On Friday (February 17), the Chief Selector of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Chetan Sharma, tendered his resignation from his post.
As per news agency ANI, Sharma handed over the resignation letter to BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, who accepted the former’s decision to step down.
The development comes three days after he was caught making damming revelations about top Indian players in a sting operation, conducted by Zee News.
BCCI chief selector Chetan Sharma resigns from his post. He sent his resignation to BCCI Secretary Jay Shah who accepted it.
In the sting operation, Chetan Sharma alleged that Virat Kohli “lied” that the then BCCI president Sourav Ganguly did not attempt to discourage him from resigning as T20 captain.
He claimed, “Any row between player and BCCI President is dangerous as it becomes players vs BCCI. Who is wrong is judged later, but it becomes an attack on BCCI directly. All players are warned that the harm from such things will come to players only.”
Chetan Sharma added, “Virat Kohli felt he lost the captaincy because of BCCI President. There were 9 people in the selection committee video conference, Ganguly may have told him ‘think about it once’. I think Kohli didn’t hear it, there were 9 others there including myself and all other selectors.”
While talking about players taking injections for fitness, Chetan Sharma claimed, “Indian Cricket Team players take injections & get 100% fit even if they’re 80% fit. These are not painkillers. These injections contain Drugs which aren’t caught in Dope Test.”
He further added that some star players are given a green signal from the NCA even when they are not fully fit, and then it gets onto the selectors to make a final call on the selection.
On Thursday, February 16, Bollywood entertainer and Left-wing activist Swara Bhasker announced that she has got married to Samajwadi Party leader Fahad Ahmad. Wishes started pouring in from her followers and well-wishers. However, a Chicago-based Islamic scholar Mufti Yasir Nadeem Al Wajidi denounced the marriage of Swara and Fahad as ‘Islamically invalid’ since Swara Bhasker is a ‘polytheistic woman’.
He also backed his claim with a verse from the Quran. It is notable that Swara and Fahad’s wedding was filed with the court on 6th January 2023 under the special marriage act. Mufti Yasir also slammed liberal Muslims for interpreting Quran as per the convenience of their theology.
A tweet by Mufti Yasir read, “If #SwaraBhasker is not Muslim and her “supposed” husband is Muslim, this marriage is not Islamically valid. Allah says, do not to marry polytheistic women until they believe. 2:221. If she accepts Islam only for the sake of marriage, it is not accepted by Allah.
If #SwaraBhasker is not Muslim and her “supposed” husband is Muslim, this marriage is not islamically valid. Allah says, do not marry polytheistic women until they believe. 2:221 If she accepts Islam only for the sake of marriage, it is not accepted by Allah.
This tweet, however, did not go well with liberals like RJ Sayema who called out the Mufti over his tweet. Sayema shared a screen grab of the Mufti’s tweet and wrote “Buzz off!”
Mufti Yasir was, however, quick to respond and say that Sayema is ‘infected with the disease of Liberalism’ he also said that Sayema despite saying ‘buzz off’ to Quran will still be associated with Islam merely due to her name.
“Just spotted an infected with liberalism disease. She said, buzz off, to the Quran. Yet, she will be associated with Islam because of her name,” Mufti Yasir Nadeem tweeted.
Just spotted an infected with liberalism disease. She said, buzz off, to the Quran. Yet, she will be associated with Islam because of her name. https://t.co/H5akZLx2AL
The argument did not end here as Sayema asked Mufti Yasir if he is judged appointed by Allah and also advised him to give his opinion only when asked.
“And who are you? Someone designated by Allah to judge others? We are answerable to Allah and only to Allah. To each his own. Till someone asks for your opinion, keep to yourself. And be a good Muslim,” Sayema tweeted.
And who are you? Someone designated by Allah to judge others? We are answerable to Allah and only to Allah. To each his own. Till someone asks for your opinion, keep to yourself. And be a good Muslim. https://t.co/mKmIBtqM0x
Responding to Sayema’s tweet, Mufti Yasir said that he is the person most hated by the liberals and he exposes the misinterpretation of Islam by people like Sayema.
“I’m a person who liberals like you hate the most. I am a person who frequently exposes the false interpretation of Islam by likes of you. I am a person who will speak up when RJ’s start interpreting Islam. You keep yourself to entertainment business and leave Islam for experts,” Mufti tweeted.
I’m a person who liberals like you hate the most. I am a person who frequently exposes the false interpretation of Islam by likes of you. I am a person who will speak up when RJ’s start interpreting Islam. You keep yourself to entertainment business and leave Islam for experts. https://t.co/xDNifRsvKO
Mufti Yasir in response to a tweet by a Twitter user who goes by the name ‘Mr Reaction Wala’ who wrote that “we live in India, not an Islamic country, so Kindly preach this in Saudi Arabia”, Mufti Yasir said that “Islam is not only for Saudi Arabia and that living in India does not mean that one does not practice Islam.”
Living in India does not mean that you don’t practice Islam. Islam is not only for Saudi Arabia. I was under the impression that your mentor has trained you well. https://t.co/ByMSojsOuL
In a separate tweet, Mufti Yasir Nadeem Al Wajidi slammed the Muslims celebrating Swara Bhasker’s marriage with a Muslim man, saying that they have ‘germs of liberalism’ and that they must be disinfected.
Those who are celebrating the marriage of #swarabhaskar (who is, according to my knowledge, not Muslim) with a man with a Muslim name have germs of liberalism. Disinfection is must. Legally they are free to do whatever they want. As Muslims, there is nothing to be happy about.
“Those who are celebrating the marriage of #swarabhaskar (who is, according to my knowledge, not Muslim) with a man with a Muslim name have germs of liberalism. Disinfection is must. Legally they are free to do whatever they want. As Muslims, there is nothing to be happy about,” Mufti tweeted.
Mahashivratri, which essentially translates to ‘the great night of Shiva’, is considered one of the most auspicious festivals in the country.
On the same occasion, as many as 21 lakh earthen lamps will be lit on various ghats of the Shipra river on Mahashivratri tomorrow. “We will try to create a world record by lighting 21 lakh earthen lamps. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will also attend the event,” said State Minister Mohan Yadav on Thursday.
It is celebrated annually with much fervour and excitement across India. This year Mahashivratri will be observed on February 18, 2023. So, get ready to hear ‘Har Har Mahadev chants on this day.
It’s believed that while there is a Shivratri every lunisolar month of the Hindu calendar, the Mahashivratri, happens only once every year, in February/March, when winter comes to an end and spring and summer begin.
Out of the 12 Shivratris observed in any given year, Mahashivratri is considered especially auspicious, as it is supposed to be the night of convergence of Shiva and Shakti, which in essence means the male and feminine energies that keep the world in balance. Shiva and Shakti are revered as the embodiment of love, power, and oneness.
To protect the entire world from the evil effects, Shiva drank the entire poison and held it in his throat instead of swallowing it. Due to this, his throat became blue and hence he came to be known as Neelakantha.
Every state in the nation, including Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh or Telangana, celebrates Mahashivratri.
Shiva devotees undergo a 24-hour fast that is broken the next morning. Mahashivratri Puja, in contrast to many other festivals, is performed at night.
Devotees consume satvik foods like ragi, sabudana, fruits, and vegetables during the fast.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
On Thursday (February 16), Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of crony capitalism after claiming that the latter has a good relationship with Indian businessman Gautam Adani.
“Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies. Their fate is intertwined,” Soros said. He made the contentious remarks at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany ahead of the Munich Security Conference
“Adani Enterprises tried to raise funds in the stock market, but he failed. Adani is accused of stock manipulation and his stock collapsed like a house of cards,” the American billionaire alleged.
George Soros further accused the Indian Prime Minister of being complicit in the supposed ‘misdealings’ of the Adani Group. “Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in parliament,” Soros was heard as saying.
He also claimed that the ‘shakedown’ caused to the Indian markets due to the Hindenburg Research report will result in ‘much needed institutional reforms’ and ‘democratic revival’. Soros also alleged that so-called anti-Muslim violence in India has spearheaded the ‘meteoric rise’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The development comes three weeks after US-based investment research firm Hindenburg Research published a 32,000-word report, accusing the Adani Group of stock manipulation and use of tax havens.
The Adani Group trashed the Hindenburg Research report as a “malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations”. On January 29, the Indian conglomerate slammed Hindenburg Research with a 413-page report, dismissing allegations levelled by the latter.
However, this did not stop George Soros from casting aspersions about the integrity of PM Modi and insinuating collusion between the government and the Adani group.
When George Soros pledged $1 billion to fight nationalists
In January 2020, the American billionaire committed $1 billion to start a global university to “fight nationalists” and climate change, calling them twin challenges that threaten the survival of our civilization.
While speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Soros pledged to fund a university project to battle the erosion of civil society in a world increasingly ruled by “would-be and actual dictators” and climate change.
Soros also claimed that the “biggest and most frightening setback” was in India, as he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “creating a Hindu nationalist state.”
He had claimed, “The biggest and most frightening setback occurred in India where a democratically elected Narendra Modi is creating a Hindu nationalist state, imposing punitive measures on Kashmir, a semi-autonomous Muslim region, and threatening to deprive millions of Muslims of their citizenship”.
George Soros, through his Open Society Foundation, which started its operations in India first in 1999 by offering scholarships and fellowships to pursue studies and research at Indian institutions, Soros has made great strides in creating disorder within India. In the name of running philanthropic activities, the left-wing international organisation led by Soros has begun to spread its tentacles across the country by his active support to anti-India elements operating inside India.
In the last few decades, George Soros has time and again has shown his desperation to wage war against the nationalist government in India through various networks funded by him comprising of NGOs, media, intelligentsia, etc.
Regarding his philanthropy work, Soros’s OSF grasped a stronghold in India during the Obama regime. Ever since its entry into India, OSF has tried to interlope in the internal affairs of the nation through the vast and interconnected network of organisations funded by George Soros. These organisations play a vital role in manipulating the original narrative and take the help of the judiciary and media to hinder the national interest.
In 2008, the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) joined hands with Omidyar Network, the Indian School of Business (ISB) and Google.org to launch their 17 million SONG fund to boost investment. Together with other networks, Soros has provided extensive grants to media running into millions to manipulate political narratives.
On 15th February 2023, a Muslim mob indulged in violence over the installation of welcome gates by Hindus ahead of Mahashivaratri in Palamu of Jharkhand. It was opposed by Muslims who said the welcome gates could not be installed in front of the mosque. The Muslim mob not only pelted stones from the mosques but committed arson. After indulging in violence against Hindus, Muslims are now attempting to play the victim.
After the violence against Hindus, Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi proceeded to dog whistle and paint the perpetrators as the victims. “Stones were hurled at the mosque and two houses and some vehicles were burnt”, he said. However, in reality, it was a Hindu who was first hit in the head and then stone pelting took place from the mosque.
Asaduddin Owaisi didn’t stop here. He said that the welcome gate should not have been built in front of the mosque. He blamed the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for it, saying the rioters and the Sangh Parivar won. Interestingly, while the blamed the victims, the Hindus, he also justified the violence by the Muslim mob by saying that the Mahashivratri celebrations should not have taken place in front of the mosque.
Efforts are also being made to prove Muslims as victims on social media. A so-called journalist named Mir Faisal shared a video and said that Hindutva goons burnt the houses and shops of Muslims and set their vehicles on fire.
Once again, Muslim houses, Mosques, shops, and vehicles have been the focus of pre-planned destruction. The inaction and apathy of the police administration in the whole incident is the failure of the state government. @HemantSorenJMMpic.twitter.com/mJfxQjT9Pu
In the kind of narrative being created about the Palamu violence, an attempt is being made to prove Muslims as victims, and Hindus – who are actually victims – as goons. It is being clearly said in the media report that Hindus of Panki in Palamu were preparing for Mahashivratri. During this time they built a welcome gate on the square. The mosque is located near the square.
Locals say that this mosque, known as Jama Masjid, has been built with the help of Hindus. Locals say that this mosque is not very old nor is there much of a population of Muslims in the surrounding area. The area where the mosque has been built is Hindu-dominated.
After the construction of the welcome gate, some Muslims came out of the mosque and asked to dismantle this gate. They said that there is a mosque nearby and a welcome gate can not be built near the mosque. The Hindu side did not agree to this and said that they are building the welcome gates on the road, which is government property.
After this, the Muslim side started the violence. On Wednesday, 14 February 2023, a Muslim hit a Hindu named Niranjan Singh on the head with a stick. Niranjan Singh was seriously injured in this attack. Police were present at the time of the attack. It is said that after this, stones were pelted at Hindus from the mosque.
During this time, the rioters set fire to 4 houses, 3 shops, 1 car, and 2 bikes. Apart from this, 4 vehicles were also vandalized. Eight people, including Leslieganj SDPO Alok Kumar Tuti and Panki police station’s inspector Arun Mahtha, were seriously injured in the attack.
Manjulata Dubey – a BJP leader from Panki – said that Hindu programs are always disrupted from the mosque. Locals say that people associated with the mosque committee often create disputes in and around the market and then beat them up.
Panki-based social activist Kamlesh Singh said petrol bombs and stones were being thrown at Hindus from the roof of the mosque. Kamlesh Singh told OpIndia, “Neither it was Friday nor there is so much Muslim population in that area, nor the incident took place at the time of Namaz or any other program. Then where did such a crowd of attackers come from?” He said that this was a well-planned attack.
Kamlesh Singh described the incident in Panki Bazar as a trial of Ghazwa-e-Hind. He said that fundamentalists are weighing their strengths all over the country and preparing for where there is a shortage. Manjulata told OpIndia that she was once detained by the police on August 14 just because she was marking a place at the square to hoist the national flag. However, she was later released.
In fact, due to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s policies of Muslim appeasement, the state is becoming a refuge for illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas. With the incidents of love jihad and land jihad, the killing of Hindus has become common here. In many places, tribals and Dalits have to flee due to persecution by Muslims. Hindus are struggling to celebrate their festival.
Attacks by Muslims on Hindu festivals have become common in Jharkhand. Due to Hemant Soren’s appeasement policy, section 144 has been imposed in the entire Deoghar city on the day of Mahashivratri. Not only this, the administration has banned the route fixed by the Mahashivaratri Committee for the Shiv Barat procession. The district administration has given permission to organize the Shiv Barat procession from the old route.
In August last year, people belonging to the Mahadalit Musahar caste were attacked and their houses vandalized by a mob in Murumatu village under the Pandu police station area of Jharkhand. More than one and a half dozen houses and huts of these Musahars settled near Tongri hill were demolished. Not only this, but in order to occupy these places, the Muslims, after demolishing the house, loaded their belongings on two vehicles and left them in the forest near Loto village of Chhatarpur.
Similarly, on February 6, 2022, a Hindu child was lynched by a mob of Muslims during Saraswati Puja in Hazaribagh of Jharkhand. Actually, the children were going to perform the visarjan rituals after Saraswati Puja. Muslim youths stopped the Hindu boys near Lakhna Dulmaha Imambara in Naitand village of Barhi police station. After this, there was a fight between the two sides. The Muslim youth kept beating Rupesh Kumar till he fell unconscious. He was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.
An Israel-based global disinformation operation, which is accused of interfering in elections throughout the world, has been exposed following an eight-month investigation by a group of international journalists. A group of journalists working together with the assistance of Forbidden Stories, a non-profit organization based in Paris, conducted the probe.
The team alleges that it used automated disinformation, hacking, and sabotage to influence more than 30 elections globally.
Tal Hanan, a 50-year-old former Israeli special forces agent, who now works privately under the alias ‘Jorge,’ appears to have been operating covertly, from the central city of Modi’in, in elections for more than 20 years in a number of different nations. Videos and documents, by undercover reporters, have exposed Hanan and his group, known by the moniker ‘Team Jorge.’
“I deny any wrongdoing,” Hanan responded to questions concerning Team Jorge’s tactics and operations without answering detailed questions about the team.
The investigation exposes astounding details about how Team Jorge, which operates as a private firm offering to discreetly interfere in elections without leaving a trace, weaponizes disinformation. Furthermore, the team also serves corporate clients.
Hanan informed the undercover journalists that intelligence services, political campaigns, and private businesses seeking to surreptitiously sway public opinion may use his services, which some refer to as ‘black ops.’ He said that they had been employed in South and Central America, the US, and Europe in addition to Africa.
Advanced Impact Media Solutions, sometimes known as Aims, is a complex software program that is one of Team Jorge’s core offerings. It is in charge of a sizable army of thousands of fictitious accounts on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Telegram, Gmail, Instagram, and YouTube. Some avatars even have credit card-enabled Amazon accounts, bitcoin wallets, and Airbnb accounts.
A group of journalists from 30 publications, including Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El Pas, conducted the investigation on Team Jorge. The study, a component of a larger inquiry into the fake news industry, has the goal to support the reporting of the slain, intimidated, or imprisoned journalists.
Three reporters who contacted Team Jorge while masquerading as potential customers captured the secret videos.
Hanan and his crew discussed how they can obtain information on rivals in more than six hours of discreetly recorded talks, including by employing hacking tactics to access Gmail and Telegram accounts. They boasted of inserting content into reliable news sources, which the Aims bot-management program amplified.
The crew even claimed to have sent a sex toy via Amazon to the residence of a politician in an effort to give his wife the idea that he was involved in an affair. Much of their approach seems to revolve around disrupting or destroying rival campaigns.
The Israeli company Demoman International, which is listed on a website sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Defense to promote defense exports, seems to have been used by Hanan to conduct at least some of his disinformation operations.
Content in the footage
Radio France, Haaretz, and TheMarker journalists approached Team Jorge while posing as advisors for an African nation that was politically unstable and in need of assistance postponing an election.
Video calls and a face-to-face meeting were held with Hanan and his coworkers at Team Jorge’s base, an unmarked office in an industrial park in Modi’in, 20 miles from Tel Aviv.
Hanan described his team as ‘graduates of government agencies,’ working out of six offices globally, and having competence in financing social media campaigns, and ‘psychological warfare’. Four of Hanan’s coworkers, including his brother Zohar Hanan, who was referred to be the organization’s CEO, were present at the meetings.
Hanan asserted in his opening sales presentation to the prospective customers, “We are now involved in one election in Africa. We have a team in Greece and a team in [the] Emirates. You follow the leads. [We have completed] 33 presidential level campaigns, 27 of which were successful.” Later, he professed not to be actively involved in US politics but disclosed that he was working on two ‘big projects’ in the country.
In the covert meetings, it was impossible to confirm all of Team Jorge’s assertions, and Hanan might have embellished them in order to strike a lucrative agreement with potential clients. He, for instance, might have exaggerated his rates while describing the price of his services.
Team Jorge informed the journalists that they would accept payments in a number of different currencies, including cash or digital ones like bitcoin. For electoral meddling, he said he would demand between €6 million and €15 million.
Hanan, though, appears to have quoted lower prices in emails that were sent to the Guardian. According to one email, he requested $160,000 from the now-defunct British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica in 2015 to take part in an eight-week campaign in a Latin American country.
Hanan tried again, this time in Kenya, to land a contract with Cambridge Analytica in 2017, but the firm turned him down, stating that was more than its clients would be willing to pay.
There is no proof that either of those campaigns actually took place. However, other stolen documents show that Team Jorge collaborated with Cambridge Analytica when it secretly worked on the 2015 Nigerian presidential election.
The former CEO of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, declined to speak further but added, “Your purported understanding is challenged.”
Additionally, Team Jorge emailed Nix’s political consulting firm a video displaying an early version of the Aims branded social media misinformation program. Hanan alleged in an email that 17 elections had utilized the program, which allowed users to build up to 5,000 bots to distribute ‘mass messages’ and ‘propaganda’.
Hanan demonstrated the Aims interface by scrolling through a variety of avatars and demonstrating how phony accounts could be quickly made by selecting a nationality and gender from tabs, then matching profile photos to names.
There are Muslims, Asians, Spanish, and Russian people here, he said to the undercover reporters and added, “Let’s make a candidate together,” before deciding on a picture of a white woman, “Sophia Wilde, I like the name. British. Already she has email, date birth, everything.”
When questioned about the source of the images for his avatars, Hanan was evasive. However, the Guardian and its partners have found a number of cases where photos have been taken from actual people’s social media accounts. For instance, the image of ‘Sophia Wilde’ appears to have been taken from a Leeds-based woman’s Russian social media account.
Online activity by Aims-related bots was monitored by The Guardian and its reporting associates. About 20 countries, including the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Senegal, India, and the United Arab Emirates, were affected by its bogus social media campaigns, the majority of which involved business conflicts.
This week, Meta, the corporation that owns Facebook, removed Aims-related bots from its network after journalists sent them a sample of the fraudulent accounts. The Aims bots were related to others that were linked in 2019 to another now-defunct Israeli firm, which Meta booted from the platform, stated a spokesperson for the company, on Tuesday.
“This latest activity is an attempt by some of the same individuals to come back and we removed them for violating our policies,” the spokesperson said, “The group’s latest activity appears to be centered around running fake petitions on the internet or seeding fabricated stories in mainstream media outlets.”
Hanan also has his ‘blogger machine,’ a program that generates webpages automatically, which Aims controlled social media accounts can use to circulate false information online. “After you’ve created credibility, what do you do? Then you can manipulate,” he said.
Hanan’s hacking abilities
Hanan displayed the hacking prowess of his team to the reporters by breaking into Gmail and Telegram accounts. In one instance, he displayed the Gmail account of a man identified as the ‘assistant of an important guy’ in the next general election in Kenya.
Hanan remarked as he scrolled through the target’s emails, draft folders, and contacts, “Today, if someone has a Gmail, it means they have much more than just email.” Then he showcased how he apparently could access accounts on the encrypted messaging software Telegram.
One of the Telegram accounts he claimed to have accessed belonged to a user in Indonesia, while the other two appeared to be linked to Kenyans who were active in the general election and familiar with William Ruto, the candidate who ultimately won the presidency.
“I know in some countries they believe Telegram is safe. I will show you how safe it is,” he promised before flashing a screen on which it appeared that he was scrolling through the Telegram connections of a Kenyan strategist who was then working for Ruto.
Hanan then exhibited how Telegram access could be used to cause trouble.
He said, “One of the biggest things is to put sticks between the right people, you understand. And I can write him what I think about his wife, or what I think about his last speech, or I can tell him that I promised him to be my next chief of staff, OK?”
Hanan then showed how he could ‘delete’ the message after it had been read in order to hide his footprints.
Hanan made a mistake when he tried that same approach again and gained access to the Telegram account of Ruto’s second close adviser. He failed to properly remove a trivial Telegram message containing simply the number ’11’ that he had sent to one of the contacts of the hacking victim.
Later, a reporter from the group was able to locate the person who received that message and was given permission to look through their phone. On their Telegram account, the ’11’ message was still legible, confirming the validity of Team Jorge’s account takeover.
The global signaling telecoms system, SS7, has long been viewed by specialists as a weak point in the telecoms network. Hanan revealed to the undercover journalists that some of his hacking techniques targeted flaws in SS7.
The SS7 vulnerabilities issue, according to Telegram, is a well-known issue and ‘not exclusive to Telegram.’ “Accounts on any massively popular social media network or messaging app can be vulnerable to hacking or impersonation unless users follow security recommendations and take proper precautions to keep their accounts secure,” Telegram said. Google declined to comment on the vulnerabilities with Gmail.
For huge tech platforms, which have for years fought to prevent malevolent entities from disseminating misleading information or jeopardizing the security of their platforms, the approaches and techniques detailed by Team Jorge pose new hurdles. The evidence of private worldwide industry in disinformation directed at elections could end up alarming democracies all across the world.
A shocking video from West Bengal is making rounds on social media. The video is from a government hospital in Malda in West Bengal. In the video, it is clearly seen that a patient is lying on the floor instead of on a bed here. It is not difficult to guess from the condition of his clothes that he is extremely poor.
There was no attendant around the patient. No hospital staff is visible in the video. However, a rat can be seen crawling on the patient. It is not known whether the rat bit the patient or somehow damaged him. The video was taken at Malda Medical College and Hospital in Malda in West Bengal.
At one moment, the man covered in a blanket, who is reportedly a mental patient, grabs the rat by its hand and punches it with his fist. He releases the rodent after that, and it continues to crawl on him, nibbling on the clothes. The patient was admitted to a male ward of the medicine department in the hospital three days ago, and due to a lack of beds, he was kept on the floor.
A relative of a patient admitted to the hospital said that the hospital is in very poor condition. He said his father was admitted to the hospital three days ago, and from that day he has seen the patient seen in the video lying on the floor. He said that no doctor came to see him in the last three days. The man added that the Malda hospital is the most important hospital in the district, but its condition is very alarming.
People in the hospital also questioned why the man was kept in the medicine department when there is a separate psychiatry department. People said that while the rat problem was always there in the old building of the hospital, now it has also spread to the newly built building. The hospital also has a problem with mosquito infestation, and now with the rat infestation, the situation has become very bad. He further said that while he brought his father to the hospital for treatment, now he is in doubt about whether it was the right decision, seeing the condition of the institution.
According to reports, Hospital Superintendent Puranjay Sah didn’t deny the presence of rats and said that rats are commonly seen in the hospital. He further said, ‘Assistant superintendents have been asked to look into the issue of rats. Apart from this, steps for pest control have been taken.’ He added that the pest control program will start as soon as funds are made available. However, he said that he is not aware of the incident of rats crawling on patients. He said that he will look into the entire matter, and the hospital will be kept clean.
It is not known whether West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has seen this video of the bad hospitals or not. But whoever sees this video can guess the condition of government hospitals in West Bengal.
Netizens criticized the West Bengal government as the video was extensively circulated on social media. A Twitter user Mr. Sinha wrote, “In West Bengal, an old man couldn’t get into bed in the hospital so he was forced to sleep on the floor.. Later rats were seen biting him when he was unconscious. Will any “neutral-non godi media” dare to question Mamata Banerjee?”
In West Bengal, an old man couldn’t get bed in the hospital so he was forced to sleep on the floor.. Later rats were seen biting him when he was unconscious…
On 16th February 2023, Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change announced the relocation of twelve Cheetahs from South Africa to India. The cheetahs will be brought to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on February 18, 2023. This will be the second batch of cheetahs brought to India, after 8 cheetahs brought from Namibia were released in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on 17 September 2022.
The minister tweeted that the 8 cheetahs who came to India in September 2022 have adapted well, and India is now ready to welcome 12 more cheetahs from South Africa.
The 8 cheetahs who came to India in September 2022, under the ambitious and visionary planning of PM Shri @narendramodi ji, have adapted well.
A C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the Indian Air Force will bring the 12 cheetahs, which include 7 males and 5 females, from South Africa. According to Project Cheetah additional director SP Yadav, The military transport aircraft took off for South Africa from Hindon Air Force Station today at 6 AM. The aircraft is expected to land at 12:30 PM (South Africa time) at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johansaberg. The plane will take off tomorrow with the cheetahs, and it will land at Gwalior airport on at around 10:00 AM on 18 February. From Gwalior, they will be taken to Kuno National Park in Mi-17 helicopters.
VIDEO | "IAF’s C-17 Globemaster took off for South Africa from Hindon airbase today. It will return to Gwalior on Feb 18. The Cheetahs will be translocated from Gwalior to Kuno National Park in Mi-17 helicopters": Project Cheetah additional director SP Yadav to @PTI_Newspic.twitter.com/7cPSWIRCNN
During the intercontinental translocation experiment, a delegation of cheetah experts, veterinarians, and top authorities will be with these cheetahs. Upon their arrival in India, all 12 cheetahs will be placed in specially designed enclosures in Kuno National Park for the duration of the necessary quarantine period, during which the animals will be closely watched.
A consultation session including worldwide cheetah specialists, biologists, veterinarians, and forest authorities has been scheduled for February 20th at Kuno National Park to move India’s ambitious Cheetah Introduction project ahead. The workshop’s outcomes will pave the path for better cheetah management and will aid in the successful establishment of cheetah metapopulations in India.
According to a press release by PIB, Bhupender Yadav stated that reintroducing the Cheetah to India will contribute to the restoration of the country’s natural heritage. He also expressed gratitude to the Defence Ministry and the Indian Air Force for their unwavering support for the relocation. He also discussed the ministry’s numerous efforts in animal conservation, such as Project Cheetah, the LIFE concept and its sustainability, Green growth projects such as Green Credit, Mishti – for mangrove protection, and Gaj Utsav, among others.
As per the Action Plan for Cheetah Introduction in India, yearly 10-12 cheetahs are expected to be brought from African countries for the next 5 years at least. In this backdrop, the Government of India began bilateral discussions with the Republic of South Africa in 2021 to collaborate on cheetah conservation. The discussions were successfully finished in January 2023 with the signing of an Agreement with the Republic of South Africa. The Agreement provides for the translocation of a first batch of 12 cheetahs (7 males and 5 females) from South Africa to India.
Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952
The last three cheetahs in India were shot in the Sal (Shorea robusta) woods of Koriya District, Chhattisgarh State, in 1947. The major reasons for the cheetah’s extinction in India were large-scale capture of animals from the wild for coursing, bounty, and sport hunting, substantial habitat modification, and a concomitant fall in prey base. Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952.
Following this, efforts had started to reintroduce Cheetahs from other countries. But the efforts didn’t yield results for decades. But after renewed efforts under the Narendra Modi government, the project saw success and 8 cheetahs were introduced last year in India.
Narendra Modi government brought cheetahs back
On September 17, 2022, eight cheetahs were brought from Namibia to India and released in Kuno National Park by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in a historic first wild-to-wild intercontinental relocation. Following the obligatory quarantine time, the cheetahs were gradually allowed into the bigger habitat. In terms of natural behavior, bodily condition, activity pattern, and general fitness, all eight individual animals are doing exceptionally well. Cheetahs are all doing well and hunting natural prey.
While IAF’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft is bringing the second batch, the first batch was translocated by a special Boeing 747-400 aircraft. As the chartered plane had a tiger face painted on it, several media reports had claimed that it was specially painted for the flight. But it was wrong, as it was a tiger face, not a cheetah, and it was painted several years ago when the aircraft was owned by a Russian airline. The Siberian tiger face was painted on it to create awareness about the need to protect the tigers and the environment as a whole, in collaboration with Amur Tiger Centre. However, the plane’s interior was modified to transport the cheetahs, including the removal of all economy-class seats.
As the Globemaster is a transport aircraft, it will not require much modification to accommodate the cages of the cheetahs.
Shahid Afridi, the former captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team, has expressed his anger at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) unwavering attitude regarding the Indian men’s team not visiting Pakistan for the 2023 Asia Cup.
“If anyone is unable to stand on his own feet, then the decision to make such strong calls is not easy. They have to look at plenty of things. India agar aankhe dikha raha hain or taking such a strong stance, then they have made themselves that strong, hence they are able to talk like this, otherwise, they wouldn’t have the courage. In the end, make yourself strong and then take decisions,” he told Samaa TV last week.
Afridi, who is currently serving as the Pakistan Cricket Board’s top selector, continued by saying that if India didn’t change their mind about visiting Pakistan, the International Cricket Council would have to play a crucial role.
“I have no idea, will India visit Pakistan for the Asia Cup? Will we boycott the ODI World Cup in India? But we need to take a stand at some point or the other. In this case, ICC’s role becomes crucial, they should come forward, but let me say that even ICC won’t be able to do anything in front of BCCI,” he said.
India traveling to Pakistan was ruled out earlier this month, according to Jay Shah, the BCCI Secretary and President of the Asian Cricket Council. “We [India] can’t go there [to Pakistan], they can’t come here. In the past as well, the Asia Cup has been played at a neutral venue,” Shah had said after the 91st BCCI annual general meeting in Mumbai, in the presence of new Board president Roger Binny.
The PCB then released a statement complaining about Shah’s influence. The Asian Cricket Council board stated that the remarks were made without any discussion or consultation with the Board of the Asian Cricket Council or the Pakistan Cricket Board (Asia Cup host).
“Asia Cup was supposed to take place in Pakistan. But India has announced that if it takes place in Pakistan, then we won’t be participating. If you want us to participate, do change the venue. But we have seen this happen many times. When we say that we won’t go to their place, they will say that they will also not come to our place. Similarly, Pakistan has said that they will also not come for the World Cup. However, I think it is not possible,” Indian cricket star Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Attack on Hindu temples in Australia from Khalistani elements refuses to stop. After Hindu temples were vandalised in the country with graffiti, now a temple has received a warning against holding a Bhajan program. A woman priest of a Kali Mata temple in the northern suburbs of Melbourne in Australia received threats from Khalistani terrorists for organizing a Bhajan program of Indian singer Kanhiya Mittal.
Bhawna – the priest of the Kali Mata temple in Melbourne’s northern suburb of Craigieburn – received these threats from an unidentified caller who spoke to her in the Punjabi language from an unknown phone number three weeks ago.
According to a report by Australia Today, Bhawna told that at around 3 PM on 24 January when she was retiring after serving food in the daily Bhandara, she received multiple calls from an unidentified person whose phone number was not displayed.
The caller spoke to her in Punjabi and said that he is her well-wisher and asked her if is she organizing a Bhajan program in the temple with Indian singer Kanhiya Mittal. Bhawna confirmed that they are organising a big bhajan-kirtan and the program is scheduled for 4th March. Thinking that the call was for a sponsoring enquiry, she said told the caller to the other number for such purpose. As they were receiving lots of calls regarding sponsoring programs, and therefore thought it was also a similar call.
But she was shocked when the unknown caller asked her to cancel the program. When she said that they have already done preparations and they can’t cancel the event now, the caller warned of adverse consequences if the program is held, as the invited singer is staunch Hindu. The caller said, “You listen carefully, cancel your singer’s bhajan-puja program otherwise get ready to face consequences. Do you know your singer is staunch Hindu, If he comes, a fight is sure at the temple”
Bhawna pleaded with the caller not to disrupt the program. She said that this is Ma Kali’s place, and even Guru Govind Singh used to pray to the Goddess, and there is no reason for anyone to disrupt the program. But the caller responded by saying, “My job is to warn you if you don’t listen it’s up to you. We will show you what we can do.”
Following this, Bhawna went to the Craigieburn Police station and lodged a formal complaint. She said that the police accepted the complaint and assured her that police will do rounds of the street every half an hour on 4th March, the date of the programme.
She told The Australia Today, “Next couple of days were very tough as we came across the news of three Hindu temples vandalised with anti-hindu graffiti by Khalistan supporters.”
She further informed that free boarding and food have been arranged for anyone travelling to Melbourne to attend the bhajan puja, and hoped that police will ensure safety.
Kali Mata Mandir is a spiritual location for around 100,000 devotees in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. Its Hindu festival activities have drawn large crowds for several years.
Previously, the Hindus in Australia were outraged when three of its most renowned Hindu temples outside the Indian subcontinent were defaced with anti-Hindu graffiti. The ancient Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs was vandalized only a week after anti-India and anti-Hindu graffiti were splashed on the walls of BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Mill Park. This act of destruction was discovered on Monday, January 16th, when Temple followers arrived for ‘darshan’ as the Tamil Hindu community celebrated the three-day “Thai Pongal” festival.
Khalistan supporters filmed their disgusting and disrespectful behaviour at the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple. Khalistan supporters had written slogans on the temple walls in which they hailed Khalistani terrorist Bhindranwale. Soon after, social media accounts began sharing the photographs and videos, saying it was their courageous deed against Hindus in Australia.
