As the economic crisis intensified due to low foreign reserves and a plummeting Pakistani rupee, Pakistan barred imports of some luxury goods on Thursday under the so-called “emergency economic plan.”
Pakistan’s current account deficit has ballooned out of control, its foreign exchange reserves have collapsed, and the Pakistani rupee has fallen to historic lows versus the US dollar.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the restriction on imports of many luxury products on Twitter, claiming that the measure will save valuable foreign exchange for Pakistan.
لگژری سامان کی درآمد پر پابندی کےفیصلے سے ملک کے قیمتی زرمبادلہ کی بچت ہوگی۔ہم کفایت شعاری پر سختی سے عمل کریں گے۔ مالی طور پر آسودہ حال لوگوں کواس قومی مہم میں ایک مثال بننا ہوگا تاکہ مالی مسائل کا شکار ہم وطنوں کو مہنگائی کی اس آگ سے بچایا جاسکے جو پی ٹی آئی حکومت جلا کر گئی ہے
The dollar surpassed all records on Thursday, surging above Rs 200 in the interbank market. The US dollar was trading at PKR200.50 on the open market. Meanwhile, Wednesday’s interbank dollar rate was PKR198.39, up from PKR195.74 on Tuesday.
Earlier on Thursday, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said it was an “emergency situation” and that Pakistanis would have to make some sacrifices as part of the economic program, adding that the impact of the restrictions will be roughly $6 billion. She stated that the measures are intended to alleviate budgetary instability, which she blamed on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s former administration, which was deposed in a no-confidence motion last month over allegations of mismanaging the country economically.
Pakistan’s principal imports are petroleum, edible oil, and pulses, all of which would be unaffected. Cars, cellular phones, household appliances, and cosmetics are among the many goods that will be restricted.
The ban’s duration was not immediately apparent, but Aurangzeb stated that it, together with other budgetary measures, will help conserve important forex reserves for the next 2 months. Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves have swiftly declined from $16.3 billion at the end of February to a little over $10 billion in May.
Congress is in crisis with several leaders quitting the party, after making scathing comments on the working style of the party. Recently, two big leaders of the party, Hardik Patel and Sunil Jhakar quit the party. While Hardik Patel said he felt the party gave him a vasectomy and Jhakhar said that the party supports casteism. Amid the brewing discontent, Rahul Gandhi has flown to London to speak at a Cambridge University event on “India at 75: The challenges and way ahead for a resilient-modern India”. The event is slated to take place on the 23rd.
Even the poster that has been floated by Congress does not mention who is organising the event. The impression that one gets from the poster is that it is an event organised by the University of Cambridge.
Poster of the event floated by Congress
This is, of course, being touted as a symbol of Rahul Gandhi’s credibility by the Congress, essentially saying that Rahul Gandhi is the intellectual political leader who gets invited to prestigious institutions like Cambridge University to speak about the future of India after 75 years of Independence.
It, therefore, becomes important to investigate who is organising this event where Rahul Gandhi, along with other leaders like TMC’s Mohua Moitra, Communist Sitaram Yechury, Congress leader Sam Pitroda etc are speaking.
Who is organising the Cambridge University event where Rahul Gandhi, along with other opposition leaders, are slated to speak
Upon a little digging, it was revealed that the Cambridge University event was being organised by “Bridge India”, that claims to be a “non-profit think tank”.
The Bridge India website lists the event where Rahul Gandhi is slated to speak.
Event page of Bridge India
Some of the leaders listed in the event are Rahul Gandhi, Salman Khurshid, KT Rama Rao, Mahua Moitra, Tejashvi Yadav, Sitaram Yechury, Amitabh Beher (CEO of Oxfam), RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha, Congress’ Sam Pitroda, NewsLaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri and Pushparaj Deshpande (Founder of Samruddha Bharat Foundation) amongst others.
In the “About” section of the event, Bridge India proclaims that the Ideas for India Conference, at which Rahul Gandhi would be speaking, is organised by them.
The About Us page of Bridge India
What is Bridge India, the Think Tank organising the Cambridge event where Rahul Gandhi is speaking, and what is its Congress link
While Congress is trying to tout the event as a mark of Rahul Gandhi’s credibility, almost as if it is the Cambridge University that has invited Rahul Gandhi and the other motley bunch, the truth is far from it.
The event is being organised by Bridge India that has a distinct connection to Congress.
One of the partners of Bridge India, as listed on their website is an organisation called Samruddha Bharat.
Partner page of Bridge India
Who are the Trustees of Samruddha Bharat – The Congress connection
One look at Samruddha Bharat makes the Congress connection rather evident. On their website, they list their trustees, which is stuffed with Congress leaders and sympathisers.
The list of trustees have 3 members, out of 7, who have direct Congress links.
Trustees of Samruddha Bharat
KTS Tulsi, who is a trustee of Samruddha Bharat is a politician, elected to the Rajya Sabha the upper house of Indian Parliament from Chhattisgarh as a member of the Indian National Congress.
Gurdeep Sappal is the national spokesperson of Congress party, a fact that is public knowledge and mentioned on his Twitter bio as well.
Twitter bio of Sappal
And Pushparaj Deshpande has worked on “policy and politics” with the Congress party. This fact is mentioned in his trustee bio on the Samruddha Bharat website itself. He is the Managing Trustee and founder of Samruddha Bharat and also a speaker at the Cambridge event where Rahul Gandhi will be speaking on Monday.
In fact, his Twitter bio has the image of Congress leader P Chidambaram rather prominently.
Twitter bio of Pushparaj Deshpande
In fact, there is an interesting aspect mentioned in his speakers profile of the event.
Speaker profile of Pushparaj
He had also worked with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, of which top Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh etc were the functionaries, had received funds from China and other governments in potential quid pro quo.
Who are the Advisors of Samruddha Bharat – Congress and opposition politicians, who have been invited to speak at the event
Interestingly, when one goes through the list of advisors of Samruddha Bharat, one realises that many of them are Congress leaders, leaders from opposition parties and others who have been invited to speak at the event being hosted by Bridge India, the think tank Samruddha Bharat partners with.
Here is a list of the advisors and their connections:
Manoj Kumar Jha: Manoj Kumar Jha is an advisor of Samruddha Bharat and a Rashtriya Janata Dal leader. He has been invited as a speaker at India at 75 event where Rahul Gandhi is slated to speak. Samruddha Bharat is a partner of Bridge India, which is organising the event.
Javed Ali Khan: Khan is an advisor of Samruddha Bharat and a leader of the Samajwadi Party.
Jayant Singh: Singh is a politician from the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Tikender Panwar: He is the advisor of Samruddha Bharat and is a leader of CPI-M.
Vivek Tankha: Tankha was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the Upper house of the Parliament of India from Madhya Pradesh as a member of the Indian National Congress.
Salman Khurshid Alam Khan: Khurshid is a veteran Congress politician and an advisor of Samruddha Bharat. He has also been invited as a speaker to the event where Rahul Gandhi is speaking.
Rajeev Gowda: Perhaps the most interesting advisor of them all is Rajeev Gowda. He is a Congress politician, former Member of Parliament and currently chairperson of the AICC Research Department. Interestingly, Gowda is also an advisor to Bridge India – the think tank organising the Rahul Gandhi event at Cambridge University.
It is therefore evident that 7 advisors of Samruddha Bharat have a direct link either to the Congress party or other opposition parties that Congress is currently allying with.
This is not all. There is another concerning connection that makes the event being attended by Rahul Gandhi even more concerning.
Samruddha Bharat has a distinct connection of Oxfam and Amnesty.
One of the main advisors of Samruddha Bharat is Amitabh Beher. According to his Samruddha Bharat profile, “Amitabh Behar is the CEO of Oxfam India and the former executive director of the National Foundation for India. He was the Executive Director of the National Centre of Advocacy Studies. He chairs the boards of Amnesty International India, Navsarjan and Yuva. He is the vice board chair of CIVICUS”.
Interestingly, Beher is also the speaker at the event where Rahul Gandhi is speaking, an event organised by a think tank that partners with Samruddha Bharat.
Another advisor is Nisha Agarwal. According to her Samruddha Bharat profile, “Dr. Nisha Agrawal is a development economist. She was the former CEO of Oxfam India. Prior to that, she has worked with the World Bank on development issues for 18 years. Dr. Agrawal has a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA”.
Salil Shetty, a third advisor, is connected to Amnesty International. His bio reads, “Salil Shetty was the Secretary-General of Amnesty International and the Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign”.
It is pertinent to note that Amnesty is under investigation in India for FCRA violations. In February 2021, the ED attached movable properties of Amnesty International India worth Rs 17.66 crore in a money laundering case. During the investigations, ED had found that after the cancellation of the FCRA license by the Indian government, Amnesty International India Foundation Trust and other Amnesty entities adopted ‘new methods’ to receive money from abroad. Earlier, The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered an FIR against Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT) and Amnesty International South Asia Foundation (AISAF) under sections of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and the Indian Penal Code (120-B) for criminal conspiracy.
Further Amnesty International also has links to radical Islam and the British Government.
Oxfam is an international organization with interests that do not appear to align with the national interests of our country. It’s also a foreign-funded NGO registered under the FCRA Act. Amitabh Beher, the CEO of Oxfam India had earlier invited Rahul Gandhi to align with the Civil Society and eulogised Congress. In 2019, Beher had written, “The Congress has been a banyan tree of ideas under which a broad range of multiple and even diverse ideas have been nurtured and nourished as long as they have a common core ethos—which is in line with the fundamentals of the ideological frame of the Congress and the idea of India.”
The CEO of Oxfam also argues that the Congress party should work closely with “civil society”, a euphemism for foreign-funded NGOs and others that have close ties with ‘Urban Naxals’. He argues that Congress should enter an “alliance” with civil society and reach out to such organizations with “due humility” to ensure the revival of the party.
He writes, “It is evident that a robust civil society needs an enabling environment in which their primary right to exist and civic right of association or function is not stifled. With this backdrop, Congress would benefit significantly by working in close or loose coordination (or alliance) with civil society, which can strongly help in amplifying the issues of the common and marginalized people. This could revive the movement space of the Congress by foregrounding people’s issues and also help in mass action. On the other hand, the Congress must with due humility reach out to civil society and adopt/imbibe the people’s agenda and build traction for the core issues of poverty, exclusion and development.”
Further, the NGO that had filed a complaint against the Rafale deal was partners with Oxfam. It is pertinent to note that the Rafale deal was exonerated by the Supreme Court of India, which found no irregularities in the deal. The NGO was also partners with George Soros, apart from Oxfam.
The United Kingdom had cancelled the license of Oxfam after evidence of rampant sexual exploitation by the International Organisation had emerged.
Samruddha Bharat – A Congress front?
Given the Trustees and Advisors of Samruddha Bharat, it hardly leaves much to the imagination about the organisation being a Congress front. However, there are several other indications about its Congress connection.
At the inauguration of Samruddha Bharat, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was the Chief Guest.
Inauguration of Samruddha Bharat
The inauguration passage on their website reads, “The Samruddha Bharat Foundation (SBF) was inaugurated by Shri Rahul Gandhi, the President of the Indian National Congress at Bengaluru, Karnataka. The inaugural function was followed by an interactive discussion to brainstorm on ways to take India to ever greater heights. The policymakers that SBF hosted included Shri Rahul Gandhi, Shri Veerappa Moily, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Dr. G. Parmeshwara, the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and about 250 of Bengaluru’s foremost academics, activists, artists and policymakers”.
Their publications, where Congress leaders are involved, revolve around the narrative that Congress wishes to spin – whether it is deriding Hindus by calling India “Majoritarian” or peddling the narrative that essentially divorces Dalits from Hindus.
Publications by Samruddha Bharat
All their events and coverage in the media revolves around Congress leaders and their agenda.
If Samruddha Bharat is indeed a Congress front, it leaves a cause for concern. It not only seems to be an amalgamation of politicians who want to tacitly further their agenda but also of international and foreign-funded organisations like Amnesty and Oxfam that are not allied with Indian interests.
Bridge India trustees and advisors – Congress threads here as well
As mentioned earlier, the event at Cambridge University where Rahul Gandhi would be speaking on Monday has been organised by Bridge India, whose partner is Samruddha Bharat. While Samruddha Bharat has deep Congress connections, Bridge India too has ties to Congress that cannot be overlooked.
One of the trustees of Bridge India is Ashwin Kumaraswamy. Ashwin Kumaraswamy seems to be, either directly or indirectly a part of the All India Professional Congress. He had taken to Twitter to complain about the fact that he could not give feedback to Congress through AIPC before or after elections. Unless someone is a part of Congress and AIPC, one would not have tried to provide feedback through a party’s arm and then raised the problem with Shashi Tharoor.
@ShashiTharoor IF AIPC can’t be a platform through which feedback on party n it’s leadership pre n post elections can’t be shared without hesitation for betterment of the party, what’s the use having it? One can always have use policy experts instead? #Disappointing
Among the advisors, Bridge India has Rajeev Gowda, who is also the advisor of Samruddha Bharat.
Rajeev Gowda profile
It also has Salil Tripathi on its board of advisors, who is a fake news peddler and known sympathiser of Congress.
So was it Cambridge University that invited Rahul Gandhi to speak?
The Congress party has touted this event to bolster the credibility of Rahul Gandhi, by claiming that it is in fact Cambridge University that has invited Rahul Gandhi to speak. However, while the event is being hosted at Cambridge, it has been organised by a Congress affiliate organisation, which is partners with another organisation that appears to be a Congress front. The speakers at the event from India are those who belong to the Congress party, opposition parties and those associated with Samruddha Bharat or Bridge India (the organiser of the event).
It would therefore be a stretch to consider this event as a mark of credibility. It is, in fact, an event organised by Congress affiliates who are involved with foreign-funded NGOs like Oxfam and Amnesty International.
The Sufi Islamic Board, which has been relentless in exposing the Popular Front of India (PFI), has once again reiterated its demand to ban the radical Islamic organisation, saying that the PFI is operating on the instructions of the terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda.
Speaking to Republic TV, Sufi Islamic Board spokesperson Kashish Warsi accused the Popular Front of India of involvement in the work of instigating Indian Muslims for many years. Warsi also made a sensational claim that the radical Islamic organisation operates on the instructions of terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda. He also claimed that some members of the Sufi Islamic Board have received death threats from Al-Qaeda after seeking a ban on the PFI.
“PFI has been found involved in many anti-national activities. It’s been some time since we have requested the government to ban the PFI, and now after Al-Qaeda’s death threat to the Sufi Islamic Board, it has been proved the PFI is a part of Al-Qaeda. We appeal to the Central government to ban PFI and take strict action against them,” Warsi said.
Earlier, in December 2020, Sufi Islamic Board had also alleged that the PFI is backed by terrorist organisations and is running ‘schools’ to radicalise Muslim youths to carry out jihad. In addition, the Sufi Islamic Board had said that the PFI was misleading the Muslim youths through its political wing Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).
The outfit uses the belief of ’72 hoors’ in Jannat after martyrdom as a bait to lure Muslim men into carrying out jihad in the country, the Sufi Board had alleged.
The ’72 hoors’ (heavenly virgins) refers to a belief among Islamists that when the terrorists die in jihad and go to Jannat (heaven), they are rewarded with 72 virgin women to satisfy their sexual desires. This is a widespread belief among Islamist terrorists, with terror organisations like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram etc., using this promise to lure and recruit new terrorists.
The Sufi Islamic Board had recently received a defamation notice from PFI for accusing them of radicalising Muslim youth. The Sufi Boards had also responded to the defamation notice saying that they will not stop until PFI is banned in India because they are radicalising the youth of India.
PFI and SDPI are ‘extremist’ organisations: Kerala High Court
In a significant observation, the Kerala High Court had recently agreed there was no doubt that the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and its parent body, the Popular Front of India (PFI), are extremist organisations.
“No doubt, SDPI and PFI are extremist organisations indulging in serious acts of violence. All the same, those are not banned organisations,” Justice K Haripal had stated.
The Kerala High Court further noted that both SDPI and PFI have a history of attacking members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It added, “It is the common case that activists of the SDPI/PFI were behind the attack.”
The court made the remarks while hearing the petition of the wife of deceased RSS worker A Sanjith, seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The 26-year-old Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker Sanjith was hacked to death in front of his wife in Ellapully, Palakkad, by members of SDPI.
According to sources, Congress politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is set to surrender before a Patiala court today after the Supreme Court sentenced him to one year in prison in a 34-year-old road rage case.
This morning, a few Congress leaders and supporters showed up at the home of the party’s former Punjab state chairman, Navjot Singh Sidhu. In a letter to party supporters on Thursday night, Patiala District Congress Committee president Narinder Pal Lali stated that Navjot Singh Sidhu would be in the court at 10 AM. He asked party followers to arrive at the court complex by 9:30 AM. His wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu arrived at the Patiala residence on Thursday night.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court of India sentenced Sidhu to one year in jail for a 1987 road rage case. Following a review plea filed by the family of Gurnam Singh, the victim who died in the 1988 event, the Supreme Court reversed its 2018 ruling lowering Sidhu’s penalties in the case.
In 2018, a Supreme Court bench of Justice J Chelameshwar (retired) and Justice SK Kaul concluded that Sidhu’s offence did not amount to Culpable Homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to a fine of Rs 1000, lowering the punishment from three years imprisonment given by the High Court. The court had reserved its verdict in the case in March this year.
Saying that Sidhu had knowingly caused the death, the bench said, “The material on record leads us to the only possible conclusion that we can reach that the first accused voluntarily caused hurt to Gurnam Singh punishable under Section 323 IPC”.
Sidhu and one of his friends reportedly attacked Patiala resident Gurnam Singh on December 27, 1988, for allegedly obstructing his vehicle. Gurnam Singh was confirmed dead while being brought to a hospital. In this case, Sidhu and his companion Rupinder Singh Sandhu were arrested.
The Melkote Chaluvanarayana temple administration has submitted a memorandum to the Karnataka Muzrai department to change the name of the daily evening ritual from ‘Deevatige Salaam’ to ‘Sandhya Aarti’.
According to the reports, many Hindu leaders and Dharmika Parishad have taken objection to such practice and have sought to change the name as it finds no mention in the Hindu scripts. Based on that, the Hindu activist groups and devotees have now demanded the district administration change the name of ‘Salaam Aarti’ to ‘Sandhya Aarti’, which is performed to the deity at the Melkote temple in Mandya daily.
Following the demand, the district administration sought a report from the Pandavapura assistant commissioner and temple executive officer in this regard. Deputy Commissioner CS Ashwathi has now written a letter to the State Muzarai commissioner to change the name to ‘Sandhya Aarti’. The Muzarai department is yet to consider the issue of the name change of the ritual.
Earlier, a similar demand was made by the Hindu activist group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), who had urged the temple administration committee of Kollur Mookambika temple to do away with ‘Salaam Aarti’, a ritual offered in the temple remembering Tipu Sultan.
The practice of ‘Salaam Aarti’ was started during the reign of Islamic tyrant Tipu Sultan, who had mandated that the temple priests should perform special aarti to the presiding deity in his honour. According to a local historian who spoke to OpIndia, several prominent Hindu temples, including Kollur Mookambika, performed special aartis in the name of Tipu Sultan as a compromise to preserve those religious institutions from destruction.
Professor Shalva Pille Iyengar, head of the department of ancient history and archaeology at the Karnataka State Open University, also reiterated that the introduction of Salaam Aarti happened during the reign of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.
On Friday (May 20) morning, reports emerged that the Central Bureau of Investigation had registered a new corruption case against Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his daughter Misa Bharti.
#WATCH Police presence outside the Patna residence of former Bihar CM Rabri Devi as CBI conducts raids at multiple locations of RJD Chief Lalu Yadav in a fresh case relating to alleged 'land for railway job scam'#Biharpic.twitter.com/mwIdvdT9N3
As per a report in Republic TV, the central agency completed a preliminary inquiry and lodged a First Information Report (FIR) in the case. Citing sources, it informed that the case is linked to a recruitment scam.
As per reports, raids are being conducted by the central agency at 15 locations in connection to the case.
According to a news report by India Today, raids are underway at 17 places including Patna, Delhi and Gopalganj. The case is linked to a ‘land for job scam’ wherein jobs were offered in exchange for lands and plots.
India Today informed that the scam took place when Lalu Prasad Yadav served as the Railway Minister between 2004 and 2009. “While Lalu Prasad was railway minister, the land was taken in exchange for jobs to certain people,” a CBI source told the news organisation.
While speaking about the development with News 18, RJD leader Mritunjay Trivedi dubbed the case against Lalu Prasad Yadav and his daughter as ‘political vendetta.’ He claimed, “The (BJP) government, in a bid to harass and defame its political opponents, have been using its agencies against them. “
Fodder scam of Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Yadav is also convicted and has served time in the fodder scam case. The scandal was first unearthed in 1996. By then, Lalu Prasad Yadav and his co-accused had siphoned off around Rs 950 crores under the pretence of spending on fodder and other expenses for cattle over many years.
CBI had registered 53 separate cases during the investigation of the scam. Infamous as Chara Ghotala, Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted for the first time in the Chaibasa treasury case on September 30, 2013.
As a result of the conviction, he was disqualified from Lok Sabha and sent to jail for five years. Later, he was granted bail by Supreme Court in December 2013. In December 2017, he was convicted again pertaining to his involvement in the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from the Deoghar treasury.
In April 2022, the RJD leader was again granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court. Counsel for Yadav had stated, “The court has accepted our petition for suspension of the sentence as well and has granted bail. We had pleaded that he has served half of his five-year sentence in this case. Against the sentence of 30 months, our client has already served 42 months in jail in this case.”
Executive president of the Maharashtra state Congress and MLA Praniti Shinde has strongly opposed the Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s decision to lift water from the Ujani dam and give it to Indapur and Baramati talukas. Congress MLA from Maharashtra’s Solapur city Praniti Shinde has warned the Maha Vikas Aghadi government that if it tries to divert water from Solapur, the people of Solapur will create a ruckus. Shinde also said she had nothing to do with power and had seen power since childhood. Shinde explained her stance on the issue of diverting water meant for Solapur from the Ujani dam to Indapur and Baramati which is Sharad Pawar’s hometown.
“Give us water, give us everyday. If you try to steal our water, we will burn down forests.”
— Maha Vinash Aghadi ᴾᵃʳᵒᵈʸ (@MVAGovt) May 19, 2022
Praniti Shinde said, “We will not let this happen. If it happens so, we will create a ruckus. Twenty years ago, Sushilkumar Shinde Saheb laid a pipeline to bring the water from the Ujani Dam to Solapur. This government and the guardian minister are not giving that water in a proper way in the first place. The Municipal Corporation is also unable to set a proper plan. We accuse the Municipal Corporation is neglecting this issue even when there is decent water stored in the Ujani Dam.”
She further said, “All of you must be remembering that we gave water every two days even in the middle of droughts. At that time the Ujani Dam was running into minus. Prithviraj Chavhan was the chief minister of the state. We brought a fund of Rupees two crore overnight and set the suction pumps. And brought that water to the Solapur Municipal Corporation area while the Congress party then ruled the Corporation. We cared for people. We always used to think about what can we deliver to the people going out of the box. It is only because of this attitude that we could bring the water from Ujani to Solapur overnight through the pipeline. Even in the middle of the droughts we supplied alternate day water to Solapurkars and even to the extended suburbs of Solapur city.”
Praniti Shinde said, “Today the Ujani Dam is in plus. Still, you are not planning the water distribution properly. Adding worse to the worry, if you try to divert our water somewhere else, will we remain silent as if we are dead? Aren’t we working here for the people of Solapur? We are working day and night for the people of Solapur and their legitimate rights. I have nothing to do with the power. I have seen much of that since my childhood. But if you are diverting the water which is actually meant for the people of Solapur then I hereby warn you that we will create a ruckus. Give us water. Give us water every day and don’t you dare to touch our waters.”
Praniti Shinde is the daughter of former union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde. It is notable that the government of Maharashtra has taken the decision of giving the water from the Ujani Dam to 17 villages in the Indapur and Baramati talukas under a special scheme. a Fund of 348 crore rupees is also allotted for the same. People in the Solapur district are enraged at this decision and there is a protest going on against this decision.
As dead bodies reappear in Ganga, the concocted portrayal of the so-called unaccounted Covid-19 deaths in India by the so-called liberal world media is exposed once again. Today, when the Covid-19 cases and in turn the deaths due to the virus are well under control, bodies are appearing in Ganga and on its banks once again. While many people are calling the burial of the bodies on the banks of the holy river a ritual to attain salvation, others point their fingers toward the financial inability to execute proper cremation of the bodies.
Last year, the wave of the Delta variant of the coronavirus hit India in the summer. As many bodies were seen floating in the holy river and many others were found buried in the sand on its banks, many sections of the so-called liberal media and especially the foreign media indicated that the situation has appeared due to the unaccounted Covid-19 deaths in the wave. The Phaphamau Ghat of Prayagraj attracted many parts of this selectively targeted criticism because the media showed it as a graveyard of sorts and saffron-colored clothes on temporarily erected poles indicating that bodies have been buried there. Though burying is not the primary Hindu way to perform the last rites, some have found it convenient while a few others identify it as a custom.
It is evident from the bodies found floating in the river this year that while reporting in the last year, the international media did not investigate the root cause behind the open burials. It was rather interesting in the hyped depiction of how the virus is playing havoc in the country and how the systems have crumbled under the high count of the cases and the deaths. It is however pertinent to note that this year the international media has chosen not to report the open burial of bodies near the banks of the river. There is a sharp decline in Covid-19 cases this year with high vaccination coverage being a major contributing factor to the country’s success in battling the pandemic.
According to a report by ANI, Teerthraj Patel, a local resident while attending a funeral of his relative said, “In Hinduism, the funeral is done by burning the pyre in which a lot of wood is used. Here, the body gets absorbed in the Ganga. There is nothing wrong with all this. The ghat is used by people from various districts. They are aware of the contraction of the river Ganga during the summer season. They know that when the river will expand during the rainy season, the bodies will be submerged in the river and their loved ones will get salvation. This is why there is a temporary burial in the sand.”
According to the report, the Prayagraj Municipal Commissioner Ravi Ranjan said, “We are urging people not to bury bodies there. An electric crematorium will be built there for which permission has been received from the concerned department. The work will be completed soon.”
While cremation is primary method of last rites of the dead among Hindus, some sections also practice burial. It is regularly seen on Ganga’s banks in some locations of Uttar Pradesh. Before 1988, the tradition of immersing dead bodies in Ganga was popular among the masses as they were deemed unfit for cremation. However, Supreme Court ruled against the practice and deemed it illegal to immerse dead bodies in the river.
There can be several reasons which make a dead body unfit for cremation according to tradition, such as if the person died of a snake bite, if it was an infant, if the person had some skin disease or if the person was a Sadhu. In these cases, it is advised, as per traditions, to bury the dead body.
Similarly, in some families, they do not cremate anyone but bury them alongside Ganga banks in shallow graves. These graves are then covered with bamboo sticks and Ram Naam Clothes that are considered sacred. Shringverpur Ghat and Phaphamau Ghat in Prayagraj are famous for such burials. Last year, amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the media houses that were filled with reports that are totally disconnected from the Hindu traditions suddenly found these Ghats.
While such burials always took place on riverbanks at some places, the media splashed the images of such burial sites as the victims of Covid-19. Unable to cremate the bodies, they were forced to burry them, the media reports claimed, unaware of the facts. UP CM Yogi Adityanath had slammed the media reports, sharing old pre-Covid images showing bodies on the banks of Ganga.
It is evident from the current situation that the reality of the floating bodies in the Ganga is different than how it was reported in the second wave of Covid-19.
China on Thursday condemned the US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya’s meeting with the 14th Dalai Lama in Dharamshala in India. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian called out Uzra Zeya’s visit as an ‘interference in its internal affairs’.
US Under Secretary Uzra Zeya, who is also the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues is on a visit to India and Nepal from May 17 to 22. On Thursday, she called upon the 14th Dalai Lama and representatives of the Tibetian Government in Exile in Dharamshala as part of her visit.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian in his latest address to the media took this issue after the development from India came. He said, “The so-called Tibetan government-in-exile is an out-and-out separatist political group and an illegal organization completely in violation of China’s Constitution and laws. It is not recognized by any country in the world.” Lijian asserted that the 14th Dalai Lama is ‘not a purely religious figure’, but lies as a political exile who has long been engaged in separatist activities and attempted to split Tibet from China.
Calling out the appointment of the ‘Special Coordinator for Tibet Issues’ by the U.S, He said that the move is an interference in China’s internal affairs. “Tibet affairs are purely internal affairs of China, and brook no interference by any external forces,” he asserted. Zhao Lijian called out the U.S. side to take concrete actions “to honour its commitment to recognize Tibet as a part of China and not support Tibetan independence.”
The spokesperson said that China will continue to take ‘all necessary measures’ to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty, security, and development interests.
Wonderful to engage with civil society groups in New Delhi and talk about their vital work to support shared #USIndia democratic values, including tolerance, free expression, and respect for human rights.
— Under Secretary Uzra Zeya (@UnderSecStateJ) May 18, 2022
Meanwhile, US Under Secretary Uzra Zeya is in India “to deepen cooperation on human rights and democratic governance goals and to advance humanitarian priorities,” the office of the secretary said. On Wednesday, she met ‘civil society groups’ in New Delhi to “talk about their vital work to support shared US-India democratic values, including tolerance, free expression, and respect for human rights,” she tweeted.
Although delayed by some time, India is all set to receive completely made-in-India 5G network soon. In a significant milestone in deployment of the next-generation telecom technology in the country, union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today made successful test 5G call at IIT Madras.
Posting a video of the same, the minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology said that the entire end to end network for 5G is designed and developed in India. After making a video call using 5G network, the minister told the reporters that it is the realisation of prime minister Modi’s dreams. “His vision is to have our own 4G, 5G technology stacks developed in India, made in India, made for the world. We have to win the world with this entire technology stack”.
Aatmanirbhar 5G ??
Successfully tested 5G call at IIT Madras. Entire end to end network is designed and developed in India. pic.twitter.com/FGdzkD4LN0
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) May 19, 2022
The 5G call was made by the minister after govt of India launched the 5G testbed for telecom companies to test their 5G equipment in India. On May 17th, PM Modi had launched the 5G testbed, developed under a multi-institute collaborative project by a total of eight institutes led by IIT Madras. Other institutions that are part of this project are IT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IISc Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT).
In the absence of a 5G testbed, startups and industry players were forced to go abroad to test and validate their products to install on a 5G network. Now they will be able to do that in the 5G testbeds in India, which have been set up in five locations across India. The Test Bed project will enable a supportive ecosystem for Indian industry players and startups which will help them validate their products, prototypes, solutions and algorithms in 5G and other next-generation technologies.
Yesterday minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India’s own 5G stack, dubbed by the govt as 5Gi, will be ready around September-October this year. He had said that said India’s indigenous telecom stacks mark “big fundamental technological advancements”.
It is notable that instead of importing 5G technology, India has developed an indigenous 5G standard, in order to achieve made in India goals and also to stop relying on Chinese telecom majors. The 5Gi standard was developed under the supervision of Telecom Standard Development Society India and DoT, with contribution from several major IITs and IISc. The 5G standard developed in India has been named as 5Gi.
It is notable that the 5Gi standard already has been incorporated into the global 5G standard 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project). In August last year, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) had approved the 5Gi standard, the India’s homegrown 5G technology stack. Then in December 2021, the 5Gi was merged with 3GPP, marking the first time when a telecom technology developed in India was adopted by global body of telecom organisations.
“The merger of the 5Gi standard into 3GPP, enables a single common specification going forward, as well as creating a single radio access proposal for the ‘IMT.2020’ 5G family of standards (ITU-R),” 3GPP had said.
India’s 5Gi was created to meet specific requirements of the country not met by the global standard, and it includes enhancing the network coverage of mobile network to provide telecom service in rural areas. It uses a feature called Low Mobility Large Cell (LMLC), which can enhance the signal transmission range of a base station. It also includes doubling the power of mobile phones within global standard, which has been increased from 23dBm to 26dBm.
With inclusion of 5Gi into the 3GPP, the concerns that a separate 5G technology will fragment the sector has been answered, as now 5Gi will be implemented on a global scale under the aegis of 3GPP. Moreover, the 5Gi stack merged into 3GPP has been locked, and any further update will happen only under the supervision of the global body.
5Gi is India’s first contribution to the telecom sector, which was dominated by US, Europe and China. While it was originally developed as a domestic standard, it became part of the international standard after its adoption by 3GPP.
