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Uncertainty remains over future of Afghanistan as politicians demand inclusive govt from Taliban, national flag still flies over presidential palace

OpIndia Staff
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Uncertainty remains over future of Afghanistan as politicians demand inclusive govt from Taliban, national flag still flies over presidential palace

One week after the Taliban captured Afghanistan capital Kabul following the escape of former president Ashraf Ghani, there is still no clarity on the kind of government that the Islamist group will form in the war-torn country. The greatest symbol of this uncertain situation is the tricolour Afghan national flag, which still flies over the presidential palace. Even though the Taliban has captured the palace, and they are attempting to replace the national flag with their own one, the flag at the presidential flag has not been changed yet.

In fact, dismissing media reports that the Taliban flag was hoisted at the palace removing the Afghan national flag, Taliban leader Abdul Hameed Hamasi has said that they don’t have any problem with the flag.

Today a video was posted on social media showing Hamasi and other Taliban leaders standing inside the presidential palace, where the national flag can be seen flying in the sky behind them. The Taliban leader said that some people from the former government are spreading propaganda that the flag was changed. He alleged that those people don’t want peace to prevail in Afghanistan.

The Talibani leadership has conducted several meetings with the political parties in the country, but the political leaders say no serious discussions on the future political system was held in those meetings. The Afghan political leaders have called for an inclusive government, including representatives from all political parties.

They said that the meetings were held merely as consultations, and no serious discussions were held about future governance in Afghanistan. “There is a need for fundamental discussions, we hope that discussions are held on this issue as soon as possible, because the nation is waiting for the formation of a system,” said Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhel, the former governor of Nangarhar.

Reportedly, the Taliban has hinted that they will form an inclusive government, but there is no clarity on that yet.

Days after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, former president Hamid Karzai, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Dr Abdullah Abdullah and chief of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin party Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had formed a coordination committee to ensure a smooth transition of power. Yesterday Karzai and Abdullah met with Taliban political office members to hold discussions on the issue.

Taliban political office members Maulawi Shahabuddin Delawari Delawar, Abdul Salam Hanafi, Khairullah Khairkhwa and Abdul Rahman Feda met them at Abdullah’s house in Kabul. After the meeting, Abdullah’s office said that Both sides exchanged views on the current security and political developments, and an inclusive political settlement for the future of the country.

Karzai and Abdullah also held a meeting with Abdul Rahman Mansour, the Taliban’s acting governor for Kabul, and discussed security of the citizens of the city. They reiterated that protecting the life, property and dignity of the citizens of the capital should be prioritized. The Taliban governor pledged that he would do everything possible for the security of the people of Kabul, according to Abdullah’s office.

Kabul has been witnessing massive chaos since the Taliban captured it as thousands of people gathered outside the Kabul Airport trying to get out of the country. Several people have already died in the stampede outside the Airport, which is guarded by the Taliban on the outside and by NATO forces in the inside.

Yesterday the Taliban had said that they will unveil a new governing framework in the next few weeks. “Legal, religious and foreign policy experts in the Taliban aim to present the new governing framework in the next few weeks,” a Taliban official told Reuters.

While the Taliban has been trying to present a ‘moderate’ image, they have made it clear that they will implement the Sharia law. Which means there will be severe restrictions on the citizens on the country, especially on woman.

Most countries in the world, including the EU Commission, has confirmed that they will not recognise a Taliban government in Afghanistan. Due to this, the group may form an ‘inclusive’ government by including some members from the political parties. But what form the government will take and how much authority non-Taliban members in the govt, if any, will have, will be unfolded in the coming weeks.

Australia: Dogs shot dead by rural council to prevent volunteers from traveling during Covid restrictions

OpIndia Staff
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Australia: Dogs shot dead by rural council to prevent volunteers from traveling during Covid restrictions

A rural council in New South Wales, Australia has shot dead dogs waiting to be rescued by a shelter in order to prevent volunteers from traveling during Covid-19 restrictions, the Sunday Morning Herald has reported. According to the Office of Local Government, the Bourke Shire Council killed the dogs to prevent volunteers from a Cobar-based animal shelter from traveling last week.

“OLG has been informed that the council decided to take this course of action to protect its employees and community, including vulnerable Aboriginal populations, from the risk of COVID-19 transmission,” the watchdog’s spokesperson said.

One of the dogs was a new mother and as per the report, the animal shelter had necessary precautions in place to transport the dogs safely. Moreover, Cobar has not seen any recent case of local transmission of Covid-19.

Animal rights campaigners have demanded an immediate investigation into the matter. Lisa Ryan, Animal Liberation’s regional campaign manager, said, “We are deeply distressed and completely appalled by this callous dog shooting and we totally reject council’s unacceptable justifications that this killing was apparently undertaken as part of a COVID- safe plan.”

She stated, “Council pounds are paid for by local communities, and it is clear that shooting lost and unclaimed dogs housed in these publicly-funded facilities falls far short of community expectations.”

A government probe has been launched into the matter. Meanwhile, massive protests have broken out in Australia over the imposition of lockdown by the government. The Police on Saturday employed harsh measures, including the use of rubber bullets and tear gas, to disperse crowds. Hundreds of protesters were detained and seven officers were hospitalised as a result of clashes.

Kerala Assembly Speaker compares genocidal Islamist responsible for Moplah Massacre to Bhagat Singh

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala Assembly Speaker compares genocidal Islamist responsible for Moplah Massacre to Bhagat Singh

Speaker of the Kerala Assembly, MB Rajesh, compared genocidal maniac Variyan Kunnathu Kunjahammed Haji, leader of the Moplah Massacre of Hindus, to Bhagat Singh. He made the comment during an event organised by the state library on the completion of 100 years of the massacre.

“I think his (Variyan Kunnath Kunjahammed Haji) place is at par with Bhagat Singh,” said MB Rajesh while inaugurating a function to mark the occasion at Thirurangadi in Malappuram.

C Krishnakumar, BJP’s general secretary in Kerala, has demanded that the Kerala Assembly Speaker be booked under the sedition law. He said, “Rajesh has insulted the freedom struggle by comparing Bhagat Singh to the aggressor Variyamkunnan who massacred the Hindus in Malabar. CPM secretary A Vijayaraghavan should clarify whether the CPM accepts the Speaker’s statement to make a rebel a freedom fighter to please the Muslim fundamentalists. The Malabar riots were the first organized terrorist attack in Kerala. In 1921, Variyamkunnan and his gang committed atrocities similar to those carried out by the Taliban.”

Anoop Kaippali of the BJP said that he will file a case against MB Rajesh along with Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga.

The Moplah Massacre led to an estimated death of 10,000 Hindus in Kerala. It is believed that as many a 100,000 Hindus were forced to leave Kerala in the wake of the massacre. The number of Hindu Temples that were destroyed in the genocide is speculated to be a hundred. Forcible conversion of Hindus was rampant and unspeakable atrocities were poured upon Hindus.

On Sunday, people trended #MalabarIslamicState on social media to pay tribute to the victims of the massacre on its 100 year anniversary.

From banning music, co-education to barring female employees to join work, the Taliban is back to imposing restrictions on women

OpIndia Staff
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From banning music, co-education to barring female employees to join work, the Taliban is back to imposing restrictions on women

It’s only been a week now since the Taliban took over Afghanistan and the Jihadist organisation, known for its misogyny and violence against women are back to unleashing atrocities and imposing restrictions on the helpless women of the war-torn nation. The fundamentalists, who had assured the international community that there will be no discrimination against the Afghan women under their rule, have already started backtracking on their commitments.

Co-education banned in Afghanistan

The Islamic fundamentals have, according to reports, already banned co-education in Herat, the third-largest city of Afghanistan now under Taliban rule. They have reportedly described co-education as the ‘root of all evils in society’. This is, in fact, the first ‘fatwa’ issued by the Taliban after its takeover.

Further, it has been decided that women lecturers would be allowed to teach only female students and not male students.

It is being said that the decision was taken after a meeting was held between professors, owners of private institutions and Taliban leaders.

Music banned, female employees not allowed in the local radio stations in Afghanistan

The Taliban, which has their own interpretation of Sharia law, have also banned music and the employment of female employees in the local radio stations in Ghazni, the Afghan media reported. The diktat was passed by the Taliban’s information affairs in charge of the central Ghazni district.

It is pertinent to note here that music is ‘haram’ under Sharia law. During its previous rule, the Taliban use to punish those who played music or danced on songs at parties.

‘Unconducive security situation for women’, Afghan female civil servants sent back home by Taliban

Moreover, the Taliban asked civil servants in Kabul to get back to their offices, but when everyone showed up, they dismissed female workers- justifying it as an unconducive security situation for women.

It was reported how the Taliban, after gaining a quick takeover on Afghanistan, began going door to door, searching for absentee city workers. Hundreds of armed men set up checkpoints across the city. At the entrance to the regional hospital, a new notice appeared on the wall which read: “Employees must return to work or face punishment from the Taliban.”

However, when the civil servants started getting back to work, the jihadists singled out the women employees and sent them back home.

While the Taliban stated that women can continue to attend school and universities and that they will not be compelled to wear a full burqa adding that hijabs, however, will remain mandatory, the jihadist organisation’s public pronouncements are contradicted by reports of the rising burqa sales and prices in Afghanistan after its takeover, women being killed for not wearing burqas or being set on fire for ‘bad cooking’.

Earlier, there were reports that the Taliban gangs are targeting children as young as 12 during their hunt for sex slaves since they took over Afghanistan. Women and girls are among the most at-risk Afghanis under the new Islamist regime after the Jihadist organisation launched a door-to-door search for sex slaves.

From demanding lists of women and girls in different regions to forcing marriages on young girls, reports of the Taliban’s atrocities are making headlines. The unmarried and widowed women and girls between the ages of 12 to 45 are termed as “qhanimat” or spoils of the war by the Taliban. They are reportedly being divided among the members of the group.

According to Shukria Barakzai, Afghan politician and journalist, the stories of the Taliban’s atrocities against women and girls are horrifying. She wrote in The Daily Mail, “The gouging of a woman’s eyes in front of her terrified family; girls as young as 12 wrenched from the arms of their weeping mothers to become sex slaves for Taliban ‘warriors’; men punished or even killed for ‘offences’ as simple as listening to the ‘wrong’ music, or for daring to be ‘educated’.”

Gender activist group makes minor boy wear mangalsutra, bindi to ‘smash the patriarchy’: Its history of using minors for propaganda

Anurag
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Gender activist group makes minor boy wear mangalsutra, bindi to ‘smash the patriarchy’: Its history of using minors for propaganda

Gender activist group Equal Community Foundation published a video of a minor on Twitter on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan in which he was seen wearing a bindi and mangalsutra. In the tweet, the group wrote, “Shreyas, our #ActionForEqualilty participant, pledges not to pass comments at girls or make them uncomfortable in any way. P.S. – Notice the bindi and mangalsutra he is wearing to protest the need for women to “look married” or be the “property” of their husbands. #RakshaBandh”

Equal Community Foundation
Screenshot of the video by ECF showing a minor boy wearing Bindi and Managalsutra for a propaganda-driven video.

Instead of #RakshaBandhan, the Equal Community Foundation used the hashtag #RakshaBandh to ‘smash the patriarchy’. The tweet and use of the minor boy in the video attract a lot of criticism on social media platforms. While some Twitter users tagged Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani to look into the problematic tweet, others criticised the group and called the video absurd.

Smita Deshmukh wrote, “Why do boys have to wear a bindi and is it mangalsutra to ensure that they treat women equally? This is absurd. Stop this nonsense. Men need not be like women to understand them. Education and values are important. It looks like social media woke campaign.”

Another user questioned how they could use a young child for a propaganda video.

Raj said, “ECF India has gone crazy! Spreading your agenda through young boys! Shameful!”

Equal Community Foundation
Source: Twitter

One Twitter user called out Equal Community Foundation for demeaning Hindu festivals by creating the hashtag RakshaBandh. She wrote, “What nonsense. Demeaning our #Rakshabandan festival by creating a # RakshaBandh. Demeaning our sacred Mangalsutra, Bindi etc. Using an innocent boy for your bigotry.”

Tanmay questioned if the group is willing to question rituals of other religions and said, “Give children moral &cultural values, raise them as good humans but spare them from your agenda. And don’t use cultural symbols for your demean us. Bindi & Mangalsutra is a choice, it’s not like a woman is a property of some man. Can you say the same about wedding rings among Christians.”

Equal Community Foundation
Source: Twitter

Dextrocardiac1 said, “No need to make the child suffer from gender dysphoria just to make him understand how to respect women, it can be down in a way more respectful way than these cheap theatrics.”

Source: Twitter

Equal Community Foundation: History of using minor boys for propaganda

According to ECF’s website, the organisation was founded in 2009. In its organisational strategy, the group claims that out of 230 million boys in India that are under the age of 18, over 115 million are estimated to use physical violence and 60 million to be involved in sexual violence, including rape. The group believes that six crore boys in India are possible rapists of the future!

So, in order to “tackle the epidemic by raising every boy in India to be gender-equitable”, they created the organisation with a possible outcome to raise “Gender Equitable Boys”. The group states that they have “remarkable success” towards their mission. Interestingly, in its strategy document, the group referred to a link ecf.org/data, the screenshot of the page can be seen below.

Equal Community Foundation
Screenshot of Data section of ECf’s website.

When we tried to visit the linked research papers, none of the links worked. The UNICEF report was removed from their website, and the other research documents they referred to were nowhere to be found as the website they referred to (http://unwomen-asiapacific.org) no longer exisst. We did find “https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en”, which is an UN-affiliated website, but we were unable to spot the studies they referred to on this website as well.

ECF’s strategy is based on now-deleted documents.
ECF’s strategy is based on now-deleted documents.

The claim “57% justify violence against women. 50% will or are likely to use physical violence, and 25% will or are likely to be involved in rape” on their website has no backing as of now. Yet, the group is actively running propaganda among minor children and making videos using them.

The video in question is not the only video that ECF has posted while trying to defame Raksha Bandhan. The #Rakshabandh campaign started in 2018, and initially, they used adult men and women for the campaign. Tweets by the group can be seen here. Later, in 2019, they started using children for the campaign and posted the first video with a child on August 8, 2019.

Tweets by ECF from 2019. Source: Twitter

In 2020, the campaign continued, and they started to include minor girls in the campaign too.

Equal Community Foundation
Tweets by ECF from 2020. Source: Twitter

This year, they started the campaign on August 14, and the first video with a minor boy was posted on August 16.

Tweets by ECF from 2021. Source: Twitter

After the initial tweet, multiple tweets with several minor boys and girls were posted by the group on social media platforms.

OpIndia has blurred the faces of minor children used in the videos by ECF to conceal their identity.

Meerut: Abdul Salam trapped and sexually exploited 4 Hindu girls in 15 years using different Hindu identities, tried to convert them

OpIndia Staff
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Meerut: Abdul Salam trapped and sexually exploited 4 Hindu girls in 15 years using different Hindu identities, tried to convert them

Meerut police have arrested a Muslim man named Abdul Salam for luring at least 4 girls in the last 15 years by faking his identity. The accused allegedly kept using different Hindu names to deceive the victims, then married and sexually exploited them. Abdul Salam also tried to convert his preys to Islam. The action against him was taken against Abdul Salam after his first wife Pinky along with another girl who had fallen into his trap approached the Meerut police with a complaint against him.

The police, in turn, booked Abdul Salam for cheating, rape, forced conversion and forgery. The Meerut police arrested the accused and recovered many fake identity cards with Hindu names, which the accused had been using over the years to conceal his religious identity. The police sent Salam to jail on Saturday, August 21, 2021, and are now examining all the fake documents recovered from the accused. They have also been interrogating all the people who were in contact with him over the years.

According to reports, the accused has trapped at least 4 girls in the last 15 years. Abdul Salam, a resident of Bulandshahr, had gone to Meerut to earn a living. He started working as an electrician there. Abdul got his driving licence made in the name of Vicky Singh while his Aadhar card is made in the name of Anil Saini.

He first faked his identity to lure a woman named Pinky, a resident of Sadar, with whom the accused also has a son aged 15. Abdul then posed as Anil Saini to trap a girl who lived in Meerut’s Tandel Mohalla. He married this girl and established sexual relations with her also. Likewise, he lured other girls into marriage and sexual relationships. He also attempted to convert these girls into Islam.

Abdul Salam’s treachery laid exposed when his first wife Pinky happened to meet her husband’s second victim and apprised her with Salam’s truth. The two, then, together went to the police station to file a complaint against the accused.

Pinky informed the police that the accused Salam often lures women by using different Hindu names. He then sexually exploits them and forces them to convert to Islam. She said that besides her and the Tandel Mohalla victim, Sadam had trapped two other girls named Roohi and Monica and had tried to convert them to Islam also.

This is one of the many such cases of grooming jihad which keeps surfacing in various parts of the country despite states coming out with strict laws to curb the menace.

Netizens trend #MalabarIslamicState to pay tribute to victims on 100 years of Moplah Massacre

OpIndia Staff
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Netizens trend #MalabarIslamicState to pay tribute to victims on 100 years of Moplah Massacre

The Moplah riots of 1921 were a systematic campaign of Jihad against Hindus. The genocide, orchestrated by the likes of Variankunnath Kunhamad Haji, Ali Musaliar and others, led to an estimated death of 10,000 Hindus in Kerala. It is believed that as many a 100,000 Hindus were forced to leave Kerala in the wake of the massacre. The number of Hindu Temples that were destroyed in the genocide is speculated to be a hundred. Forcible conversion of Hindus was rampant and unspeakable atrocities were poured upon Hindus.

On the 100th year anniversary of the infamous Moplah massacre, netizens remembered the ideology of Islamist fanaticism that led to the death of thousands of Hindus. Twitter user Raghuveer wrote, “#malabarislamicstate Mappila rebellion was all about for Turk Khalifa, no way related with freedom fight.”

Another user commented, “10000+ Hindus slaughtered, at least 26000 fled as refugees, minimum 5000+ forcibly converted, sexually assaulted and more than 100 Hindu temples destroyed. The Moplah Rebellion of 1921-22 was a rebellion that targeted Hindus #malabarislamicstate #1921”

Twitter user Pravin Tiwari emphasised that the Moplah riots of 2021 was the first manifestation of the Talibani mentality in India.

“The few Hindus of Malabar who had joined the non-cooperation movement were not prepared for the violence & wreckage rebels had planned. Distressed by the violence Malabar Hindus withdrew from the struggle, which by default became the Mappila revolt #malabarislamicstate #1921,” wrote another user.

RSS worker J Nandakumar pointed out how the Moplah riots proved to be a bigger catastrophe for the Hindus than the previous communal attacks. “It was an organized movement, amplified by the Khilafat movement, which made it a planned crime, rather than discrete outbreaks by discontent religious militants. #malabarislamicstate,” stated J Nandakumar.

The Moplah riots was described by the likes of Annie Besant and Babasaheb Ambedkar in their respective published books. Annie Besant described the events in her book ‘The Future of Indian Politics’ as: “They murdered and plundered abundantly, and killed or drove away all Hindus who would not apostatize. Somewhere about a lakh of people were driven from their homes with nothing but the clothes they had on, stripped of everything. Malabar has taught us what Islamic rule still means, and we do not want to see another specimen of the Khilafat Raj in India.”

Babasaheb Ambedkar in his book, Pakistan or the Partition of India, wrote, “The blood-curdling atrocities committed by the Moplas in Malabar against the Hindus were indescribable. All over Southern India, a wave of horrified feeling had spread among the Hindus of every shade of opinion, which was intensified when certain Khilafat leaders were so misguided as to pass resolutions of “congratulations to the Moplas on the brave fight they were conducting for the sake of religion”. Even after 100 years of the event, the wounds of the genocide remain afresh in the Hindu conscience.

BJP leader Kapil Mishra spends Rakshabandhan with Delhi anti-Hindu riots victim Dilbar Negi’s sisters

OpIndia Staff
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BJP leader Kapil Mishra spends Rakshabandhan with Delhi anti-Hindu riots victim Dilbar Negi’s sisters

In a moving incident, BJP leader Kapil Mishra on Sunday visited the family of Anti-Hindu Delhi riots victim Dilbar Negi in Uttarakhand and spent time with the family on the occasion of Rakshabandhan.

BJP leader Kapil Mishra visited Dilbar Negi’s family and shared pictures where Negi’s sisters tied Rakhi on his wrist.

Earlier, Kapil Mishra had announced on Twitter that he would spend time with Dilbar Negi’s family on this year’s Rakshabandhan in Uttarakhand. He had remembered how the Islamist mob had brutally killed the 20-year-old Dilbar Negi during the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots in Delhi.

The personal visit by Kapil Mishra to Dilbar Negi’s residence to meet his parents moved social media users, who praised him for his empathy towards those families who lost their loved ones during the Anti-Hindu riots in Delhi unleashed by the Islamic mob in February 2020.

Islamist rioters burned Dilbar Singh Negi after they brutally chopped off his limbs with a sword. The rest of his body was tossed into the fire like a piece of meat by the blood-thirsty mob.

The brutal murder of Dilbar Negi:

The 20-year-old Dilbar Negi, who had dreamt of joining the Indian Army, was working at a restaurant in Delhi to make a living. On the evening of 23 February, 2020 when violence erupted in Delhi, he had fallen victim to the brutality of these riots after he was burnt by a mob of rioters in the burning house after being cut off with a sword.

The gruesome videos of anti-Hindu riots in Delhi had emerged, which showed how rioters, after cutting Dilbar Singh Negi’s hands and feet, threw the rest of his body into the burning fire. The incident was first reported by OpIndia when the relatives of Dilbar Negi, the deceased, contacted us and reported the horrific accident. 

Dilbar Singh Negi was from Thalisain block in the Pauri district of Uttarakhand. He used to work at a sweet shop located in Shiv Vihar. His close aide Shyam Singh told OpIndia that some rioters entered the Shahdara area on the evening of 23 February. The rioters made Negi their first target. First, they cut off his arms and legs. Then, they burnt his body in a nearby shop. He was accompanied by his two other companions in the building, who managed to escape from there.

On February 26, when the shop owner Anil Pal reached the spot to know the condition of his shop with the police, he found the body of the deceased Negi near the stairway on the second floor. We can assume that he was trying to jump from the building after seeing the rioters. Negi had visited the godown of the shop for having food and taking rest, the charge-sheet said.

According to the charge sheet, the main accused in the murder of Dilbar Negi is one Shahnawaz, as he was the one who led the mob that day. Along with Shahnawaz, the other accused have been charged with murder, criminal conspiracy, rioting and promoting enmity between groups. Currently, he is in judicial custody.

Moreover, the Delhi Police had named Dr MA Anwar, the owner of Al-Hind hospital in the riot-hit Mustafabad area, as one of the organisers of the protest. The controversial doctor has been named in the charge sheet filed by Delhi Police in the murder of 20-year-old Hindu youth Dilbar Negi.

A key eyewitness in the case had said that there were clear instructions for the mob to attack Hindu homes and shops. The eyewitness said that the mob was abusing Hindus in a vile manner and were speaking freely of finishing off Hindus. Furthermore, it was alleged that the mob was speaking of setting Hindu homes on fire and were calling them ‘Kaafir’.

Three accused men in the murder of Dilbar Singh Negi have confessed to firing indiscriminately at Hindus in Shiv Vihar during the communal riots at North-East Delhi. Shahnawaz, Salman and Sonu Saifi admitted to procuring a pistol, while Salman confessed of “firing at Hindus”.

As was the case of Dilbar Negi, many Hindus including IB sleuth Ankit Sharma and police constable Ratan Lal, were also brutally murdered by the Muslim mob who had come from the Brijpuri Pulia side in northeast Delhi and unleashed violence, targeting properties of Hindus. The unfortunate families of these Hindus have still not come to terms with the fact that they will never see their loved ones again. Even as with time, things tend to be forgotten, this deadly riot, which was the fall out of religious hatred stoked by radical fundamentalists, will not be erased from the memories of the aggrieved families.

Here is why Venkatesh Prasad and others are remembering Draupadi on Raksha Bandhan

OpIndia Staff
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Here is why Venkatesh Prasad and others are remembering Draupadi on Raksha Bandhan

Hindus worldwide are celebrating the festival of Raksha Bandhan that honours the bonds of love between brother and sisters. The Rakhi that is tied around the wrist of brothers carries with it the solemn vow to protect and guard their sisters against all evils.

While certain ‘feminists’ decided to ‘smash the patriarchy’ on the occasion, a festival they have long branded ‘patriarchal’, Hindus celebrated Raksha Bandha with joy and vigour. On social media, Hindus recalled the bond of sibling love between Draupadi and Shri Krishna.

Draupadi, wife to the Pandavas, had ripped a piece of her Saree and tied it around Shri Krishna’s wrist when He was bleeding after killing Sishupal. He had inadvertently cut Himself on the Sudarshan Chakra.

Consequently, a bond of sibling love developed between the two and Shri Krishna vowed to protect her during her time of distress. Of course, later, when the Kauravas attempted to violate her dignity, Shri Krishna Himself came to her rescue.

Thus, on Raksha Bandhan, Hindus are remembering the love that Shri Krishna and Draupadi shared.

Another version of the story says that one day in Sankranti, Shri Krishna hurt his finger while handling sugarcane. His wife Satyabhama sent a help to get a cloth to bandage his finger while his other consort Rukmini came to tie a bandage around his finger.

Draupadi, or Panchali, as she is often called, was close by and tore off a piece of her saree to bandage the God’s finger. It was then that He promised to protect her. Thus, the festival is celebrated with great pomp at Vrindavan, Mathura and Braj.

Finance Ministry summons Infosys CEO over persistent glitches in the Income Tax portal even after 2.5 months

OpIndia Staff
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Finance Ministry summons Infosys CEO over persistent glitches in the Income Tax portal even after 2.5 months

Finance Ministry has summoned Infosys Managing Director and Chief Executive – Salil Parekh over troubles with the new income tax e-filing portal. The website went live earlier this year but has been marred by glitches since its launch.

Salil Parekh has been called to appear before the Ministry of Finance on August 23, Monday, to explain to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman “as to why even after 2.5 months since the launch of new e-filing portal, glitches in the portal have not been resolved,” Income Tax Department said in a tweet on Sunday.

In its tweet, the Income Tax department said, “In fact, since August 21, 2021, the portal itself is not available”.

The new income tax e-filing portal was launched on June 7 to ease the tax filing process and expedite the refund issue. The government of India had given Infosys the contract to develop the website in January 2019. However, ever since its launch, the taxpayers have faced numerous problems accessing and using the portal.

On June 22, Finance Ministry reportedly had summoned Infosys officials to a meeting to discuss the glitches in the new income tax portal and seek suggestions from other shareholders to fix them. In the meeting, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) representatives pointed out the issues taxpayers and tax professionals face on the portal.

Earlier this week, FM Sitharaman had said that glitches are expected to be resolved in two-three weeks.

“The glitches on the new Income are expected to be fixed entirely in the next two-three weeks. I have been reminding Infosys constantly, and Nandan Nilekani is giving me assurances that they will sort it out,” she said.

During the monsoon session, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary had informed the Parliament in a written reply that from January 2019 till June 2021, Infosys has been paid Rs.164.5 crore to develop the portal.

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