Uttar Pradesh government has till now administered over 19 crore coronavirus vaccination doses.
Uttar Pradesh doses
As per Co-WIN dashboard updated at 8 AM on 23rd December, 2021, 19,00,64,305 coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered till now. Of these, 12,36,40,832 have been first doses while 6,64,23,473 are second doses. Effectively, over 6.64 crore people in Uttar Pradesh are fully vaccinated.
Uttar Pradesh is the first state to administer 19 crore vaccine doses. According to data, 15.04 crore people in Uttar Pradesh are eligible for vaccine jabs.
Amongst districts in Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow has administered total 57.78 lakh doses, Varanasi has administered 42.82 lakh doses, Agra 43.27 lakh doses and Ghaziabad has administered 42.35 lakh doses.
Maharashtra vaccines
Maharashtra is second in terms of vaccine doses administered with almost 13 crore doses given. Of these, little over 5 crore doses were for second dose while almost 8 crore were for first dose.
India has overall administered 1,39,73,69,501 coronavirus vaccine doses of which 56.42 crore have been fully vaccinated. India’s eligible population for vaccines stands at 94 crore. Effectively, India has fully vaccinated 63% of its eligible population.
On Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh recorded 8 new coronavirus cases against 15 recoveries. Total active coronavirus cases in the state now stand at 211.
Saregama Music released its latest music video on Wednesday, titled Madhuban, which features Sunny Leone in the party number sung by Kanika Kapoor and Arindam Chakraborty. The song is based on the song ‘Madhuban mein Radhika naache’ by Mohammad Rafi in the 1960 movie Kohinoor, and as usual, people are not happy with the remix of an iconic song.
Moreover, as the song is on the subject of love between Krishna and Radha, netizens are slamming it for hurting Hindu sentiments, due to the sensual moves Sunny Leone makes in the music video.
The top comment on YouTube, where the video has been published by Saregama, wonders why no one had the intelligence to think what kind of lyrics they were using for what kind of video. “I am surprised that no one who was involved in the production of this song stopped this song from being released. Producer, Director, Actor, Singer, Musician : Did no one of them had the intelligence to think what lyrics they are using and for what type of music video?” reads the comment by one Anup Verma.
Several YouTube commenters say that the song is against Hindu devi Radhe Ma, and mocks the Hindu religion.
One user wrote, “The old song “Madhuban mein Radhika naache re” conveyed her love for Krishna so beautifully. Why use reference to Radhika and Madhuban for a sensual song! This is outrageous!! I get why these songs are made, but come up with something more appropriate for them instead of butchering Hindu sentiments.”
The same story repeated on Twitter, where Sunny Leone posted the link of the music video, asking people if they have watched it. But in response she received outrage for hurting the feeling of Hindus by dancing ‘inappropriately’ to the song on Radhe and Krishna.
@SunnyLeone you hurting my religious sentiments first try to know Sri radhika culture,and compare with your song, now we can’t tolerate this voulgur item songs which lyrics are related to my gods,don’t forget we answer you later,have you dare to make song atleast on burkha? https://t.co/7pXiWZtpUFpic.twitter.com/SqyAnuFpuj
Twitter users called for boycotting the music video for defaming Hindu gods, saying she has no such right.
Everybody should Report this song defaming my god is not your right. You are experiencing this luxury because of people’s money so becareful. Remove this song and change the lyrics ?. @HinduITCell
Some netizens went a step ahead, and wondered if Hindus should choose the path of Sikhs and lynch the makers of the song.
Should we hindus choose path of Sikhs to lynch sikh lady Karenjit Kaur @SunnyLeone@TheKanikakapoor and others who r behind this song who done blasphemy/Beadbi… should hindus do same thing as Navjot Singh Sidhu like Sikhs advised..Examples should be set by hindus too https://t.co/BUi6GvTwEO
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert of the US government, on Tuesday, called for the instant firing of Fox News host Jesse Watters after the latter used provocative language at a conservative conference to egg on attendees to “ambush” Fauci in the streets and to record a rhetorical “kill shot.”
In his appearance on CNN’s ‘New Day’, Fauci said, “I mean that’s crazy. The man should be fired on the spot.”
“I mean, what kind of craziness is there in society these days? That’s awful that he said that. And he’s going to go, very likely, unaccountable. I mean, whatever network he’s on is not going to do anything. … I mean, that’s crazy. The guy should be fired on the spot,” Fauci said on the provocative remarks made by Fox News host Jesse Watters.
Fauci lamented that Watters’ remarks illustrated the reflection of the craziness that goes on in society. He said the only thing that he has been doing over the last two years is to spur people to follow good health practices, get their vaccination shots, be vigilant in public settings, wear a mask, and for these well-meaning suggestions, he is being reviled, asked to be ambushed and given a “kill shot”.
Fox News host Jesse Watters calls his supporters to ambush Fauci and administer him a “kill shot”
In his comments over the weekend to pro-Trump youth group Turning Point USA, Watters appeared to link Fauci to allegations of biowarfare.
“Now you’re going for the kill shot. The kill shot with an ambush [is] deadly because he doesn’t see it coming,” Watters told the crowd.
He further added, “Dr Fauci, you funded risky research at a sloppy Chinese lab. The same lab that sprung this pandemic on the world. You know why people don’t trust you, don’t you? Boom, he is dead! He is dead! He’s done!”
After his comments for Fauci drew a backlash, Fox News came out in defence of its employee, stating that Watter was using metaphor to urge people to ask him uncomfortable questions about his link to Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese laboratory that is surmised in some quarters as the place where the coronavirus originated.
“Based on watching the full clip and reading the entire transcript, it’s more than clear that Jesse Watters was using a metaphor for asking hard-hitting questions to Dr Fauci about gain-of-function research and his words have been twisted completely out of context,” Fox News said in a statement Tuesday.
Fauci drew criticism for dismissing lab-leak origin of the coronavirus
The United States’ leading expert on infectious diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, found himself in the eye of an ever-intensifying storm earlier this year after hundreds of his private emails were made public by two US media outlets. The emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act request shed light on Dr Fauci’s reticence on considering the possibility of a lab leak origin of COVID-19 even as the virus was priming itself to ravage the United States and the rest of the world.
The cache of emails revealed that several people, including researchers, people in US administration and intelligence, wanted to probe the role of the Chinese lab, but they were overruled by Dr Anthony Fauci and others, who had vested interests in the issue as they themselves were instrumental in US govt funding the study on the virus in the Wuhan lab.
The trove of emails brings under the scanner the role of Dr Fauci and others who are credited for fashioning America’s response to the pandemic. Dr Fauci, who was a lead member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has become a focal point of criticism after the emails correspondence revealed that he was warned of the possibility of the inorganic nature of the coronavirus in advance, but he did not do enough to address the apprehensions.
Dr Fauci’s links to Peter Daszak, a zoologist whose organisation funded “gain of function” research at WIV
Dr Fauci has also drawn the ire of the critics for bankrolling Peter Daszak, a leading zoologist, whose non-profit was responsible for steering the US funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Daszak’s organisation, EcoHealth Alliance, had received funding of at least $3.4 million in grants from the National Institute of Health(NIH) to study coronaviruses between 2014 to 2019.
In April last year, Dr Fauci had publicly denounced claims regarding the coronavirus lab leak. In an April 2020 email published as a part of the FOIA request by Buzzfeed, Daszak conveyed ‘personal thank you’ to Dr Fauci on behalf of his staff at his organisation for pushing back on the claims that the virus might have originated from a laboratory.
In a shocking revelation to the Punjab sacrilege incidents, a report published by The New Indian said that the caretaker of Kapurthala Gurudwara, where a mob had beaten up a man to death, had shady antecedents.
According to the report, caretaker Amarjit Singh frequently visited Pakistan and had worked as a pro-Khalistani ultra before turning into a CAT commando. CAT refers to pro-Khalistani terrorists in the early 90s who had switched sides and had become police informers for under-cover operations.
The New Indian report says Singh was in touch with a top Punjab police official, who had managed to remain in plum postings during SAD and Congress governments. As per police, at least three contacts were established between Amarjit and the top police officer on the day of the lynching as Kapurthala comes under the Jalandhar zone.
However, the Punjab police haven’t been successful in establishing the links between the phone calls between Amarjit and the top police officer and the lynching that took place in Kapurthala.
“We have gone through his passport records. We are also checking his phone records. The probe has found that he was in touch with one of our police officers. Besides, he had gone to Pakistan. During the investigation, Amarjit also revealed that he worked as a CAT commando and was in touch with some police officers,” The New Indian quoted a senior police officer as saying.
Reportedly, Kapurthala police detected a pattern in the way in which the “live video” of the lynching of the man was made to appear suspicious. It is now planning to file a murder case after doubts are raised over claims of sacrilege.
In addition to this, the police have also seized Amarjit’s mobile phone to verify his claims of sacrilege. A complaint was filed by him, based on which the police had filed an FIR under charges of 295A (defiling a place of religious worship). The FIR said the migrant labourer had tried to disrespect the Nishan Sahib flag, a symbol at his gurdwara in Nizampur village on Sunday.
The police have alleged that Amarjit’s claims don’t add up. A police officer quoted by The New Indian revealed that when they reached the spot of the crime when the mob had gheraoed him. The mob was carrying 3.5-feet-tall swords and weapons. The mob had then refused to negotiate with the police. Had Amarjit or others around him informed the police in time, the officer said, the man could have been booked for sacrilege and his life could have been saved. He, however, added that there was no evidence to support the claim that any sacrilege took place.
Kapurthala sacrilege victim was hungry, was looking for some food at Gurudwara
The Kapurthala ‘sacrilege’ case took a completely different turn compared to what the Granthi at Nizampur Gurudwara had claimed. According to multiple reports, the Police have mentioned that the deceased was spotted by one of the sewadar (volunteer) in the kitchen located on the ground floor eating chapatis. Notably, only the sewadar and Granthi live on the ground floor of the said Gurudwara, and Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is on the upper floor.
The reports suggest that when the sewadar spotted the man, he tried to escape and was eventually apprehended by the sewadars. The man, who was in his twenties, was kept in a room on Gurudwara premises. The Police were not allowed to take him. He was beaten to death by the angry crowd. It is noteworthy that Police also added that the deceased had eight deep cuts on his body that were made by a sharp weapon like a sword. The badly thrashed man was rushed to the hospital by the Police, where he was declared dead.
It is notable here that some policemen were also present when the victim was being beaten to death. During the presser, the police had confirmed that some policemen had attempted to rescue the victim but they were prevented from doing so by the mob and since it was a violent atmosphere, they showed ‘restraint’ and did not aggravate the situation further. Hindi daily Bhaskar had reported that some policemen had received injuries while trying to control the violent crowd.
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has confiscated illegal housing property worth Rs 10.10 Crore belonging to jailed mafia don and Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Mukhtar Ansari. The property is situated at Mahuabag locality in Gazipur district of Uttar Pradesh, and it includes 550.1 square meters of land where Ansari had built 17 shops. Ansari had raised these properties in the name of his son Abbad Ansari.
On Wednesday (December 22), district and police officials reached the marketing complex and started the confiscation process after a proper public announcement.
Vijay, one of the shopkeepers, told Opindia that they had no information about any such action till the time police and local administration reached the marking complex and asked to vacate.
“I was running my shop here for the past 20 years. We are vacating shops as per the order of the administration,” Vinay told OpIndia over the phone. However, the district administration said that shopkeepers were informed on Tuesday evening to vacate shops.
Ansari heads IS Gang 191
Mukhtar Ansari’s gang is registered as IS (Inter-State) Gang 191 in the record of Uttar Pradesh and his properties have been attached under Section 14 A of the Gangster and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act.
As Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has let loose bulldozers to demolish illegal properties of gangsters and mafias of the state, Section 14 A has left mafias bleeding. This section gives special power to the government to confiscate illegally raised properties of criminals.
In this case, the action was taken in the light of FIR lodged against Ansari under provisions of the Gangsters Act.
Proclamation notice of the seizure of properties of Mukhtar Ansari under section 14 A of Gangster Act. Image source News 18
Ansari was also running a hotel named Gazal Hotel at this marketing complex which was demolished in November last year.
This is the fifth case of the confiscation of the property belonging to this dreaded mafia politician and his family.
On December 8, the Gangipur district administration confiscated 1292.21 square meters of land at Deori Ballabhdas registered in the name of his wife. The land is worth Rs 9.44 Crore. Besides, two plots worth Rs 3 Crore belonging to Ansari’s close associate Shahjama alias Nayyar was also confiscated. Nayyar, a native of Bardah area, is currently in jail.
In November, the government confiscated his land property worth Rs 3 Crore located at Husainganj area of Lucknow. The aforesaid property was in form of 194 square meters purchased by Ansari in 2007 in the name of his wife Afshan Ansari. The circle rate of the land is Rs 1.45 Crore where the market rate has been estimated worth around Rs 3 Crore.
So far Uttar Pradesh police have caused a financial loss of over Rs 390 Crore to Mukhtar Ansari, his family, and the gang. Currently, Mukhtar Ansari is lodged in Uttar Pradesh’s Banda jail, and his illegal empire is under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate. On November 7, ED had questioned him in the alleged money laundering case.
The brand-new airline in the country Akasa Air unveiled its logo and aircraft livery today. The Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed low-cost carrier also unveiled its tagline ‘It’s Your Sky’.
Akasa Air said that its log is based on the theme ‘The Rising A’, which is inspired by elements of the sky. “Inspired by elements of the sky, The Rising A symbolises the warmth of the sun, the effortless flight of a bird, and the dependability of an aircraft wing,” the Airline tweeted from its official Twitter account.
Unveiling ‘The Rising A’ of Akasa Air
Inspired by elements of the sky, The Rising A symbolises the warmth of the sun, the effortless flight of a bird, and the dependability of an aircraft wing.
The airline has chosen ‘Sunrise Orange’ and ‘Passionate Purple’ as its brand colours, which it says reflect the airline’s warm, youthful, and respectful nature.
In the rendering of its aircraft released by the airline, most of the fuselage is white, with the engines, wingtips, and the vertical stabiliser along with the tail section painted in orange and purple. While the words Akasa Air is written on the forward part of the fuselage, the big A logo is painted in purple on an orange pained vertical stabiliser.
It is interesting to note that the livery of Akasa Air closely resembles the livery of Indian Airlines, the former state-run airline which was merged with Air India. Indian Airlines, later renamed to just Indian, had a similar design on the tail section and had almost the same colour scheme.
Akasa Air vs Indian
“The Rising A is inspired by elements from the sky. It symbolises the warmth of the rising sun, the effortless flight of a bird and the dependability of an aircraft wing. ‘It’s Your Sky’ is the brand’s promise to embrace everyone and to create an inclusive environment for all Indians regardless of their socio-economic or cultural backgrounds. It is a powerful pledge of ownership, promise, and possibilities that accompany each traveller on their journeys,” Akasa Air said in a statement.
Last month, Akasa Air had placed orders for 72 Boeing 737 MAX jets, which is valued at around $9 billion in list prices. The airline ordered two variants of the jet, 737-8 and the high-capacity 737-8-200. The airline had obtained a no-objection certificate from the government in October, and expects to launch operations by mid-2022.
Akasa Air is an initiative of Vinay Dube, the former CEO of Jet Airways, and a few other veterans from the airline industry in India. Vinay Dube is the CEO of Akasa Air. In July this year, investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala had announced that he is foraying into aviation sector with low-budget ‘Akasa Air’.
The Narendra Modi government has granted citizenship to a total of 3117 religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan in the last four years. The minister of State of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the same in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (December 22) during the winter session of the Parliament.
Minister Rai said that the Home Affairs had received 8,244 applications from religious minorities of these countries for Indian citizenship.
Rai was responding to a question raised by Dr. K Keshava Rao of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) who sought the details of total citizenship applications received from Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Christian minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan during the years 2018 and 2021.
The answer in Rajya Sabha
Besides, Rao also sought to know the number of minorities who were granted Indian citizenship during the aforesaid period. Rao also asked the total number of requests received by the ministry where minorities of these countries sought refuge in the Indian territory in the last four years.
Since India doesn’t have a refugee policy, the minister informed that all foreign nationals including refuge seekers are governed by the provisions contained in The Foreigners Act 1946, The Registration of Foreigners Act 1939, The Passport (Entry into India) Act 1920, and The Citizenship Act, 1955.
Another MP Abdul Wahab raised the question regarding the total number of foreigners granted Indian citizenship. Rai informed the House that between 2016 and 2020, as many as 4,177 people were granted Indian citizenship.
Numbe rof citizenship granted from 2016 to 2020
Rai said that as of December 14 this year, 10,635 applications for Indian citizenship were pending with the government out of which 70 percent (7,306) claims were from Pakistan. As many as 1,152 people from Afghanistan, Bangladesh (161), Srilanka and USA (223), Nepal (189) and 10 Chinese nationals requested for Indian citizenship. Minister informed that 428 stateless people were also among applicants.
Billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently appeared in a freewheeling interview on the satire website Babylon Bee where he spoke on a range of issues, including being on CNN, Elizabeth Warren, Tesla, taxing the rich, and many others.
At one instance during his interview, Musk took a dig at CNN amid news that one of the network’s producers, John Griffin, was accused of committing a host of shocking underage sex crimes this month. When one of the hosts suggested that Musk “could have been on CNN right now,” which he said was a “real news organization” unlike the Babylon Bee, Musk sharply responded, “I’m not perverted enough, I guess.”
Musk’s snarky remarks came after Griffin was arrested just days after the American channel sacked Chris Cuomo over his involvement in his brother Andrew Cuomo’s defence in the sexual harassment scandal. Besides, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was put on leave last year after he was found masturbating during an online New Yorker company meeting.
The satire website took a swipe at CNN’s string of scandals this month with an infographic that read, “CNN HR Department considers adding ‘Are You A Creepy Pervert?’ to the employment application.”
‘Wokeness is arguably one of the biggest threats to modern civilisation’: Elon Musk
Besides mocking CNN, Musk came down hard against wokeness, saying it is a virus that is divisive, exclusionary and destructive. The Space X CEO commented that a tendency to become politically correct may be counterproductive, as represented by the emerging “woke culture”. Musk said “wokeness” is a “mind virus” and is “arguably one of the biggest threats to modern civilization.”
“Wokeness wants to make comedy illegal. Do we want a humourless society that is simply rife with condemnation, and hate? At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It basically gives mean people a shield to be cruel, armoured in false virtue,” Musk said.
Tesla CEO says he’s bought enough stocks of the company
Speaking on Tesla stocks, Musk said he has sold “enough shares” to reach his plan to sell 10% of his shares in the world’s most valuable car company. Tesla stocks, which had reached record heights, came crashing down and lost a quarter of their value after CEO Musk said on November 6 that he would sell 10 per cent of his stake if Twitter users agreed.
On Tuesday, Musk had sold another 583,611 shares of the company, taking the tally of stocks offloaded to 13.5 million, approximately 80 per cent of what he had intended to sell.
“I sold enough stock to get to around 10% plus the option exercise stuff and I tried to be extremely literal here,” he told in the interview with Babylon Bee, a satirical website similar to The Onion.
Musk flays California for ‘overtaxation’, hauls Elizabeth Warren over the coals for her ‘freeloader’ and ‘grifter’ jibe
Elon Musk, who moved Tesla’s headquarters from Palo Alto to Texas this month, excoriated California for overtaxing the rich.
“California used to be the land of opportunity and now it is… becoming more so the land of sort of overregulation, overlitigation, over-taxation…it is increasingly difficult to get things done in California,” Musk lamented.
When the billionaire was asked about his infamous Twitter feud with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called Musk a freeloader for his steadfast refusal to pay his fair share in taxes, Tesla CEO proclaimed that he would be paying the single largest tax bill in American history this year, as opposed to the Massachusetts senator, who he claimed does not pay taxes.
“She struck first. Yes, she did actually call me a freeloader and a grifter who doesn’t pay taxes,” Musk said about the Twitter spat, adding, “I’m literally paying the most tax that any individual in history has ever paid this year, ever, and she doesn’t pay taxes, basically. And her taxes and salary are paid for by the taxpayer like me. If you could die by irony, she would be dead.”
India beat Pakistan 4-3 in the Asian Champions Trophy tournament in Hockey being played in Bangladesh. Defending champions India lost the semi-final to Japan 3-5 on Tuesday. Team India were an overwhelming favourites before the start of the match but Japan were better prepared.
India and Pakistan played neck-and-neck after India took the lead in opening stage of the match. However, Pakistan, too, caught up and the first half ended with 1 goal each for both arch rivals. In second half, Pakistan started off by making the first goal, but soon India too scored a goal and both countries were on two goals each.
With seven minutes remaining in the match, India took the lead when Varun Kumar scored off a penalty corner. Soon, Hardik Singh got himself a yellow card, costing team India 5 more minutes. With the team reduced to 10 players, India got one more advantage after Akashdeep scored a goal. However, Pakistan’s Ahmed Nadeem, too, scored a goal taking the neighbour country’s goal tally to 3. With little over one minute left in the game, India’s Sumit Singh, too got a yellow card. Now Team India was two players down.
However, despite having an advantage of two more players than their Indian counterpart, Pakistan could not capitalise and the game ended with India winning the match. Indian captain Manpreet Singh has been named the player of the match.
Cancel culture has now reached SheThePeople, a digital media website, usually hailed by the ‘liberals’ in India, for reporting Mathura MP Hema Malini’s statements on the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in her constituency.
SheThePeople, on its website, says that it is India’s first women’s channel inspired by real stories and seeks to change the discourse on, about and for women. It provides platform to women from various walks of life who shatter the glass ceiling in every sphere of life. Hema Malini, an actress turned politician, has served as Rajya Sabha MP twice in 2003 and 2009. She has also been elected twice to the Lok Sabha in 2014 and 2019. In politics, which is largely a men’s world, it would be fair to say that Malini, a woman has managed to shatter the glass ceiling.
On 22 December 2021, when SheThePeople reported about a woman MP making a statement about her constituency, Mathura, which has been one of the many poll promises over the years, the ‘liberals’ were triggered. After all, how can an otherwise ‘liberal’ platform give space to a ‘Sanghi’ who talks about ‘crap’ like the grand temple at Mathura.
Liberals triggered over SheThePeople’s reportage
Twitter user Urban Shrink above, who has a verified handle, identifies herself as ‘she/her’ and also as an ‘intersectional feminist’ and as per her bio believes in diversity, equity and inclusion. But as can be seen, inclusion of ‘Sanghi’ Hema Malini is no deal.
Silversmith triggered
One Twitter user ‘Silversmith’ with Indian and Palestinian flag and ‘he/him’ in bio who has committed to destroy fascists wherever they are, decided to use an abusive word for Hema Malini for hoping for a grand temple.
Hema Malini is now ‘northen India lady’
Apparently, reclaiming temples destroyed by barbarians is ‘genocidal politics’ now.
More mocking
Some Twitter user with Arabic-looking words as his user name mocked SheThePeople for covering this news by ‘wow, so empowering’ comments.
Twitter user wanting to know why SheThePeople covered it
Again, to reiterate, Hema Malini is a four time MP and a successful actress and was speaking about development of her constituency. Twitter user Sidrah’s Twitter bio reads “Equality. Justice.” amongst others.
Earlier this week, BJP MP from Mathura said that there should be a grand temple as well as complex at Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura on the lines of Kashi Vishwanath Corridor so that devotees can come for pilgrimage at the holy site. “Krishna is the symbol of love and affection. As MP from his Janmbhoomi, I would like to say there should be a Bhavya Mandir. There is a grand temple. But it can be made much better. Just like PM Modi has developed a corridor in front of Shri Kashi Vishwanath Mandir, something should be developed here,” she had said.
