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From finest pashmina shawls to Rahul Gandhi’s new gaffes to PM Modi’s oratory skills, what all to expect in winter session of Parliament

Shiv Mishra
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From finest pashmina shawls to Rahul Gandhi’s new gaffes to PM Modi’s oratory skills, what all to expect in winter session of Parliament

Winter brings with itself, amongst other things, the winter session of parliament. The session, in turn, brings members to their respective Houses in the Parliament. MPs, tired of smooth talking in seminars, social gatherings and tv debates, get a chance to do some hard talks and show their skills of invading the parliament well to obstruct proceedings.

Some leaders work really hard to come up with ideas and ways to save democracy by not letting parliament function. Speakers, too, work hard to bring their Houses in order, sometimes with a fair degree of success. The winter session also presents some of the best clothing and great pashmina shawls. 

So, what can we expect this winter session? Government has announced its proposal to introduce The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 which seeks to “create a facilitative framework” for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by RBI. It should be a welcome move especially since there has been lots of speculation on what the government is going to do about trading, investment and use of cryptocurrency in the country. There is further speculation about the bill proposing to ban all private cryptocurrency in the country. 

It’s high time the government presented a framework to regulate cryptocurrencies, especially when the Indian economy is recovering from ill effects of the pandemic and it can’t afford to face any possible economic and financial shock due to something happening in Cryptocurrencies. An estimate puts the number of Indian investors/traders in the range of 1.5 to 2 crores with an investment of about 40,000 crores. 

Apart from the proposed bill on cryptocurrency, the repealing of farm laws is on the government’s agenda. The Farm Law Repeal Bill is likely to generate some heated exchanges between the government and opposition. The government is likely to introduce the Electricity Amendment 2021 which is tipped to present the most comprehensive and important reforms in Power sector. The Bill proposes to delicense the power distribution business and allow private players to compete with government owned entities. It will provide immense freedom to consumers by allowing them to choose between distributor companies.      

Apart from these Bills, the government will certainly try to present its achievement on fighting the pandemic, especially how it vaccinated a large population with more than 100 crores doses. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be certainly preparing to deliver his side of the story on repealing the three farm laws. His supporters will also love to see him deliver one of his best speeches to destroy opposition, something he has done in the past with elan. He has been the government’s best orator in the last several years and he will certainly use this opportunity to talk to the nation, something he enjoys thoroughly.    

What can we expect from opposition? Well, one of the opposition parties, BKU, has already proposed to march to the parliament on tractors. Also, as a collective agenda, irrespective of what the Prime Minister says and opposition agrees to in the all party meeting before the start of the session, the 23 days session is likely to witness an opposition, opposing the government on a plethora of issues, ranging from rising inflation to Supreme Court’s order on Pegasus and repealing of farm laws to what happened in Lakhimpur Kheri and how nothing less than the resignation from the Prime Minister and Home Minister can save the democracy. 

We may witness Trinamool Congress MPs, coming up with their own agenda, and creating ruckus on the government order which gives more power to BSF and also about how action against their party leaders in Tripura is blatant misuse of governmental powers and murder of democracy. Parties ruling Maharashtra as Maha Vikas Aghadi, will come up with their own opposition to the Ministry of Cooperation and how it is a state subject and how central government has no right to intervene in cooperative movement. However, it may still behave cautiously as their ruckus may open up a pandora box as the government may counter them with facts about their former ministers and police officials. It can’t be ruled out that opposition parties may be busy pooling up the ideas and reasons and finally agreeing to choose some of those to block the proceedings. 

As far as individual MPs are concerned, Rahul Gandhi, though fresh from a foreign vacation, should come up with some new gaffes. People would love to see Dr Tharoor pronouncing some till now unheard English words and phrases. Dr Subramaniam Swamy is likely to praise Mamata Banerjee and tell how no present day leaders can be compared with her when it comes to honesty, fighting for saving the democracy and understanding pulse of the nation. We may witness Derek O’ Brien thanking Dr Swamy for the same. Expect some BJP MP to discuss the observation of Allahabad High Court on Uniform Civil Code and Salman Khurshid comparing Hindutva with Boko Haram and ISIS. Many will be expecting Ram das Athavle to recite his new poem.

If allowed to function, parliament will present a good winter session which will commence from November 29 and will likely conclude on December 23.

Param Bir Singh hid 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab’s mobile phone: Retired Mumbai police ACP Shamsher Khan

Jhankar Mohta
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Param Bir Singh hid 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab’s mobile phone: Retired Mumbai police ACP Shamsher Khan

Another serious charge has been levelled against former police commissioner Param Bir Singh, wanted in several ongoing cases under investigation including the Antilia Bomb scare, Mansukh Hiren murder case, and the Mumbai police extortion case, among others.

Retired Mumbai police ACP Shamsher Khan Pathan has accused Param Bir Singh of hiding the mobile phone of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab after he was caught.

Shamsher Khan Pathan had written to the Mumbai Commissioner of Police and demanded an enquiry and action in the matter.

As per reports, the retired ACP stated in the letter that the then-senior PI Mali of the DB Marg police station had informed him that he had recovered a mobile phone from Kasab, which was kept with the police station’s police constable Kamble. He further wrote that Parambir Singh had then arrived at the signal at Girgaum Chowpatty, where Kasab was apprehended and took the phone with him. He should have handed the phone over to Ramesh Mahale, the investigating officer, but instead, he took it with him.

Pathan said that at the time of the attack, Kasab and other terrorists were speaking with their handlers in Pakistan. He might have known who the Pakistani handler was and if there were any Indians in the group.

This matter should now be thoroughly probed, said Pathan.

Other allegations levelled at Param Bir Singh during the 26/11 Mumbai attack

It may be recalled how Hasan Gafoor, who was the Mumbai Commissioner of Police during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, had accused senior police officials, including Param Bir Singh of not taking on the terrorists. He had said that Param Bir Singh and three others “ did not appear keen on responding to the situation”.

In 2009, soon after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, a petition was filed against Parambir Singh and three other additional commissioners of police on the charges of dereliction of duty during the Mumbai terror attack.

A Public interest litigation (PIL) was filed seeking action against these officers and their suspension on the charges that officers such as Param Bir Singh had failed to follow orders of the then police commissioner.

The petitioner had claimed that had the senior officers obeyed the orders, the terror situation would have been brought under control much earlier and many lives could have been saved. The petitions said that if the officers had acted properly, two more terrorists could have been caught alive. The petition was filed based on Hasan Gafoor’s statement.

Singh appears before Mumbai Police after a court declares him a ‘proclaimed offender’, issues warning

Meanwhile, former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh on Thursday morning appeared before the crime branch of the Mumbai Police, which is probing an extortion case against him. The IPS officer, who was earlier declared a ‘proclaimed offender’ by Mumbai’s Esplanade court, had been missing since October.

“I will join the investigation as directed by the court,” Singh told reporters soon after he arrived in Mumbai. On Wednesday, the IPS officer, who is facing several extortion cases in Maharashtra, had said that he was in Chandigarh.

Recently, on November 17, former police commissioner Param Bir Singh was declared a proclaimed offender in an extortion case by Mumbai’s Esplanade court. The court further passed a proclamation to declare former Mumbai CP Param Bir Singh an ‘absconder’ if he does not respond to the summons in 30 days.

Singh had not reported to work since May this year after he was relieved of his duties as Mumbai police commissioner and his subsequent allegations of corruption against then Maharashtra HM Anil Deshmukh.

Cryptocurrency and India: Busting the myths and conspiracy theories as Govt tables the Bill in winter session

Santanu Chakraborty
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Cryptocurrency and India: Busting the myths and conspiracy theories as Govt tables the Bill in winter session

The Indian government has announced that the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, is expected to be tabled in the Winter Session of Parliament. The bill will seek to create a framework for the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The bill looks to “prohibit certain private cryptocurrencies while allowing certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology and its uses.”

The Central Bank digital currency is a systematic first step towards adoption of blockchain technologies for enhancing administrative service delivery capabilities to the remotest parts of the country. This will pave the way for legalising crypto currency in India. It seems the Indian government comprehends the complexities involved and is moving in a critical, balanced and thoughtful manner.

It seems India is planning to restrict private coins that by their design restricts access to their transactional information. This could also be a welcome move because such coins could be abused in the dark net and for money laundering. It is a systematic progressive step towards adopting new technologies that will help break the imperial shackles of bureaucracy laid down by the British colonial system.

The government notification has created some consternation in the crypto markets and some of the coins have dropped as much as 20%. Taking advantage of this mayhem, some so-called experts are fanning fuel to the fire by advancing their conspiracy theories to trash cryptocurrency and kite-fly certain myths. To elevate the level of discourse in crypto in India, we must understand a few basics regarding cryptos and dispel these nine widely held myths.

Myth 1: Crypto is gambling

Under existing laws, tokens are not securities. A token is just a computer code, code is just speech and speech is just an idea. A lot of cryptos have real end use applications or are solving real life issues. Just as the Indian stock markets of the 1980s saw huge speculation, scams, wrongdoing, it was not gambling. Similarly, cryptos are not gambling. Even if the government bans trading in some coins, it cannot stop the idea or the technology behind it. That apart bans have never worked. For example, George Orwell’s 1984 became a global bestselling book just because it was banned by some overreaching bureaucrat.

Myth 2: People will lose money in crypto

We have seen, whether be it in personal life or business, no one is free from falling into a fraud. Even large investors have lost millions for not verifying the basics. Therefore, the tulip mania and teakwood frauds happened because investors did not do their basic due diligence. Such things also happen in highly regulated markets like stocks, bonds, and currencies.

People have fallen prey to easy moneymaking schemes, as they have not understood the technology. If you don’t verify the basics like functions of a contracts of the tokens they have invested or the amount of non-blocking tokens managed by the developer team, or investing in projects that have no real use utility in the future, then you can lose money. Then it can become like a Ponzi scheme with a pump and dump mechanism.

Myth 3: Cryptocurrency has no underlying assets so it is a Ponzi scheme

Cryptos are codes. When two codes transact in real time, they cannot wait for the different rules of several nations involved in the transaction to agree on uniformity. The adoption of this technology has been very fast and sweeping across the globe and people are using cryptocurrencies to buy sandwiches, arts, mobiles and maybe much more. It is a losing game trying to restrict the technology. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), treat cryptocurrency as an intangible asset (not a financial asset) that is recorded at cost, and impairment of the asset cost must be recorded. This means the value can be reduced on a balance sheet over time.

When you deposit currency into a bank, it is storing it in a vault until you return to withdraw it. Effectively your bank deposit is a loan from you to that bank which holds zero reserves, making you an unsecured creditor. So even the safest investment in the current world – that is bank fixed deposits – do not effectively have underlying assets. It runs only on your belief that somehow the government is going to step in and save the bank depositors in a crisis.

Myth 4: Cryptocurrencies are a ‘limited supply of nothing’

I will give you an example to contend this apprehension. There is no limited supply for Ethereum, which ranks just after Bitcoin in popularity. More importantly, Ethereum daily earns $80 million in just platform fees from third parties.

Myth 5: Crypto counters authority of governments

Not necessarily. Indian government may move to regulate cryptos as an asset class while at the same time providing regulatory supervision where cryptos are used as a medium of exchange. The modern monetary industrial complex is running on the US dollar and some of the powerful countries are trying to run away from the dollar fiat system. India will have an edge if it introduces an alternative digital universal payment system.

Myth 6: You cannot get super rich investing in cryptos.

Try telling this to those who invested in BITCOIN between 2010 and 2013. To add to that, cryptocurrency is ideal for India to pitchfork into the big league of nations. Indian youth has education, enterprise, and innovation. If they can build and sell WEB 3.0 technology solutions, we can define the future of the globe.

Myth 7: There cannot be a global consensus on ONE private crypto needed to become global currency

The waves of centralisation and decentralisation always happen in cycles like the ebb and flow in the leitmotif of time. At one point we had millions of tribes doing their own thing and then most of them came under the Catholic Church. Then around the turn of 16th century, the printing press and Martin Luther led to decentralisation that resulted in the birth of different religious sects, philosophies, nation states that ultimately heralded the industrial age.

Myth 8: Crypto is just speculation and it’s not really a market

The web 3.0 technology evolution is already happening on chain. So tradeable digital assets in the DeFi (decentralized finance) matrix will lead to transparency of order books across the globe. Order book transparency can remove 99% of the ills of the current centralized market infrastructure. In DeFi, automated order books can make instantaneous price discovery across tokens, contracts, NFTs, fiat money, arts you name it. That is the future of modern markets.

Myth 9: Cryptos are bad for the environment

More than cryptos, the greed of human beings is bad for the environment. The answer is not to stop living but to evolve and fix the flaws. The energy use and high gas fees are just temporary, fixable flaws in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Conclusion

The revamping of the financial system through the introduction of digital currency will tear down the existing system manipulated by individuals and corporations for their own benefit. The blockchain platform developed by India will be a milestone for rural economic development. I contend that a central bank blockchain platform along with a regulated crypto market will benefit the Indian technology ecosystem. It is my firm belief that the government will take into consideration the views of all the stakeholders before drafting a comprehensive legislation that builds in the aspirations of the technology and the financial community.

(Santanu Chakraborty is a markets maximalist who has founded a company that is developing blockchain technology solutions. He is an investor and a digital technology enthusiast. He was the former markets reporter with Bloomberg LP and Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal. He could be contacted on [email protected])

Congress crisis in Meghalaya: Ex-CM Mukul Sangma and 11 other MLAs join TMC

OpIndia Staff
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Congress crisis in Meghalaya: Ex-CM Mukul Sangma and 11 other MLAs join TMC

The Congress party is heading for big trouble in Meghalaya as 12 out of their 17 MLAs have dumped them to join the Trinamool Congress Party on Wednesday. The 12 also include former Meghalaya CM Dr Mukul Sangma. A formal announcement is said to be scheduled for Thursday. With 12 jumping ships, Congress will now be left with only 5 MLAs in Meghalaya.

This comes less than a week after Mukul Sangma, the former chief minister of Meghalaya, met with AICC leaders in Delhi. Sangma is also connected to political strategist Prashant Kishor, with whom he met in the city, according to reports.

Asked about the mass exodus, Mukul Sangma, who is believed to have orchestrated this entire move, told News18: “Cannot say much about this. We will brief the media at 1 pm tomorrow. Few other MLAs will also be present.”

However, the channel quoted an inside source from Congress as confirming that Sangma and the other 11 MLAs submitted their resignation letter to Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh on Wednesday evening. “We have quit Congress and have joined TMC, we are having a press conference tomorrow at 1.30 pm to announce this,” said a close aide of Sangma.

This development comes a month after Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi met former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and the party’s state president Vincent H Pala over their demands.

Sangma, the assembly’s Leader of the Opposition, was said to be dissatisfied with Congress’s senior leadership.

Since the latter was selected as the new Meghalaya unit chairman in the month of August, former Chief Minister and Congress Legislature Party leader Mukul M Sangma and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Vincent H Pala have been at odds. Sangma had also asserted that the party leadership did not consult him on Pala’s appointment. In fact, in September, Sangma had not attended the function held to felicitate Pala.

In an attempt to placate Sangma, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Rahul Gandhi met with him in Delhi in October, after which he said that “efforts are being made to iron out the divisions.”

Soon after the meeting, Sangma was seen campaigning for a Congress candidate in one of the three constituencies where bypolls were held on October 30.

Sangma and Pala recently met with Congress national secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal and AICC Meghalaya in-charge Manish Chatrath on November 18.

When contacted, Chatrath expressed surprise at the development. “KC Venugopal and I had a cordial meeting with Sangma, PCC president Vincent Pala, the three working presidents and some other senior leaders of the party from the state just five days ago, on November 18. Sangma had also issued a statement after that meeting, vowing to strengthen the party,” he said.

Previously, a TMC senior and minister in West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee government told News18 that the party is attempting to get Sangma into their folds to assist TMC to expand its base in the Northeast.

With this shocking turn of events, the Trinamool Congress party, despite not winning a single seat in the 2018 state elections, will become the principal opposition party in the assembly in Meghalaya. The Congress, which so far had 17 MLAs, will now be reduced to only five.

The Meghalaya exodus has come in the wake of several other Congress leaders, including Kirti Azad and Ashok Tanwar had joined TMC, along with JDU MP Pavan Varma. In August, senior Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev had joined TMC.

BJP supporters rejoice as they wonder if Subramanian Swamy will join TMC: Here is what they are saying

OpIndia Staff
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BJP supporters rejoice as they wonder if Subramanian Swamy will join TMC: Here is what they are saying

BJP supporters rejoined as speculations of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy joining TMC gained ground. On Tuesday, Swamy, who has been lashing out at the government for months now, met Mamata Banerjee and showered praises on her merely 6 months after Bengal saw a reign of terror being unleashed during the post-poll violence. While he retweeted messages from his fans praising him for “raising the issue of atrocities against Hindus with Mamata Banerjee”, Swamy took to Twitter to declare that he will meet officials to “fact check” the post-poll violence in West Bengal that saw the murder and rape of several BJP workers.

“Around mid Dec.I will go with a VHS team to Bengal to assess the situation that developed recently in some parts of the State. I will talk to officials for doing a fact check. I recall CM Mamata three years ago responding favourably when I told her about freeing Tarkeshwar Temple”, Swamy tweeted after questions were raised on his intentions. 

While Swamy fans alleged that BJP workers would need “Burnol” after he met Mamata Banerjee, BJP workers were found rejoicing at the prospect of him joining TMC. Columnist Abhishek Banerjee took to Twitter to ask BJP supporters if they were happy at the possibility of Swamy joining BJP. Several supporters responded in the affirmative.

“Good Riddance”, one Netizen responded.

There were others hankering for entertainment in an otherwise mundane political scene.

One plugged a gif of an ecstatic baby.

One Netizen listed leaders sidelined by PM Modi and said that he had a 100% record in identifying individuals who would jump ship.

Several others hoped that Mamata Banerjee would induct Swamy in TMC saying they would be the perfect fit for each other politically.

While some supporters rejoiced the prospect of Swamy joining TMC, others pointed out that he was a turncoat and never really ideologically rooted as he claimed to be. One netizen, for example, posted a picture of him with Khalistan terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. It is pertinent to note that Swamy has praised Bhindranwale on several occasions.

Many believe that Subramanian Swamy is a turncoat who cares far more about getting a position in the government than the ideology he claims to espouse. While masquerading as a “Virat Hindu”, there have been several occasions in history where his intentions were under scanner. It is pertinent to note that Swamy played an important part in bringing the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government down. He had also demanded a ban on RSS and peddled the ‘Hindu terror’ theory. He had further opposed the construction of Ram Mandir, praised Khalistan terrorist Bhindranwale, made scandalous accusations against Vajpayee himself, shielded China on several occasions and praised leaders who were explicitly working against the Hindu cause.

This is not the first time that Swamy has showered praise on Mamata and given her reign of terror a free pass. In 2020, Swamy had responded to a tweet criticising her politics, saying: “According to me Mamata Banerjee is a pucca Hindu and Durga Bhakt. On a case by case basis she will act. Her politics is different. That we will fight in the maidan.”

According to Indian Express, Swamy gave a cryptic response when asked about him joining TMC. “I was already with her (Mamata). There is no need for me to join the party,” he told reporters.

Kerala: Islamic scholar says shopping malls are haram because women might visit beauty parlours and look at other men

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Islamic scholar says shopping malls are haram because women might visit beauty parlours and look at other men

Hussain Salafi, an Islamic scholar from Kerala has stated that Muslims should stay away from malls because Allah does not like malls. As per a report by Janam TV, Hussain Salafi said that men and women roam together in malls and Allah dislikes malls.

The Islamic scholar added that Muslims should boycott malls. He asserted that Allah’s favourite places are mosques.

Salafi further added that women who visit malls also visit beauty parlours. Malls see visitors and shoppers from different cultures who wear all different kinds of dresses. “These are the children of devil”, Salafi added, Muslims who visit malls are tarnishing the image of the whole community.

Explaining all the ‘evil effects’ of a mall, Salafi further added that in malls, men and women roam together. The gaze of women falls on other men inside malls. Women looking at men brings disrepute to the Muslim community, he added, saying that Muslims should stay away from malls.

Women who use perfumes are adulterers

Recently, another Islamic scholar named Sirajul Islam had claimed that women who clean themselves are adulterers. This statement was taken further by Hussain Salafi who stated that women who use ‘Attar’ or perfumes are adulterers, they do it because they are interested in committing adultery.

Subramanian Swamy to “fact-check” violence against Hindus in Bengal six months after it began, recalls Mamata Banerjee as pro-Hindu leader

OpIndia Staff
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Subramanian Swamy to “fact-check” violence against Hindus in Bengal six months after it began, recalls Mamata Banerjee as pro-Hindu leader

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy sparked speculations across social media and political circles after he showered praise on TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and met her in West Bengal. Taking to Twitter, Subramanian Swamy said that Mamata Banerjee, like other tall leaders in his opinion, said what she meant and meant what she said. According to him, that was a rare quality in any leader. He compared Mamata Banerjee to JP, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, and P V Narasimha Rao.

On his part, Swamy retweeted tweets that praised him for “raising the issue” of “atrocity against Hindus” in West Bengal, insinuating that the government did not do anything but Swamy was in Bengal to raise issues of the atrocity with Mamata Banerjee. It is pertinent to note that a reign of terror had been unleashed after the recent assembly elections where TMC goons and Muslim mobs went on a rampage murdering BJP workers and raping women.

Tweet RTed Subramanian Swamy

While Swamy showered praises on Mamata Banerjee and bathed in the glory of his fans praising him, some of his tweets indicated a very different story.

Swamy took to Twitter and declared that he will meet the police officials in Bengal and “fact check” the post-poll violence 6 months after it began in May. This was tweeted on 25th November while he had retweeted tweets praising himself for bringing up ‘atrocity against Hindus’ in Bengal with Mamta Banerjee a day prior to that.

“Around mid Dec.I will go with a VHS team to Bengal to assess the situation that developed recently in some parts of the State. I will talk to officials for doing a fact check. I recall CM Mamata three years ago responding favourably when I told her about freeing Tarkeshwar Temple”, Swamy tweeted after questions were raised on his intentions.

There are two operative parts of these tweets that Swamy has craftily written. Swamy first said that he will be talking to officials “for doing a fact check”. Doing a fact-check would essentially mean that Swamy doubts the post-poll violence was real, or had the same intensity and reported, and therefore, would “fact check” the reports on violence to shield Mamata. The second part of the tweet was far more interesting. After insinuating that he would attempt to give a free pass to Mamata in the post-poll violence case, Swamy proceeded to paint Mamata as a “good Hindu leader” by saying that she had favoured the freeing of Tarkeshwar temple from government control”.

After Swamy met and praised Mamata, several individuals asked the BJP leader, who likes to call himself a ‘Virat Hindu’ why he was meeting Mamata Banerjee after Hindus had been murdered brutally in her regime. Responding to these questions, Swamy lashed out at people claiming that they should be asking this question to the central government and not him.

When told that law and order is a state subject, Swamy lashed out again, citing the examples of forces in Kashmir.

Tweet by Swamy

In an attempt to shield himself from criticism, Swamy misled his readers in comparing the situations of Bengal and Kashmir. Kashmir is a Union Territory and comes under AFSPA. Being a “disturbed area”, the Armed forces and even the paramilitary forces are required to be there to maintain peace and sovereignty of the nation. While raising questions against the central government and the party leadership for their silence on Bengal violence is legitimate, Swamy here seems to be trying to shift the entire blame from Mamata Banerjee.

It is also pertinent to note that in May itself, the Ministry of Home Affairs had sought a report from the Mamata Banerjee government detailing the post-poll violence and what steps were being taken to bring it under control. The state government had simply refused to submit the report to MHA despite reminder letters. In August, the central government had told the Calcutta HC that central agencies like NIA were ready to probe the post-poll violence and assist the state police. It was, however, the court that had refused to do so saying that the timing might not be appropriate to transfer the cases with the state police to central agencies. The court had, before this, asked the NHRC to constitute a committee and investigate the cases of violence and the resultant report had exposed brutal violence against BJP workers in the state. Mamata Banerjee on her part had called even the NHRC report “partisan” and an assault on an elected state government.

Swamy seems to have skipped over the entire sequence of events to essentially give Mamata Banerjee a clean chit.

This is not the first time that Swamy has showered praise on Mamata and given her reign of terror a free pass. In 2020, Swamy had responded to a tweet criticising her politics, saying: “According to me Mamata Banerjee is a pucca Hindu and Durga Bhakt. On a case by case basis she will act. Her politics is different. That we will fight in the maidan.”

According to Indian Express, Swamy gave a cryptic response when asked about him joining TMC. “I was already with her (Mamata). There is no need for me to join the party,” he told reporters.

India’s fertility rate is now below replacement levels: Kerala, TN marginally reverse fall

OpIndia Staff
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India’s fertility rate is now below replacement levels: Kerala, TN marginally reverse fall

India’s fertility rate has for the first time fallen below replacement levels, as per data released by the National Family Health Survey-5 on Wednesday, 24 November. The data pertains to 2019-21.

As per a report in the Times of India, the Total Fertility Rate, which is the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime, is now 2, which is below replacement levels. For India, the replacement level, where the population theoretically remains the same in the next generation, is 2.1.

The key findings of the survey were released by Dr VK Paul from NITI Aayog and Rajesh Bhushan, secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Further, the TFR is 2.1 in rural areas and 1.6 in urban areas. It is notable here that the replacement fertility rate varies country wise, depending upon factors like mortality rate and child mortality rate. In poor and developing nations, where child mortality rates are high, the TFR for replacement levels is slightly higher.

Only 3 states, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand now have a TFR that is above replacement levels, at 3, 2.4 and 2.3 respectively. From the previous assessment, states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP and Bihar have shown a significant decline in the TFR levels, causing the dip.

Kerala and TN are the only states where TFR went up

As per the NFHS-5 survey, Kerala and Tamilnadu are the only states where fertility rates went up since the last assessment. In NFHS-4, Kerala and Punjab had the lowest fertility rates at 1.6, while TN had 1.7

In the NFHS-5, Kerala is still the state with one of the lowest fertility rates, though it has slightly increased from its own levels. It now has a TFR of 1.8, the same as Tamil Nadu.

The Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has a very low TFR at 1.4. Among the states, Sikkim has the lowest TFR at 1.1. Sikkim’s TFR is now the same as South Korea, the country that has the lowest fertility rate in the world.

In general, Asia’s TFR is just 2.15, barely above the replacement levels. Among Asian nations, Nepal has TFR at 1.9 while Bangladesh’ is the same as India at 2.

In the world, Africa and Oceania have the highest TFR, at 4.4 and 2.9 respectively. In Africa, Niger has the highest TFR of 6.9 while Somalia has a TFR of 6.1. Apart from Africa and Oceania, all other geographic regions in the world have achieved TFR of replacement level or less.

As per United Nations, India’s population had peaked in the 1980s and the population growth has been declining ever since.

North Korean man to be shot dead for ‘smuggling’ South Korean show ‘Squid Game’

OpIndia Staff
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North Korean man to be shot dead for ‘smuggling’ South Korean show ‘Squid Game’

North Korean man has been sentenced to death for smuggling in South Korean Netflix series ‘Squid Game’ on USB through China and sold their copies after seven high school students were caught watching the show. As per a report by RFA, the man would be executed by a firing squad.

A student who bought the USB from the smuggler is given life sentence while six others who saw it with him have been sentenced to five years of hard labour. Teachers and school administrators are also fired and are banished to work in remote areas in mines, the report said citing sources.

Squid Games is a popular South Korean drama on Netflix which shows a dystopian world where cash-strapped contestants are pitted against each other in a children’s game for huge cash prize. Losing players are sentenced to death in the show. The show quite resonates with the actual life of North Korean people who live in the recluse country and are subjected to hard labour and have an otherwise terrible life and standard of living. The communist country strictly controls lives of its citizens and all television and radios are tuned into state propaganda. If anyone is caught watching or listening to foreign broadcasts, they face harsh punishment.

Turns out, one of the students in high school secretly bought the USB with ‘Squid Game’ on it and saw it with some of his friends. The word spread and others also got interested. They shared the USB but were caught by censors. North Korea has a specialised task force, Surveillance Bureau Group, which catches illegal video watchers.

Recently, North Korea had passed a law on “Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture” which carries maximum penalty of death sentence for watching, keeping or distributing media and videos from capitalist countries especially United States of America and South Korea. As of now, the borders in North Korea as closed due to Coronavirus pandemic and now there is anxiety amongst residents as the ‘smugglers’ and students will be grilled mercilessly to find out how the television drama made its way into North Korea.

The school administration is dismissed and they are also expelled from the party. They will now be likely made to work in mines in remote rural areas. This has triggered fear in other teachers who fear same fate should one of their students is caught watching ‘illegal videos’.

‘Mera Yeshu Yeshu’ on steroids: Christian preacher claims Jesus saved her from a Reptilian who posed as her husband to have sex with her

Jinit Jain
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‘Mera Yeshu Yeshu’ on steroids: Christian preacher claims Jesus saved her from a Reptilian who posed as her husband to have sex with her

There are countless stories or perhaps folk tales people recount to tell how Jesus intervened and saved their lives, but none comes close to the “otherworldly” anecdote shared by End Times preacher Sharon Gilbert, a clergywoman in the United States, in a talk show.

Recently, Sharon Gilbert, who is a preacher, an author, and a talk show host, claimed that an alien, which was actually a reptile in disguise, imitated her husband and tried to have sex with her.

The astounding bit of claim came during the Jim Bakker’s online show on Tuesday, where Sharon Gilbert narrated a surreal event from her life, which according to her, had occurred just after she had gotten married to her husband, Derek, who was also present on the show.

“After Derek and I got married…one night, this other Derek appears in our bed. The real Derek is lying down next to me. The other Derek sits right up out of it. It unsettled me. I knew that was not Derek. So I asked this critter: ‘Who are you?’ because he evidently wanted to establish sexual relations. He said ‘come on, I’m your husband.’ I said ‘who are you?’ and he had the nerve to claim to be Ahasuerus – Xerses [the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire who ruled from 486 to 465 BC],” Gilbert said.

Gilbert’s encounter with a shape-shifting reptilian alien provides profound insights about the extraterrestrial life: that they are much like humans in their carnal desires and that they appear like reptiles and have the supernatural ability to transfigure themselves.

If no one else, this should help folks in Hollywood, who come up with strange depictions to portray aliens. They can now rely on Gilbert’s description and depict extraterrestrial creatures as reptiles found on Earth and who have a flair for identifying themselves as kings and rulers of the past.

Gilbert further added that the creature visited her several times before she was finally able to exorcise it. She claimed that it was only after she was able to “verbalise the name of Jesus did the creature go away.” The preacher said she constantly heard the voice of the creature in her head, which rendered her motionless, and was able to fight back only when she was able to pray.

Since her mind was besieged with appearances of the creature, perhaps Gilbert is our conduit to the world that lays beyond this planet. Instead of pouring in billions of dollars into space programs in the search of existence of aliens in Space, NASA and other space research organisations should persuade Gilbert into having more such encounters with these extraterrestrial creatures to glean information about them.

Billionaire Elon Musk had once spoken about his dream of building cities in Mars. His dream can be materialised if he can get Gilbert to talk to the reptilian creature and seek information on how it seamlessly traverses galaxies to hound the Christian preacher. Possibly, with the help of the information retrieved from the reptilian alien, Musk can expedite his efforts to settle humans in Space.

Gilbert also said the creature visited a dozen times over the course of next 5 years and it was trying “to use her free will to do something to pull her away from the God.” However, she managed to put an end to his visitations when she internally said “I’ve had enough” and: “I reached up, I grabbed his face and I said, ‘You are a liar. And Jesus is real.’ And I pulled that face-off. And beneath it was a reptile.”

So, Jesus Christ is a universal God, who is feared by even extra-terrestrial creatures. This is ironic considering that a great many Christian pastors themselves do not fear him, and under the pretext of handling the custodianship of Christianity, engage in all kinds of perverse behaviour. News reports of bishops and pastors raping nuns and devout Christians have become par for the course. Christian priests, in several parts of the world, are accused of sexual exploiting nuns in the name of propagating the religion established by Jesus Christ. Yet, it is the extra-terrestrial creature, who is spooked by his name and not those who commit unspeakable atrocities under the garb of spreading his religion.

Besides, Gilbert added: “Little creatures with him this time, these little half-ling creatures and they looked like gargoyles, they were reptilian as well. So beneath that face of Derek was a reptilian serpentine creature, probably similar to what visited the Anasazi…”

As per conspiracy theorists, Anasazi were a tribe of Native American people who were abducted by extra-terrestrials after they were disappeared without a trace from New Mexico in the 14th century. Their disappearance was also a subject for an X-Files episode.

It is worth noting that much of Bakker’s episode was based on the promotion of a DVD called ‘The Great Delusion’, which explores conspiracy theories surrounding UFOs, aliens and their link to supernatural entities such as demons and fallen angels.

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