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Gujarat fully vaccinates 70% of its population as it readies itself for Omicron threat

Jhankar Mohta
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Gujarat fully vaccinates 70% of its population as it readies itself for Omicron threat

Gujarat has administered almost 8 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine, thereby fully vaccinating over 70% of eligible population. The State had provided a total of 8,00,23,305 doses, including 3.43 crore second doses, covering 70 per cent of the eligible population as of November 28, Sunday evening.

According to the recent data provided by the government, a total of 4.57 crore people, or 93 per cent of the eligible population, have received the first dose while almost 3.48 crore people that is around 70 per cent of the eligible population of Gujarat has been administered the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccination.

Pankaj Kumar, Gujarat Chief Secretary, commented in a Twitter post: “Har Ghar Dastak makes Gujarat achieve 8 Crore COVID19 Vaccination. Over 2/3 eligible population Fully Vaccinated. 93% given 1st dose. Appealing all leftouts to get vaccinated quickly to join India Fights Corona.”

The Cowin app shows that until November 29, 3,47,91,894 eligible people had been administered both doses that is 70.54 per cent.

Screenshot from Govt’s Cowin app

Gujarat is not only achieved the remarkable feat of vaccinating 70 per cent of its eligible population with both doses but had also saved a total of 5,57,507 Covid-19 vaccine doses that would have otherwise been an acceptable loss in the last three months.

The Centre in the month of March had directed the states to keep wastage at just 1% by extracting extra doses from the vials. Acting as per orders, 22 districts and eight major cities of Gujarat extracted a substantial amount of extra doses keeping the vaccine wastage to a minimum. 

Omicron threat in Gujarat

The state government has issued fresh guidelines and extended night curfew in eight cities till December 10. Night curfew is in place from 1 AM to 5 AM in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Gandhinagar and Junagadh. While commercial establishments can stay open till 12 AM, restaurants can stay open till midnight with 75% occupancy. Cinema halls can operate with 100% capacity and weddings can have gatherings of up to 400 people.

Siddhivinayak Temple: Agents misusing online booking app to cheat devotees, doctor exposes scam

OpIndia Staff
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Siddhivinayak Temple: Agents misusing online booking app to cheat devotees, doctor exposes scam

Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, scammers are finding different ways to rob the people of their hard-earned money. Such a scam has been exposed by Amit Thadhani, a doctor from Mumbai, Maharashtra, at Siddhivinayak Temple. In a tweet thread, Thadhani explained how scammers standing outside the temple are charging people as much as Rs.300 per person for darshan at the temple that was supposed to be free.

How does the scam work?

Siddhivinayak temple trust has recently launched a mobile app via which devotees can make a booking for darshan. The aim is to control the crowd to reduce the chances of Covid spread. If someone wants to do darshan, prior online booking is mandatory. He said, “Like all govt controlled temples, there’s a scam going on in online darshan too.”

Thadhani said he went to the temple with some relatives, where he was approached by a man who was standing outside one of the flower shops. The man told him that the darshan was only possible with prior online booking. He claimed he could get an online pass for them immediately for a fee.

Thadhani did not believe him at first, but when he downloaded the app and logged in with a newly created ID, it showed all slots were booked. The scammer told him that he could arrange darshan at Rs. 300 per person. They were a group of ten people. He further added that he would need five mobile phones to get the “booking” done for them as the app allowed only two people per phone.

He and the other four from the group gave them their mobile phones. The scammer, along with his sidekick, swung into action, and within minutes the booking was confirmed for all of them.

Thadhani had an idea how they were pulling off the scam. To confirm his theory, he kept the login of the person on his device. He added, “These people block all available slots in advance through various fake IDs. So no slots are available for genuine devotees.”

He added screenshots of the fake account in the thread and said, “This is the fake account through which the slot was blocked (obviously the person’s name isn’t really Siddhivinayak). So remember folks, if you’re not getting a slot for darshan at Siddhivinayak, chances are the local touts outside the temple have already blocked all of them.”

What OpIndia found so far

We downloaded the app and checked if there were any slots open for the day. The app showed that the slots were booked for December 1 and December 2. For December 3, the booking was not opened yet.

Screenshot showing no availability of slots

Interestingly, What Thadhani said in his thread was echoed in the reviews of the app as well. Many such reviews stated they came across scammers outside the temple who book the slots as soon as they are opened and charge the devotees for darshan.

Reviews of the Siddhivinayak app echo similar complaints. Source: Siddhivinayak app page on Google Play Store
Reviews of the Siddhivinayak app echo similar complaints. Source: Siddhivinayak app page on Google Play Store

OpIndia tried contacting the temple’s office over the phone, but no one was available at the time the report was published.

Aligarh Muslim University scholar claims that his PhD degree was revoked for praising PM Modi, varsity denies allegations

OpIndia Staff
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Aligarh Muslim University scholar claims that his PhD degree was revoked for praising PM Modi, varsity denies allegations

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has been the subject of social media controversy after one of its students alleged being denied a PhD degree for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the media.

While seeking PM Modi’s urgent intervention, AMU student Danish Rahim said, “AMU asked me to return degree in linguistic and to get one in Language in Advertising and Marketing (LAM) course instead. It’s happening to me because I praised PM.” He informed that he was reprimanded by the Chairman Department of Linguistics for praising PM Modi while giving a byte on a news channel.

Rahim claimed that he was asked to refrain from doing such things that were against the University culture. “This infers that he associates you (PM Modi) with a right-wing group and hardliner politician, which in my view, is merely a myth. Further, he says that if I repeat the action, action will be taken against me,” Danish Rahim wrote in a letter addressed to the Indian Prime Minister.

He further added, “A notice had been issued to me to deposit my PhD degree back to AMU. Since I took 5 years of hard work to get this reputed degree, how come I can return my degree to AMU that too for parsing the PM of 138 crore Indians. If AMU cancels my PhD degree, my whole career will be at stake.”

AMU spokesperson denies claims of prejudice against student for supporting PM Modi

However, the Aligarh Muslim University has denied all such claims. On Tuesday (November 30), AMU spokesperson Shafey Kidway informed, “The allegations are totally baseless. He did his MA & PhD in LAMM (Language of Advertising & Marketing) course of the Department of Linguistics, which also offers a PhD degree in Linguistics. Since he did his MA in LAM, he should get PhD degree in LAM.”

He further added that the administrative decision was not influenced by politics. “By mistake, he was given PhD degree in Linguistics. The mistake will be rectified… This incident has nothing to do with politics,” Shafey Kidway emphasised.

“It has been brought to notice that you were admitted to the PhD programme in LAMM under the Department of Linguistics in the academic session 2016-2017. As reported by your Supervisor and Chairman of the Department, your work throughout the research was on LAMM itself. However, at the time of submission of the thesis, and its subsequent evaluation and viva-voce, the same was inadvertently considered as PhD in Linguistics instead of PhD in LAMM under the Department of Linguistics,” read a notice issued by the varsity.

Screengrab of the notice issued by AMU, image via ANI

The Aligarh Muslim University had asked Danish Rahim to return the ‘incorrect degree’ for replacement within 7 days of the issuance of the letter. “The whole matter was examined and put up before the Vice-Chancellor who has ordered that you deposit the incorrect PhD degree already issued to you in Linguistics so that the correct PhD degree in LAMM be issued to you,” the varsity directed.

Bhopal Court issues warrant against actress Ameesha Patel in cheque bounce case: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Bhopal Court issues warrant against actress Ameesha Patel in cheque bounce case: Details

Bollywood actress Ameesha Patel has been given a bailable warrant from a Bhopal Court in a cheque bounce case on Monday, according to reports. The Court has asked the actress to be physically present during the next hearing of the case which involves a cheque bounce of 32.25 lakhs. The actress is expected to be present at the hearing of the case on December 4.

As per reports, the bailable warrant has been issued after UTF Telefilms Private Limited filed a complaint accusing the actress of borrowing money from the company through two cheques that had bounced.

Advocate Ravi Panth representing UTF Telefilms Private Limited in court has claimed that Ameesha Patel and her company M/S Ameesha Patel Production was involved in borrowing 32.25 lakhs from UTF Telefilms Private Limited for the sake of making a film. However, the two cheques given by the actress in the lieu of Rs 32.25 lakhs has bounced. Ameesha Patel now faces the threat of an arrest warrant in case of her absence at the court.

Notably, back in 2019, Ranchi Court had issued an arrest warrant against Ameesha Patel in a cheque bounce case of 3 crores. Then the actress was accused by producer Ajay Kumar Singh of taking Rs. 2.5 crores and giving a cheque of Rs. 3 crores that bounced. She was also given summons by the Indore Court in 2019 for a cheque bounce of Rs.10 lakhs and a case was registered against her under section 318 of Negotiable Instruments Act.

‘Include section on Vedas, review portrayal of freedom fighters in school textbooks’: Parliamentary Committee on Education

OpIndia Staff
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‘Include section on Vedas, review portrayal of freedom fighters in school textbooks’: Parliamentary Committee on Education

A Parliamentary committee on education has called for a review of how Indian freedom fighters are depicted in school history textbooks and recommended that “ancient wisdom and knowledge” from the Vedas be incorporated into the school curriculum, stating that educational content for students should be “free of biases.”

The report of the standing committee tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, November 30, also highlights the importance of including Sikh and Maratha history in the curriculum, as well as gender-inclusive literature.

Notably, the standing committee which is headed by BJP MP Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe, has ten Rajya Sabha members on it, including four from the BJP and one each from the TMC (Sushmita Dev), CPM (Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya), DMK (RS Bharathi), AIADMK (M Thambidurai), SP (Vishambhar Prasad Nishad), SP (Vishambhar Prasad Nishad), SP (Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (Akhilesh Prasad Singh). Besides, it has 21 Lok Sabha members, 12 of whom are from BJP, two from Congress, and one each from the TMC, CPM, JD(U), Shiv Sena, YSRCP, DMK and BJD.

“There is a need for discussing and reviewing, with leading historians, the manner in which Indian freedom fighters, from various regions/parts of the country and their contributions get place in History textbooks. This will result in a more balanced and judicious perception of the Indian freedom struggle. This will go a long way in giving due and proper space to the freedom fighters hitherto unknown and oblivious in the freedom movement. Review of representation of community identity-based history as of Sikh and Maratha history and others and their adequate incorporation in the textbooks will help in a more judicious perspective of their contribution,” the report mentioned.

The committee has said in its report that the NCERT and the state SCERTs should “incorporate the ancient wisdom, knowledge and teachings about life and society from Vedas and other great Indian texts/ books in the school curriculum”.

“Also, educational methodologies adopted in the ancient Universities like Nalanda, Vikramshila and Takshila should be studied and suitably modified to serve as a model reference for teachers…” it added.

The report also details some of the committee’s “observations” such as the fact that numerous historical figures and freedom fighters from India’s independence struggle have been shown in a “incorrect manner as offenders.” It was also suggested that the NCERT review the rules for developing history textbooks so that the various ages, periods, and events are given equal weight and priority in history textbooks.

“Similarly, it was observed that school textbooks do not give adequate coverage to some of the great Indian empires like that of Vikramaditya, Cholas, Chalukyas, Vijaynagar, Gondwana or that of Travancore and Ahoms of North-Eastern region, whose contributions in the expansion of India’s standing on the world stage cannot be ignored,” the report stated.

The research recommended that the curriculum should contain sections on contributions by leading figures like Mahasweta Devi, Kalpana Chawla, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Kittur Chennamma, M S Subbulakshmi, and Savitribai Phule, among others because women are underrepresented in school textbooks.

According to reports, the committee had stated another recommendation in the report which was adopted on November 26. It has said that textbooks should be free of biases and “instill a commitment to values enshrined in the constitution” apart from promoting national integration and unity.”

The committee had begun work on a report on school textbook revisions, with an emphasis on deleting references to “un-historical facts and distortions” regarding India’s national heroes, guaranteeing proportionate references to all periods of Indian history, and highlighting the role of women achievers.

Meanwhile, the Indian History Congress (IHC), which also filed a deposition, strongly opposed the committee’s recommendations, saying, “While a review process is always necessary, this should be done involving recognized scholars from all over the country and with adequate attention to the academic content, derived from a research-based understanding of different historical periods.”

Report presented before Parliamentary Committee on education says Islamic invaders given more importance in NCERT books

OpIndia has previously reported that a research report published by a prestigious think tank in July, 2021, presented before the Parliamentary Committee on education has stated that History textbooks published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and textbooks issued by the Kerala government give disproportionate attention to Mughal rulers, caste issues and barely mentions the achievements of Hindu kings, Indian saints, social reformers etc.

Delhi police arrest notorious snatchers Arvind alias Kejriwal and 2 others, recover a stolen bike, mobile phone and knife from them

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi police arrest notorious snatchers Arvind alias Kejriwal and 2 others, recover a stolen bike, mobile phone and knife from them

The Delhi’s Okhla police have nabbed three notorious snatchers operating in Indira Kalyan Vihar at Maa Anandmayi Marg in Delhi. The police recovered a stolen bike, a stolen mobile phone and a button accentuated knife from the possession of the miscreants. The police revealed that the accused have been identified as Arvind aka Kejriwal, Saurabh alias Raja and Suresh Rai alias Bauaa.

Journalist Raj Shekhar Jha shared the press release issued by the Delhi police related to the aforementioned case on Twitter. “Notorious snatcher Arvind alias Kejriwal, Saurabh alias Raja and Suresh Rai alias Baua have been arrested after a chase, says Delhi Police,” Tweeted the journalist.

The press note released by the Delhi police on November 30 read that on November 28, two police officials were patrolling in the Indira Kalyan Vihar at Maa Anandmayi Marg, Delhi, when they saw a lady screaming for help, pointing towards three motorbike borne thieves who were fleeing towards the ESI Hospital. The three miscreants had reportedly snatched the woman’s mobile and fled. Sensing that something was wrong the police personnel pursued the thieves. The police eventually overpowered and nabbed them.

On cursory search, the police found the snatched mobile phone and a button actuated knife on them. On asking about the ownership details of the motorcycle, they could not provide any satisfactory reply, said the police.

The press note added that during interrogation, the criminals identified themselves as Arvind alias Kejriwal, son of Prabhu Nah Yadav, Saurabh @ Raja, son of Sunil Kumar and Suresh Kumar Rai @ Bauaa, the son of one Ravinder Rai.

During the course of the investigation, the recovered motorcycle was found stolen from the area of PS Kalkaji.

Accordingly, a case FIR No. 855/2021, u/s 379/356/411/34 IPC & 25, informed the Okhla police.

Interestingly, while one of the accused went by the alias Arvind Kejriwal, another went by the moniker Bauaa, which is also used by Red FM’s famed RJ Raunac.

Soon after the journalist shared the news on the microblogging site, the name of one of the accused- Arvind @ Kejriwal stirred a meme fest on Twitter.

The fact that the thief shared his name with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal amused social media users.

PM Modi thanks Kongthong, Meghalaya for composing a special tune in his honour: Here is what makes the ‘Whistling Village’ so special

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi thanks Kongthong, Meghalaya for composing a special tune in his honour: Here is what makes the ‘Whistling Village’ so special

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thanked the villagers of Kongthong village in Meghalaya for composing a special tune in his honor and said that the government of India was dedicated towards promoting the tourism potential of the state. The Kongthong village which is known as the ‘whistling’ village is a part of the East Khasi hills in Meghalaya.

The special tune was composed by the residents of the unique ‘Whistling Village’ of India in honor of Prime Minister Modi and in appreciation of the steps that the Government of India had taken to promote the village as a prime tourism destination of the country.

Whistling Village of India : The Kongthong Village in Meghalaya

Located at a distance of just 60 kilometers from the capital of Meghalaya, Shillong, the ‘Whistling Village’ of India was nominated by the World Tourist organization UNWTO in September for the ‘Best Tourism Villages’ award. The beautiful village of Kongthong derived its special name of ‘Whistling Village’ from a unique characteristic of its people to identify themselves through a distinct ‘whistling’ tune specific to every individual born in the land of Kongthong. That is, each and every resident of the village of Kongthong has a ‘whistling’ tune version of their names.

The whistling tune known as Jingrwai Lawbei which means mother’s love song, is a special melodic tune composed by the women of the village for their children. As per reports, according to the traditions of the village, a mother composes the tune for her child within a week of birth. Remarkably, the villagers of this East Khasi Hills village have been using this whistling tunes for communication and sending messages among themselves as well.

Notably, the ‘Kongthong Village’ is composed of only 700 people and had been adopted by Bihar Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha of Bharatiya Janata Party. Rakesh Sinha had also recommended a UNESCO tag for the village.

Dalit activist joins White Supremacists in targeting Twitter CEO over caste, former CEO Jack Dorsey had earlier promoted her anti-Brahmin poster

OpIndia Staff
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Dalit activist joins White Supremacists in targeting Twitter CEO over caste, former CEO Jack Dorsey had earlier promoted her anti-Brahmin poster

Dalit activist Thenmozhi Soundarajan joined White Supremacists in targeting newly appointed Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal over caste. They falsely assumed him to be Brahmin and targeted him over the same. Thenmozhi went to the extent of claiming that it is a tradition for “White cismen” to transfer power to “Brahmin cismen” in the Silicon Valley.

She said on Twitter, “In the grand silicon valley tradition of white cismen passing the torch to Brahmin cismen Jack Dorsey is stepping down and Parag Agarwal is the new CEO of Twitter. Will he also remain silent about Caste?”

Source: Twitter

She went on to add, “Remember Microsoft went from Steve Ballmer to Satya Nadella & Alphabet from Larry Page to Sundar Pinchai. These companies still have caste discrimination while having leadership that is racially diverse but caste priviliged.”

Her allegations reek of caste hatred as Parag Agrawal was chosen solely based on his credentials. He has been a long time employee at Twitter and had very good relations with Jack Dorsey himself. Even so, Thenmozhi Soundarajan made it appear as if caste had a major role to play in the decision.

Source: Twitter

That the person behind the username @dalitdiva is Thenmozhi Soundarajan is confirmed by the past tweets of several media outlets.

The Dalit Activist got Agrawal’s caste entirely wrong, just like White Supremacists. Parag Agrawal actually belongs to the Baniya caste. But facts do not matter when the objective is solely to peddle hatred against the Brahmin community.

We had reported earlier how Parag Agrawal had suffered racial abuses on social media soon after he was appointed the CEO of Twitter.

Thenmozhi Soundarajan makes common cause with White Supremacists

A section of the western Alt-Right believes that Indian ‘Brahmins’ are responsible for everything that is wrong with their country and choose to blame Brahmins for all of their problems. Therefore, when Parag Agrawal was appointed CEO, they assumed that he is Brahmin and targeted him over his caste.

Source: Twitter

The Dalit activist demonstrated the same kind of bigotry, even though one would assume that a person of Indian origin would be aware that Agrawal is not a Brahmin surname. But that does not appear to be the case here.

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had once promoted the Dalit activist’s anti-Brahmin poster

Thenmozhi had once designed a ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’ poster for Equality Labs, where she is the Director. During his visit to India, Jack Dorsey had held the poster, which caused a storm on social media. After severe backlash, the legal head of Twitter was forced to apologise over the same.

In a weird twist of fate, the creator of the same poster is now attacking the new Twitter CEO on the presumption that he is Brahmin, even when he is not. The incident also highlights the fact that while liberals accuse ‘Sanghis’ of being fascists and Nazis, it is they who ally with White Supremacists to achieve their objective.

It also highlights the fact that Ambedkarites often serve as useful idiots for White Supremacists, giving racists the moral justification for peddling hatred against one segment of people of colour. Intriguingly enough, Equality Labs is an extremely prominent anti-Brahmin group in the USA which has worked extensive with Democrats to peddle its anti-India anti-Brahmin agenda.

Gujarat: Hussain Vohra disguises as Hindu man, accused of raping a 14-year-old Hindu girl

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Hussain Vohra disguises as Hindu man, accused of raping a 14-year-old Hindu girl

Another case of grooming jihad has come to light in Gujarat. As per the Desh Gujarat report, Hussain Vohra presented himself as ‘Lalu’ and befriended a 14-year-old Hindu girl in Khergam, Gujarat.

According to a report in Zee Gujarati, Hussain Vohra came in contact with the girl at a garage near her house and befriended her. At that time, he introduced himself as Lalu. They later shared the mobile numbers and continued talking to each other. Slowly, their friendship turned into a relationship.

Later the girl found out that he was a Muslim from his Instagram ID and told him that she could not continue contacting him. However, the accused arrived at her house and threatened her with a knife. Reports suggest that he raped the girl repeatedly at her home in the absence of her parents between January 2020 and November 2021.

On November 20, he came to her house in the evening and threatened the family and said he was willing to marry their daughter and if they refused, he would kill them.

The victim’s father filed a complaint at Khergam Police station, after which the Police swung into action and arrested the accused. A case has been registered against the accused under the POCSO Act and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

CNN host Chris Cuomo used sources to help former NY governor Andrew Cuomo in sexual harassment case, documents reveal

OpIndia Staff
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CNN host Chris Cuomo used sources to help former NY governor Andrew Cuomo in sexual harassment case, documents reveal

Documents released on Monday from the New York Attorney General’s Office has revealed that CNN host Chris Cuomo coordinated with various ‘sources’ in order to deflect the allegations of sexual harassment made against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, according to CNBC report.

Records of Chris Cuomo’s interview during the state investigation including Attorney General’s probe showed that Chris Cuomo was in contact with his brother Andrew Cuomo’s former aide Melissa DeRosa and strategized the statements of the former New York governor to deal with the accusations.

In one of the statements to DeRosa from March, Cuomo had said, “Please let me help with the prep,”. While in another statement from March, days after Andrew Cuomo was accused of making an unwanted advance towards a woman named Anna Ruch at a wedding, Chris Cuomo said, “I have a lead on the wedding girl.”

Meanwhile, CNN has stated that it would review the documents released by the New York Attorney General. Matt Dornic, CNN spokesperson said, “The thousands of pages of additional transcripts and exhibits that were released today by the NY Attorney General deserve a thorough review and consideration,” adding, “We will be having conversations and seeking additional clarity about their significance as they relate to CNN over the next several days.” 

As per reports, on March 12, Chris Cuomo had texted a full written text for the governor to DeRosa. It said, “I will not resign, I cannot resign,” adding, “I understand the political pressure I understand the stakes of political warfare, and that’s what this is… And I understand the conformity that can be forced by cancel culture.”

Notably, Democrat Andrew Cuomo resigned from his post in August amidst allegations of misconduct. The former New York governor had also denied the allegations made against him.

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