letters sent by Emmanuel Mission School to the parent of a student named Takshit Malab has appeared on social media. In this letter signed by the school’s principal and manager, Malab has been suspended for 7 days for violating rules.

The letter claimed that the student was explaining multiple times, but there was no result. Therefore, the step was taken. The school also asked the parent to give proper direction to the student, so that he does not indulge in any inappropriate action.

After the families received the letters, they along with others reached the school and demonstrated against the decision. However, the school refused to revoke the suspension. Anta’s BJP MLA Kanwar Lal Meena has intervened in the matter and talked to the school management over the issue.

Later Hindu groups also reached the school to protest against the decision. They are demanding the cancellation of the recognition of the school.

The eight students have written a letter to the district education officer over the issue, saying that they were suspended for chanting the Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan. They further alleged that they were threatened for the slogan, and then were suspended for seven days. They have requested to take action against the school and provide relief to them.

All the students are from class 9. They are Sharad Soni, Karthik Meena, Saurabh Malav, Takshit Malav, Prem Gurjar, Yatharth Kumawat, Jatin Arvip and Harshit Nagar.

The incident

The incident of sloganeering by the students took place on Wednesday when a procession was taken out in Anta Town in protest against the murder of Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi. The march was organised by the members of Rajput community and Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena. When the procession reached near the school, the 8 students came out, and started chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai along with the participants of the procession.

The school management could not accept this action by the students and berated them saying it violated school rules. After that, letters suspending them for 7 were sent to their parents on Thursday.

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann in panic mode as State has only four months left to utilise ₹8,000 crore out of ₹11,000 crore granted by Centre

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann in panic mode as State has only four months left to utilise ₹8,000 crore out of ₹11,000 crore granted by Centre

On Wednesday (December 6), Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asked the administrative officials how they propose to prevent the unused funds to the tune of ₹8000 crores allocated to the state from lapsing. It is worth noting that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab has only utilised Rs 3000 crores out of ₹11000 crore worth of grants made by the centre to various departments in the current fiscal year. The state govt has been unable to spend the balance ₹8000 crore so far.

CM Mann held a meeting at his residence with the administrative secretaries of all departments. According to an Indian Express report, the chief minister questioned how the authorities planned to avoid ₹8,000 crore from being turned back to the Centre.

The report said that the secretaries informed CM Mann that they would be able to use the funds within the next four months of the current fiscal year since tenders for the majority of the works had already been opened and that, in many cases, work was already underway.

“He asked the secretaries to pull up their socks and expedite projects where this money is to be spent. The meeting was called by the CM to push the secretaries to utilise the grants as soon as possible,” IE quoted a source as saying.

The secretaries told the CM that they were not getting central funds under several schemes. The officials also reiterated that with the Centre not yet clearing the Rural Development Fee (RDF), the repair work of rural roads, damaged by the floods, was badly hampered.

The health department conveyed that the grants meant for health schemes were also being stopped by the Centre due to the state government calling its health centres as Aam Aadmi Clinics. It is worth noting that Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh also made similar assertions last month saying that the Centre has withheld Rs 621 crores as part of the National Health Mission funds to the state. He claimed that the centre is not releasing funds since the state government has named its ‘Mohalla Clinics’ as Aadmi Clinics.

The centre, however, had said that the AAP government’s actions were a violation of the branding norms regarding the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (Ab-HWCs) scheme. It is also worth noting that the AB-HWC is formulated with a 60:40 contribution ratio by the Centre and the State.

Reportedly, CM Bhagwant Mann has summoned another meeting for Thursday to discuss with the secretaries about the funds that have been withheld by the Centre. It is said that the Punjab chief minister will now prepare a strategy on how to obtain such funds from the Centre. Notably, the Punjab government has already petitioned the Supreme Court against the Centre’s refusal to give Rural Development Fund (RDF) amounting to Rs 5,637 crore. On one hand, the Punjab government is locking horns with the Centre over funds on the other it has around Rs 8000 crore of centre allocated funds unutilised.

Kerala: Hadiya’s father approaches HC fearing his daughter, who converted to Islam to marry a PFI Islamist, is detained by her husband

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Hadiya’s father approaches HC fearing his daughter, who converted to Islam to marry a PFI Islamist, is detained by her husband

On Friday (8th October), Hadiya’s father, KM Asokan, whose marriage to a Muslim man and conversion to Islam caused a national uproar, petitioned the Kerala High Court, claiming that his daughter is being unlawfully detained by her husband, Shafin Jahan, and some of his associates.

In his plea, Asokan stated that the Homeo clinic Hadiya was running had closed and that he had been unable to contact her over the phone for the previous month.

In order to present Hadiya in court, he has thus requested the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus. “Whenever the petitioner called the detenu for the last month, the detenu has not received any calls and on many occasions, the mobile phone was switched off.

On 3rd December, the petitioner went to the clinic and found it was closed. The neighbours told the petitioner that they didn’t know about the same. Now the petitioner apprehends that she has been moved to the illegally custody of the place and control of the respondents 3 and 4. Now the detenu is in the illegal custody of the persons under collusion and connivance of the 4th and 6th respondent. So the detenu is to be released at the earliest,” the petition said.

The petition may initiate the second phase of Hadiya legal proceedings, which began in 2017. The initial controversy erupted five years prior. Hadiya, originally named Akhila, is a 31-year-old Keralan woman who converted to Islam and then got married to a Muslim, Shafin Jahan. Shafin Jahan was an active member of the PFI-affiliated Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). Asokan has previously petitioned the High Court with a similar habeas corpus plea.

Asokan filed a similar habeas corpus petition with the Kerala High Court in 2016, claiming that Jahan had unlawfully detained her. In 2018, the Kerala High Court Division Bench’s ruling that had dissolved Hadiya and Shafin Jahan’s marriage was overturned by the Supreme Court, allowing Hadiya to live with her husband.

Asokan asserts that his daughter opened a homoeo clinic following her marriage to Shafin Jahan, having earned a Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine & Surgery (BHMS).

The clinic was close to A S Sainaba of Malappuram, Sathyasarani Educational and Charitable Trust, and Markazul Hidaya. Asokan used to call his daughter and occasionally visit the clinic because he was worried about her well-being.

Hadiya recently told her mother that she was no longer in a relationship with Shafin Jahan and didn’t know where he was when Asokan’s wife asked for their daughter to go with her.

Asokan hasn’t been able to get in touch with his daughter for the last month because she constantly turns off her phone. When he visited the clinic on December 3, he found it closed and that Hadiya’s whereabouts were unknown to the neighbours. Asokan now worries that his daughter is being held against her will by people connected to Shafin Jahan and Sainaba, and he believes there may have been collusion and complicity in this.

Asokan has expressed worries about his daughter’s safety, claiming that the people keeping her might be associated with the banned terrorist organization, the Popular Front of India. Representing the petitioner, Advocate C Rajendran asked the court to order Hadiya’s production in order to obtain her release.

Recently, during the release of the Bollywood movie named ‘The Kerala Story’, it had come to the fore that Hadiya had remarried a man from Thiruvananthapuram. However, she had not disclosed his identity fearing media publicity. According to CASA( Christian Association and Alliance for Social Action) it was PFI workers who initiated the remarriage and allowed Hadiya to move away from Jahan’s life.

Those who do not know history should not say certain things: Himanta Biswa Sarma after Kapil Sibal claimed that Assam was part of Myanmar

OpIndia Staff
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Those who do not know history should not say certain things: Himanta Biswa Sarma after Kapil Sibal claimed that Assam was part of Myanmar

Senior Supreme Court advocate Kapil Sibal has sparked a controversy by claiming that Assam was originally part of Myanmar. He made the comment yesterday, 7th September, in Supreme Court while opposing petitions challenging Section 6A of the Citizenship Act. A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 provides a different cut-off date for immigrants to be considered illegal immigrants. As per this, all foreigners who entered Assam on or before 25th March 1971 will be granted Indian citizenship, against the cut-off date of 19th July 1949 for the rest of the country.

While arguing against the petitions, Kapil Sibal said that history of Assam is complicated as it was part of Myanmar which was later handed over to the British. Sibal also claimed that migration to Assam can’t be mapped, as ‘no migration can ever be mapped’.

He said, “If you look at the history of Assam, it is impossible to figure out who came when. Assam originally was a part of Myanmar, and it was way back in 1824 after the British conquered a part of it. A treaty was entered into and that is how Assam was handed over to the British.

Kapil Sibal added, “you can now imagine the amount of movement of people that took place in the context of the then British empire. And if you jump to 1905, you will have partition of Bengal, under which East Bengal and Assam became one and Bengali language was being taught in schools where there was large scale opposition. The interaction and absorption of Bengali population in Assam has a historical context.”

However, while it is true that the British had clubbed Assam with East Bengal after dividing Bengal, which was revoked later, Assam was never a part of Myanmar ‘originally’, as Kapil Sibal submitted in the Supreme Court. Myanmar occupied Assam for a brief period of time, before handing over the territory to British India in 1826.

Burmese army had invaded the Ahom kingdom in Assam several times between 1817 and 1826, and at that time Assam was not under British India at that time. During the last part in that period, the Burmese army occupied Assam for a few months. However, as the Burmese Army reached the India’s borders, the British government decided to prevent escalation of any danger to the empire.

This led to the first Anglo-Burmese war from March 1824 to February 1826, which the British won. Signing of the Treaty of Yandabo marked the end of the war, under which Myanmar ceded control of Assam and Manipur to British government, along with Rakhine (Arakan), and the Taninthayi regions. This is how Assam and Manipur became part of British India.

Myanmar controlled Assam and Manipur during the war, during a very volatile situation, a period marked horrific atrocities by Burmese army on civilians. But this does not mean that Assam was ‘originally a part of Myanmar’. Assam, previously known as Pragjyotishpur and Kamrup, is being ruled by local rulers for thousands of years, and the state, along neighbouring states, are part of the greater Indian culture from pre-historic times.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma slammed Kapil Sibal for the comments, saying that if he does not know Buranji (history), he should not talk about it.

When asked about the comment, the CM said, ‘Those who do not have any knowledge of history should not speak some things. Assam was never a part of Myanmar, during Ahom regime people of Myanmar had a clash with Assam, and Assam was occupied by Myanmar for around one to one and a half month. I have not seen data showing that Assam was part of Myanmar at any time’.

Assam minister Pijush Hazarika said that Kapil Sibal has been poorly briefed, responding to the comments made in the Supreme Court. He said that Sibal presented a “left liberal view that tends to alienate North East by conjuring such theories.”

“At no point of Assam’s history, we were part of Myanmar. From times of Mahabharat & before, we have firmly been an integral part of Bharatvarsh,” Hazarika said.

This was not the only controversial statement the former Congress leader made in the court. He also said during his submission that people have fundamental right to move to one country to another. None other than the Chief Justice of India countered him saying that it is not correct, and there is no such fundamental right.

CJI D Y Chandrachud said that there is right to move within the country, not across countries. The CJI also reminded him that this right is not available to non-Indians.

‘Souls of Gandhi and Ambedkar must be weeping’: The Left ecosystem suffer a meltdown after Mahua Moitra’s expulsion from Lok Sabha

OpIndia Staff
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‘Souls of Gandhi and Ambedkar must be weeping’: The Left ecosystem suffer a meltdown after Mahua Moitra’s expulsion from Lok Sabha

TMC’s Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra has been expelled from the Lok Sabha after the Ethics Committee tabled its report on her corruption and bribery. She was expelled after the tabled report was debated and a vote was sought from MPs. Soon after Mahua Moitra’s expulsion, the left-liberal ecosystem in politics and media started reacting with tears and rants. From BSP MP Danish Ali saying Gandhi must be weeping to so-called neutral journalists getting goosebumps, every reaction from this clout represented the meltdown they had after the action against the now-former TMC MP.

Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali said, “What is this? The dignity of the parliament house was breached on the night of 21st September when Ramesh Bidhuri abused me. Soul of Gandhi and Ambedkar must be weeping today.”

TMC MP Saugata Roy said, “A sitting member (Moitra) was expelled from Parliament without being given a chance to defend herself. All principles of natural justice were clouted. BJP by animal majority voted a member out just because she spoke about industrialist Adani and his relations with Prime Minister Modi.”

TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said, “They tried to suppress the voice of opposition. Would not you listen to the one who is accused of so many severe allegations? This never happens. Parties of the I.N.D.I. alliance came together against this decision. It is a huge day for us.”

Following the expulsion, Mahua Moitra, known for her tedious and boorish monologues in the parliament, launched another noisy rant outside the Parliament as an ex-MP. Speaking to the media with Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi standing behind her, Mahua Moitra screamed that there was no evidence of any cash or any gifts being taken by her.

She even brazened out sharing her login credentials with Darshan Hiranandani, stating that there is no rule specified against sharing login credentials. She then shouted that an MP sharing her credentials with a businessman so that he could pose questions targeted at his rival business entity is not wrong, because MPs are there to raise questions on behalf of the public anyway.

Resharing the video of her rant on X, Arfa Khanum Sherwani quoted her sentences and said that she got goosebumps to see Mahua Moitra speak like that. Sherwani posted, “I am 49 years old. I will fight you for the next 30 years. Inside the parliament, and outside on the streets. We are going to come back and we are going to see the end of you. Goosebumps!”

Saba Naqvi posted from her X handle, “Without due process and being given a chance to defend herself Mahua Moitra is expelled. Shameful.”

Notably, Mahua Moitra was given a fair opportunity to present her side in front of the ethics committee of the parliament. However, the left-liberal ecosystem kept spreading the lie that she was denied a chance to defend herself. This is because Mahua Moitra reportedly requested to speak on behalf of her party during the discussion after the report of the committee was tabled in the house, but she was denied.

India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai posted from his X handle, “So a 104-page ethics committee report is tabled in Mahua Moitra case at noon; at 2 pm, a ‘debate’ is scheduled within two hours of the report being tabled. An hour later, the TMC MP is formally expelled by voice vote without being given a chance to speak or any of the MPs having even a chance to read the report in any detail and respond. No cross-examination of key witness Darshan Hiranandani. Natural justice anyone? When the issue is as serious as the expulsion of an MP, surely there is a need for a fair hearing and due process, no? Think.”

Earlier today, the Ethics Committee report probing ‘Unethical Conduct’ of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra in the “cash for query” case that was tabled in the Lok Sabha recommended that Moitra “may be expelled” from the Lok Sabha and called for an “intense, legal, institutional inquiry” by the central government in a “time-bound manner”. 

Moitra is facing a CBI inquiry over serious allegations of corruption, and bribery where she has herself admitted that she had given her login credentials to businessman Darshan Hiranandani to pose questions on her behalf, questions that were related to Hiranandani’s business interests and were targeted to his rival Adani Group. Hiranandani has admitted to paying cash, lavish gifts to Moitra, and having access to her Lok Sabha login credentials.

Palanpur, Gujarat: Mehndi Hussain kidnaps 15-year-old Hindu girl, rapes her after taking to different locations

OpIndia Staff
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Palanpur, Gujarat: Mehndi Hussain kidnaps 15-year-old Hindu girl, rapes her after taking to different locations

Cases of atrocities on Hindu minor girls have been on the rise in Gujarat for some time now. In another such case, a Hindu minor girl was raped in Palanpur, Gujarat by accused Mehndi Hussain, who runs a driving business. On Monday (4th December), he abducted the 15-year-old victim in a car and took her to different cities and raped her. In this case, the victim’s mother lodged a police complaint and the police have registered charges under relevant sections of POCSO Act and initiated action.

According to reports, the victim is a resident of Garh Panthak in Palanpur. Hailing from a very poor family, she was helping her family financially by working in a catering service where she served food. During this time, she came in contact with the accused Mehndi Hussain Jamusha Fakir. On 4th December 2023, Mehndi Hussain lured her and abducted her in his car.

Mehndi Hussain picked up the girl in his car on the pretext of getting her new clothes. After this, he took her to different cities like Ahmedabad, Morbi and Junagadh. During this time, he raped the 15-year-old girl multiple times. Mehndi Hussain dropped the girl near her house on 7th December and went absconding.

When the mother of this minor girl came to know about the incident, she complained about the accused at the Garh police station. OpIndia contacted the Garh police station in Palanpur for further details on the matter. The officer on duty said, “The age of the Hindu minor girl is just 15 years, 11 months, and 26 days. Based on the complaint lodged by her mother, the police have registered a case under sections 363,366,376(3), 376(2)(L) of the IPC and POCSO. The accused is currently absconding and will be arrested very soon.” CPI Deesa is further probing the case.

System at Harvard along with the ideology that grips far too many of the students and faculty is evil: Rabbi quits the institution’s antisemitism board

OpIndia Staff
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System at Harvard along with the ideology that grips far too many of the students and faculty is evil: Rabbi quits the institution’s antisemitism board

On 7th December, prominent rabbi David Wolpe announced his resignation from the Harvard antisemitic board following the “painfully inadequate testimony” provided by the university’s president Dr. Claudine Gay on Capitol Hill. He informed about the decision through a long social media post on 8th December in which he stated, “As of today I have resigned from the antisemitism advisory committee at Harvard. Without rehashing all of the obvious reasons that have been endlessly adumbrated online, and with great respect for the members of the committee, the short explanation is that both events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony reinforced the idea that I cannot make the sort of difference I had hoped.”

He made further observations and mentioned, “Still, there are several points worth making. I believe Claudine Gay to be both a kind and thoughtful person. Most of the students here wish only to get an education and a job, not prosecute ideological agendas, and there are many, many honourable, thoughtful and good people at the institution. Harvard is still a repository of extraordinary minds and important research.”

The rabbi denounced the antisemitic mindset festering inside the world-renowned academic institution which “belittles or denies the Jewish experience.” He pointed out, “However, the system at Harvard along with the ideology that grips far too many of the students and faculty, the ideology that works only along axes of oppression and places Jews as oppressors and therefore intrinsically evil, is itself evil. Ignoring Jewish suffering is evil. Belittling or denying the Jewish experience, including unspeakable atrocities is a vast and continuing catastrophe. Denying Israel the self-determination as a Jewish nation accorded unthinkingly to others is endemic and evil.”

David Wolpe added, “Battling that combination of ideologies is the work of more than a committee or a single university. It is not going to be changed by hiring or firing a single person, posting on X, or yelling at people who don’t post as you wish when you wish, as though posting is the summation of one’s moral character. This is the task of educating a generation, and also a vast unlearning. Part of the problem is a simple herd mentality, people screaming slogans whose meaning and implication they know nothing of, or not wishing to be disliked by taking an unpopular position. Some of it is the desire to achieve social status by being the sole or greatest victim. Some of it is simple, old-fashioned Jew-hatred, that ugly arrow in the quiver of dark hearts for millennia.”

He also referred to the Miracle of Hanukkah and wrote, “In this generation, outside of Israel, we are called to be Maccabees of a different order. We do not fight the actual battle but we search for the cruse of oil left behind. Remember the oil was to last one night, but lasted eight which means there were seven nights of miracle. But of course, the first night was the greatest miracle because the motivation to light the initial candle, to ensure the continuity and vitality of tradition in each generation, that is the supreme miracle.”  

“Dispute but also create. Build the institutions you value, don’t merely attack those you denigrate. We are at a moment when the toxicity of intellectual slovenliness has been laid bare for all to see. Time to kindle the first candle. Create that miracle for us and all of Israel,” he highlighted while encouraging the Harvard students.

The first hearing on “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism” took place in the United Nations Washington DC, on 5th December (local time). Congresswoman Elise Stefanik questioned the presidents of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard and UPenn (University of Pennsylvania) about the growing number of antisemitic incidents on their campuses during the session.

According to their codes of conduct, Presidents Elizabeth Magill of UPenn, Sally Kornbluth of MIT and Claudine Gay of Harvard University declined to denounce the calls for the annihilation of Jews made on their campuses as bullying or harassment. The legislator pressed the university presidents again to respond with a simple “yes” or “no” to the question of whether advocating for the extermination of Jews would be against the university’s anti-bullying and harassment policies. However, they replied with reluctance and ambiguity as well as continuously stressed that it depended on the context which attracted widespread criticism after which they issued clarifications.

Claudine Gay claimed, “There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students. Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”

The Harvard president’s statement on the varsity’s social media profile was interestingly community-checked with a note that conveyed, “While under oath before Congress, the President of Harvard stated that condemning antisemitism and calls for genocide of Jews ‘depends on the context’ as opposed to being simply wrong.”

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