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Pakistani men attack and burn Hindu temple in Punjab province, destroy idols

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistani men attack and burn Hindu temple in Punjab province, destroy idols

In yet another attack on minorities in Pakistan, a violent mob of Pakistani men vandalized a Ganesh temple in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Parts of the temple were burnt down and idols desecrated. 

The mob attacked the temple on Wednesday at Bhong city of Rahim Yar Khan district. Taking cognizance of the matter, ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf parliamentarian Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani took to Twitter to post videos of the temple attack and urged the law enforcement agencies to stop the “burning and vandalizing” of the temple. 

“The attackers were carrying sticks, stones and bricks. They smashed the deities while raising religious slogans,” Vankwani said. 

Condemning the attack on the temple in a series of tweets, Vankwani demanded arrests of the culprits.

He also urged the Chief Justice to take immediate action. 

Police officials confirmed that the temple has been damaged badly. As per reports, when the police failed to control the mob, the Pakistan Rangers had to be called to control the situation. However, no arrests have been made so far. 

Some members of the mob tried to justify the attack, saying that an eight-year-old Hindu boy had last week urinated near the library of a Muslim seminary in the area. They claimed that the brutal attack by adult males on the temple of the community was in retaliation to the 8-year-old boy’s alleged urination.

The 8-year-old boy was even arrested and booked last week under Pakistan’s brutal blasphemy laws but was subsequently released on bail for being a minor.

Union Minister reacts to the desecration

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday shared the videos of the vandalization and hit out at those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), an Act that provides Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities in the neighboring country.

“Why did Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah introduce the CAA bill and why do other minority religions including Hindus need protection in Pakistan? This video of Shri Ganesh temple in Rahimyar Khan district of Pakistan will answer your questions,” Shekhawat tweeted along with the video. “All minorities in Pakistan have to deal with these situations on a daily basis,” he Tweeted in Hindi. 

Accused in burning down Hindu temple “pardoned”

Nearly seven months after another such crazed mob in Pakistan had razed down the Krishna Dwara temple in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district, Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government decided to withdraw cases against 350 people accused of burning down the Hindu temple.

According to PTI reports, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had claimed that the cases were withdrawn after the Hindu community had ‘pardoned’ the mob that had demolished the century-old temple last year.

Tokyo Olympics: India creates history, wins the Bronze medal in Field Hockey after 41 years

OpIndia Staff
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Tokyo Olympics: India creates history, wins the Bronze medal in Field Hockey after 41 years

Indian Men’s Hockey Team won the historic bronze medal in the Hockey event of the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday after defeating Germany 5-4 in the Bronze medal play-off.

The Indian men’s hockey team secured their first Olympics medal in 41 years. The Indian Hockey team had won the last Olympic medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

India scored its first goal in the 17th minute of the match, with Simranjeet Singh opening the tally. At the 27th minute, Hardik Singh scored another goal. Two minutes later, Harmanpreet Singh scored another equaliser to take the score to 3-3. India’s ace drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh scored a penalty stroke to give India a lead in the match. At 34th minute, Simranjeet Singh scored his second goal of the match.

Indian has won as many as eight gold medals in the Olympics, besides a silver medal and three bronze medals in the Olympics. This is India’s 12th medal in the category, the latest being the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Earlier, Belgium had defeated India 5-2 in the semi-final that was held on Tuesday.

On Friday, the Indian women’s team will clash against Great Britain in a face-off for a Bronze medal play-off.

Assam govt decides not to prosecute Gorkhas under the Citizenship Act, to withdraw all cases against them in Foreigners Tribunals

OpIndia Staff
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Assam govt decides not to prosecute Gorkhas under the Citizenship Act, to withdraw all cases against them in Foreigners Tribunals

The Himanta Biswa Sarma government in Assam today took the decision to not prosecute Gorkhas living in the state under the Citizenship Act, 1955. In the weekly cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, the cabinet also decided that all cases pending in Foreigners Tribunals in the state against people from the Gorkha community will be withdrawn.

This was informed by the chief minister on Twitter today evening. This move comes as a huge relief from the Gorkhas in Assam, as they were fearing prosecution as illegal immigrants. They were not included when the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state was updated in 2019, for failing to prove their citizenship.

While mostly suspected illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are listed as ‘D’ voters in Assam, a large number of Gorkhas also feature in this. Around 23,000 Gorkha voters in Assam are also labelled as ‘D’ voters in the electoral rolls in the state. The ‘D’ is added to the names of voters in the voter lists who are suspected of being illegal immigrants, and such voters are barred from voting in elections until their cases are settled in the Foreigners Tribunals and courts.

Exempting Gorkhas from prosecution under the Citizenship Act means that people from Gorkha community will be considered as Indian citizens without having to prove their citizenship under the Act. As the cases against them in the Foreigner Tribunals will be withdrawn, it means that the D tag from their names in the voter lists will also be removed in future.

The move comes two weeks after the Assam government had included the Gorkhas in the list of protected communities in the Sadiya Tribal Belts. On July 20th, the Government of Assam had issued a notification informing that the Moran, Matak, Ahom, Chutia and Gorkha communities are included in the list of protected classes in the Sadiaya Tribal Belt, provided they are permanent residences of the region. The tweet by Himanta Biswa Sarma came as a reply to Darjeeling MP Raju Bista, who had thanked the CM for the notification.

It is notable that in 2018, the union government had clarified to the Assam government that any member of the Gorkha community holding Nepalese nationality and who has arrived in India by land or air over the Nepal border even without a passport or visa and staying in India for any length of time shall not be treated as an illegal migrant. The GOI had said that if any such Gorkha carries any Nepalese proof of identity, they won’t prosecuted as illegal immigrant under the Foreigners Act, 1946.

Americans cheer after ‘woke’ US athlete Gwen Barry fails to win medal at Olympics, had celebrated women soccer team’s defeat earlier

OpIndia Staff
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Americans cheer after ‘woke’ US athlete Gwen Barry fails to win medal at Olympics, had celebrated women soccer team’s defeat earlier

American Olympian Gwen Berry, who turned her back on the American flag during the Olympics trial in June and had raised her fist in the air twice as a mark of protest before entering the hammer throw finals on Tuesday, ended up in the eleventh place out of twelve competitors, registering a distance of 71.35 meters.

But the humiliating defeat did not deter her from explaining why she had raised her fist in protest.

“It was the same thing: social injustice, racial injustice,” the athlete later explained to the media. “I’m just here to represent. I know a lot of people like me, a lot of athletes like me, a lot of people are scared to succeed, a lot of people are scared to speak out. So as long as I can represent those people, I’m fine.”

The gesture of protest came after the 32-year-old Olympian, in her post-qualifier interview on Saturday, said that should she win a medal in her event on Tuesday, she would make a politically charged statement from the podium.

Prominent Americans and social media users express glee at Berry’s humiliating show at the Olympics

Nevertheless, a raft of Americans on Twitter, including notable personalities, could not hide their glee at the mortifying defeat of Gwen Berry at the Tokyo Olympics. Several of them commented that those who do not respect their country or insult their flag deserved to lose at the Olympics.

Actress Alana Stewart said if athletes who knelt or turned their backs would have respected the flag and their country, they would have possibly performed better and gotten the support of the American public.

American commentator Sean Hannity also expressed joy after Gwen Berry ended up at 11th place in the hammer throw competition. “Another Olympic athlete who clearly doesn’t seem to love the country she’s representing fell flat in the Olympics,” Hannity sharply remarked.

Brigitte Gabriel, the founder of ACT For America, a grassroots movement aimed at preserving America’s culture, sovereignty and security, commented that Berry failed to finish in the top 10 in hammer throwing.

Republican candidate Lavern Spicer said Berry’s loss is another victory for America.

Others too joined in expressing their joy at Berry’s defeat.

This was not the first time Americans were happy that one American athlete lost at the Olympics. Earlier, many Americans had celebrated when their women’s soccer team had lost to Canada. The citizens said that the football team has embraced the ‘woke’ ideology and therefore, deserved to lose. The celebration of the defeat of own athletes at the Tokyo Olympics by Americans themselves reveals the extent to which American society has become polarised.

Past antecedents of American Olympian Gwen Berry

Berry is not new to pulling off stunts. She presumes herself to be an activist of sorts, with her stunts giving expression to her protest against the supposed maladies afflicting American society.

Earlier in June, the hammer thrower had caused a stir during the medal ceremony at the Olympics trial. After the athlete won a bronze medal, she turned back on the American flag and held up a shirt that read “Activist Athlete”.

Later on, she was so infuriated that “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played during the celebration.

“If you know your history, you know the full song of the national anthem,” Berry said in an interview afterwards. “The third paragraph speaks to slaves in America — our blood being slain … all over the floor.”

In July, before the Olympics commenced, Berry vowed to “represent the oppressed people” at the podium should she win a medal in Tokyo, adding, “that’s been my message for the last three years”.

Berry first came under the firing line of her critics two years ago when she raised her fist in protest protested after she medaled at the Pan American Games.

Pakistan Consulate in Canada quotes Rana Ayyub, Subramanian Swamy to further anti-India propaganda

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan Consulate in Canada quotes Rana Ayyub, Subramanian Swamy to further anti-India propaganda

On August 3, Pakistan Consulate General in Vancouver, Canada, went on a mission to reply to a Twitter post in favour of India. Interestingly, they used the likes of Rana Ayyub and Subramanian Swamy to paint a bad picture of India. Angry over the fact that they are not getting any support over the Kashmir issue and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to chair a United Nations Security Council meeting, Pakistan is throwing hissy fits all over the social media platform.

Pakistan talked about ‘declining democracy in India’ using Ayyub’s report

Replying to a post by Michael Rubin, Resident Scholar, AEI, who shared an article on how India has proved its critics wrong about Kashmir and abrogation of Article 370, the Pakistan consulate general replied that steady decline of democracy in India is impossible to deny. Pakistan is already angry since the day Home Minister Amit Shah announced the revocation of Article 370 from the valley. Any praises of India seems to irk the neighbour even further. Quoting a report by alleged journalist Rana Ayyub, the Pakistan Consulate said, “The steady decline of #India democracy is impossible to deny. No number of stories about economic growth can mask that reality.”

Source: Twitter

The report by Rana Ayubb published in Washington Post talked about the so-called decline of democracy since Narendra Modi became PM in 2014. She talked about the sedition case against Disha Ravi for her involvement in the Greta Thunberg Toolkit case, raids on director Anurag Kashyap and Actor Tapsee Pannu’s offices and houses, and some other similar cases where the government took action against the wrongdoers.

Ayyub was not delighted when athletes, sportspersons and film stars came in support of India when external forces were trying to demonise the nation’s image in the backdrop of farmers protests. She said, “Indian movie stars and athletes are often deployed to promote government policies and amplify propaganda. It helps cement their popularity. So when Thunberg, along with celebrities such as Rihanna and Meena Harris, tweeted in solidarity with the farmers’ protest, the entire powerful ecosystem of government supporters started attacking them for wanting to “destabilise” India” in her report.

Use of Subramanian Swamy’s interview to show India as anti-Muslim

The Consulate did not stop at using the report by Ayyub. While replying to Fabio Massimo Castaldo over his tweet about a letter he and his 15 colleagues had sent to Ursula VonDerLeyen and Josep Borrell of the European Commission over alleged violation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir, the Consulate said, “Global censure and condemnation of violations of human rights in the #Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu, and #Kashmir  (IIOJK) continue.”

Source: Twitter

When a Twitter user Dinesh Kumar called out Pakistan for propagating a false narrative, the Consulate used clips from interviews of Subramanian Swamy where he talked about how the larger share of Muslims in any country’s population has the potential to cause unrest. Swamy had talked about CAA and said India had done right by not including Muslims in the list of beneficiaries. He said, “The law cannot be blamed for that [excluding Muslims]. This was the commitment we had made over several years, over several governments. We have completed the job.” Notably, CAA provides expedited citizenship to the religious persecuted minorities of three neighbouring countries that Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Hindus, Sikhs, and others are covered under the act but not Muslims as they are in the majority in these countries, negating the possibility of religious persecution.

Source: Twitter

Other misleading reports quoted by Pakistan

Pakistan quoted several other misleading reports. Some of them that caught the eye included a report by Pieter Friedrich where he compared CAA to Nuremberg Laws. Interestingly, Pieter Friedrich is a Khalistani asset, and he was under Indian Intelligence radar for a very long time, and his name also popped up in the Greta Thunberg toolkit case.

Source: Twitter

One Arun Krishnan questioned the audacity of Pakistan to comment on democracy. He said, “A declared Islamic state that has wiped out its minorities, and where NO minority can even hope to become a PM or President has the gall to lecture the world largest democracy.” In a reply, the Pakistani Consulate quoted Samanth Subramanian’s report, a London-based journalist who often criticises the Indian government like his left-leaning colleagues.

Source: Twitter

The report that the Pakistani Consulate quoted drew attention towards the false narrative revolving around Hindu supremacists, i.e. Hindu organisations, including RSS. The report revolves around CAA protests, demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya and several other topics but from the point of view of a left-leaning narrative that paints Hindus and the BJP-led government in bad picture.

As Tokyo Olympics marks the revival of hockey in India, read how Odisha’s Sundergarh district has become the ‘Cradle of Indian Hockey’

OpIndia Staff
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As Tokyo Olympics marks the revival of hockey in India, read how Odisha’s Sundergarh district has become the ‘Cradle of Indian Hockey’

The remarkable performance of the Indian Hockey Team, both men and women contingent, in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 has reignited a passion for the national sport in the minds of Indians. The entry of both men’s and women’s hockey teams into the Olympics semifinals has been an overwhelming feeling for most of the Indians as it comes after a hiatus of more than four decades.

Well, the success of India’s hockey after decades of continued failure is an exciting tale in itself. Half a century ago, Indians were the world champion and dominated the world hockey scene, winning as many as eight gold medals, the last one coming in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Since then, the game had lost much of its popularity in the country owing to several reasons, one being the lack of support of the Indian Hockey team. With dwindling support for the sport, the players lost the motivation to win major titles. As years went by, nothing substantial was achieved.

However, the entry of the Odisha government to support the sport changed the story of hockey forever. The Odisha government-led by Naveen Patnaik, took an interest in reviving the country’s national game and gave the game a much-needed push to make the country a champion side as it was four decades ago. When nobody in the country showed any passion or interest to support its national sport, including Hockey India, it was the Odisha government-led by Naveen Patnaik that stepped in to save the sport.

Indian Hockey’s success is led by the Odisha government

In 2018, the Sahara Group abruptly ended its sponsorship deal with Hockey India. It was supposed to run until 2021, but the troubles faced by the company meant that it could no longer sponsor the team. After Sahara’s exit, the Odisha government took over the mantle of sponsorship of the Indian national hockey teams both in the junior and senior levels. The Odisha government invested around Rs.150 crore to support the national game and stepped in to sponsor the men’s and women’s hockey teams over the next five years.

This was the first time that a state government had come in to sponsor a national sporting team. 

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had then remembered how Hockey was an integral part of Odisha’s tribal and also a way of life in his state’s tribal region, adding that children learned to walk with hockey sticks in Odisha.

A few months later, the Odisha government joined hands with the Tata group to set up the Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High-Performance Centre (HPC) at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. The idea was to groom the future sporting talents in hockey and produce world-class sportspersons.

In 2017, the Odisha government also sponsored the Kalinga Lancers club that won the Hockey India League in January. A year later, Odisha also hosted Hockey World League in December 2018 at the Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium. The following year, the Naveen Patnaik-led government also hosted FIH Men’s Series Finals and Olympic Hockey Qualifiers 2019 and even the FIH Pro League in 2020.

In 2023, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela will again host the World Cup Hockey for Men for the second time. In Rourkela of Sundergarh district, the Patnaik government is building the country’s biggest hockey stadium with a seating capacity for 20,000 spectators that will be named after tribal leader Birsa Munda. To further strengthen the hockey ecosystem in Sundergarh, Odisha is also planning to lay a synthetic hockey turf in each of the 17 blocks of the district.

Sundegarh – the Hockey Capital of India

In the last few years, Odisha has emerged as the new home of Indian hockey, with the Sundergarh region as its epicentre. Located in the heartland of Maoist Red-corridor – Sundergarh has become the ‘Cradle of Indian Hockey’. The resource-rich region has produced five national captains of the Indian hockey team and over 60 international players.

It is believed that hockey was introduced in Sundergarh by the European missionaries who came to the tribal region in the 1860s. The European missionaries often organised hockey matches as part of their extracurricular activities. Thus, for centuries now, hockey has become an integral part of the life of tribals in the Chotanagpur Plateau, an area that includes southern Jharkhand, the Sundergarh region of Odisha and Jashipur of Chhattisgarh.

Some believe that the natural soil and rock in the limestone belt of Chotanagour plateau, with its abundance in calcium percentage, strengthens the bones of the people in this area and makes them energetic, making them perfect for playing hockey.

The sport is now a cultural identity for various tribes such as Orams, the Kharia, the Munda and the Bhuniya communities. Even aged people in these tribal villages can be seen playing hockey. The game introduced by Christian missionaries over centuries ago has now seeped into their culture.

Interestingly, there are many local customs and traditions attached to the sport. For example, the “Prem Bhoj” events are traditional celebrations in which the family of the groom contests against the team from the bride side in a hockey tournament. The winner takes home a Khasi (goat), chicken or eggs as a prize. The Goat Cup or the Khasi Cup has become a prominent cultural identity of tribes in Odisha recently.

After Sansarpur in Jalandhar, Punjab, Sundergarh is becoming the most important centre of Indian hockey lately. It has produced five national team captains — Dilip Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey and Prabodh Tirkey in the men’s team and Subhadra Pradhan and Jyoti Sunita Kulu in the women’s team. In addition, it has also produced more than 60 international hockey players, including Olympians Lazarus Barla, William Xalco, Birendra Lakra and Sunita Lakra. 

Three players from Sundergarh – one women hockey player (Deep Grace Ekka) and two men players (Amit Rohidas and Birendra Lakra) have made it to the Tokyo Olympics 2021.

Sundergarh now has three hockey academies which includes a sports hostel in Panposh, Rourkela, built in the year 1984 that provides training for talented youngsters. Later, two training centres and hostels were developed at Sundergarh by the Sports Authority of India and the Odisha government that helped players participate in the national championships.

These training centres and hostels of Sundergarh have produced more than 12,000 national hockey players, with around 10,000 of them earning their livelihoods through sports quota government jobs in Railways, PSUs, banks, Odisha police department and some even in the armed forces.

Gujarat: 3 Pakistani nationals became Indian citizens with fake documents in Ahmedabad

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: 3 Pakistani nationals became Indian citizens with fake documents in Ahmedabad

3 Pakistani nationals became Indian citizens with fake documents in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

According to a report by News18 Gujarati, all three have had their names entered in the voter list in the Naroda constituency. They were residing in the Kubernagar area of Ahmedabad and a complaint has been registered in Meghaninagar Police Station.

The 3 Pakistani nationals are Mahesh Parpiani, Suresh Parpiani, and Haresh Parpiani. According to Election Officer Chetan Gandhi, Election Commission got a written complaint about the trio obtaining Indian citizenship with help of fake documents. After investigation, it was found that they were not Indian citizens.

BBC says it will block people who believe biological men should not compete in female sports events, threatens to report cases to authorities

OpIndia Staff
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BBC says it will block people who believe biological men should not compete in female sports events, threatens to report cases to authorities

The official Twitter account of the British media BBC recently posted a tweet, warning users that it will block and report people to authorities who took objection to biological men competing in female sports.

The official BBC Sports Twitter account said in a post: “At BBC Sport, we want our platforms to be a respectful place for discussion, constructive criticism, debate and opinion. We know the vast majority of our followers want that too. So here’s our stance.”

“We will block people bringing hate to our comments sections. We will report the most serious cases to the relevant authorities. We will work to make our accounts kind and respectful places. We will keep growing our coverage of all sports, and keep covering issues and discussions around equality in sport,” the message said.

BBC also sought help from other Twitter users in identifying what it claimed “expressions of hate based on race, colour, gender, nationality, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexuality, sex, age or class” and urged them to flag the URL to the post in question by emailing [email protected].

“Together we will strive to make our social media accounts a safe space for everyone,” the message concluded.

BBC’s Sports Twitter account was at the receiving end of criticism online after it published an adulatory article on Laurel Hubbard, the first transgender woman, a biological male, to compete at the Olympics. In its article, besides showering praise on the athlete, the BBC also sought to make a case for allowing transgender to compete in various sports.

Following the criticism, the BBC posted the threat in reply to the initial tweet. While the BBC did not explicitly state what the threat was about, that it was posted below a tweet on Laurel Habbard makes reasons abundantly clear.

Laurel Hubbard’s participation at Olympics triggers debate about gender classification in sports

The article sparked a debate about gender classification in sport, with a legion of social media users terming it unjust on the part of women athletes to compete with Laurel Hubbard, the self-avowed female athlete who was born as a male.

One social media user said Hubbard was a cheat, who failed to qualify in men’s competition, and was now “shattering” records in female sports.

Another Twitter shared a GIF to claim Hubbard was a man, not a woman.

Yet another user quipped Hubbard will be the first man to compete against women.

A Twitter user said Hubbard made history by hacking Olympics weight classes. “As a male weightlifter in the 109kg+ class, you’re barred from competing w/ males in the 96-109kg and 81-96kg classes. To drop 2 weight classes, just ID as a woman and they’ll let you compete w/ 87kg females,” the user said.

Several others too criticised BBC for rationalising the participation of a biological man in women’s sports.

Laurel Hubbard becomes the first transgender woman to compete at an Olympics

Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender woman to compete at an Olympics on Monday. The weightlifter from New Zealand competed in the women’s 87kg-plus final but failed all three of her attempts in the “snatch”, ending her medal hopes.

Earlier in 2001, Hubbard was the national record holder and was lifting a total of 300kg in domestic men’s competitions. But, she abruptly quit her career at the age of 23 in 2001. For three decades of her life, Hubbard lived as a man before coming out as a transgender woman aged 33 in 2012, resuming her sports career.

Before the Tokyo Games commenced, a panel of scientists convened by the International Olympic Committee failed to agree on rules for when trans athletes were eligible to compete in female sports categories, leaving the organisations that govern individual sporting events to determine their own regulations.

Hubbard’s participation in Tokyo Olympics, however, was enabled by the IOC guidelines released in November 2015, which suggested that athletes who transitioned from male to female could compete in women’s categories without requiring surgery to remove their testes if their testosterone levels were kept below a certain level — 10 nanomoles per litre — for at least 12 months. The International Weightlifting Federation, the sport’s world governing body, abides by the IOC’s guidelines and based on this criterion, Hubbard qualified for competing in women’s sport at the Tokyo Olympics.

Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar says media agency offered her ‘award’ for money, turns out the practice is not too uncommon

Jinit Jain
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Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar says media agency offered her ‘award’ for money, turns out the practice is not too uncommon

Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar recently took to Twitter to share that she has been approached by a media agency with an ‘offer’ to give her an award for being an inspiring woman. But there was a caveat to this magnanimity: a form to be filled and Rs 2.5 lakhs to be paid.

The assertion made by Rujuta shocked many people on Twitter, with a large number of folks expressing disbelief at the audacity with which media agencies approach people and demand a hefty amount in return for conferring awards on them.

However, there were many who were not surprised by Rujuta’s tweet. Cyber Safety Expert Akancha Srivastava, founder of Akancha Against Harassment, one of the country’s largest social impact foundations against cyber harassment, said she, too, had received a similar offer a few days ago.

On 28 July 2021, Akancha had tweeted that a large media organization had offered her an award and favorable coverage in TV and Print for what she claimed to be a “nominal” fee.

While the revelations made by Rujuta and Akancha have scandalized a host of people on the internet, not only because of the sheer brazenness of the media houses in accosting people and demanding money in lieu of awards but also because of their willingness to barter their integrity and honesty for money. However, as it turns, selling awards and recognition in exchange for money is not entirely a new phenomenon or a rare practice. And the responses to the tweet posted by Akancha only reaffirm the ubiquity of the sale of awards.

Several people responded that they had witnessed similar incidents of awards and recognition being put on sale by media organizations.

The rampancy of using money and prejudiced jury to fix awards

The rigging of awards goes unabated even in the news media industry. Besides money, other means are also employed to ensure that recognition is accorded to only certain news organizations that adhere to a particular narrative. Parameters to declare a channel as a winner are also nebulously changed so as to arrive at a predetermined conclusion. Individual bias is also used to fix such awards.

For instance, NDTV won the best English News Channel award in 2018, but the jury members that bestowed the award on the channel included Raghav Chadha, National Treasurer, Aam Aadmi Party who likes to give defamatory statements in his free time, and Sanjay Jha, a Congress loyalist.

Then in August 2019, an unknown company named NDTV the most trusted company. The ‘award’ was signed by one Hemant Kaushik, Chairman and CEO of USA TV News Channel, and the award was given by one ‘International Brand Consulting Corporation, USA’. But the obscurity of the company was not lost on social media users, who were quick to point out that the organization might be as shady as NDTV’s tax dealings.

Mamata Banerjee and her fans pride on an appreciation letter issued by a dubious organisation

Not just news organizations, but even politicians have relied on fake awards and dubious recognition to burnish their credentials. In August 2020, months before the West Bengal assembly elections, chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her fans on social media shared a letter of appreciation by one ‘UN-linked NGO’ UNWPA for the state government’s COVID-19 work. OpIndia later found out that the organization which sang paeans to Mamata Banerjee was not related to the International Organisation in any way. The name of the organization had mentioned ‘United Nation’ and not the United Nations.

In addition to discrepancies in its name, even the logo used by the organization was different from the UN’s actual logo. The website of the organization did not have any link, registration number, affiliation number, or certification that may prove that it is associated with the United Nations.

The prevalence of rigged award shows in Bollywood

The corrosive practice of ‘awarding’ those who agree to pay a predetermined fee is also rampant in Bollywood, with award shows being nothing more than pageantries of nepotism, where popular actors and their children are awarded to reinforce their stardom or grant them legitimacy in the industry. In many cases, awards are granted to artists who are associated with the organisations that sponsor the shows.

An element of coercion also forms a part of tactics used to influence awards in Bollywood. There have been reports about Bollywood actors and musicians boycotting award shows just because they or their proteges were denied awards. Even prominent industry stalwarts, including Ajay Devgn and Aamir Khan, have admitted to award shows being rigged.

Rahul Gandhi violates POCSO Act in Delhi minor rape case, NCPCR asks Twitter India to remove contentious tweet

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi violates POCSO Act in Delhi minor rape case, NCPCR asks Twitter India to remove contentious tweet

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has issued a notice to Twitter India, calling for action against senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for violating POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act by posting pictures of the parents of a nine-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in Delhi.

In a letter to micro-blogging site Twitter, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has stated that he has received a complaint stating that the Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi had tweeted a photo of a minor girl victim’s family with a caption stating that they were the father and the mother of the victim child, thus disclosing the details of the minor victim.

Image Source: Twitter

The NCPCR informed Twitter that Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 prohibits the disclosure of the identity of a child in any form of media and Section 23 of the POCSO Act, 2012 also stated that no information or photo of a child should be published in any form of media that revealed the identity of the child.

According to the complaint, the tweets put out by Rahul Gandhi had shared certain personal details about the victim violating Section 23 of the POCSO Act, 2012, and Section 74 of Juvenile Justice Act,2015. Hence, the NCPCR asked Twitter to remove the tweets put out by Rahul Gandhi as it was deprivation and violation of child rights.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had visited the minor girl’s family on Wednesday and had tweeted a picture of the parents of the deceased minor girl. The victim, a nine-year-old Dalit girl, was allegedly raped, murdered and then allegedly cremated by the alleged perpetrators, who are now in police custody. 

Rahul Gandhi’s tweet

The four accused have been booked under sections related to rape, murder and threats, and under provisions of the POCSO Act and the SC/ST Act.

Meanwhile, BJP has accused the Congress leader of revealing the details of the minor victim and violating the POCSO Act and the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act that prohibits revealing a minor’s identity. The saffron party had said they would urge the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to take cognisance of the tweet.

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