The USA has tried a series of unconventional tactics in Afghanistan and the Middle East for their doomed efforts to spread ‘democracy’ in the region. One of these tactics involved providing old tribal warlords with Viagra in return for their support. Viagra, the brand which sells Sildenafil, helps treat erectile dysfunction in mean and hypertension.
“Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people — whether it’s building a school or handing out Viagra,” one CIA officer, a veteran of several Afghan tours, told the Washington Post in 2008. “Take one of these. You’ll love it,” CIA officers told old Afghan men who could not perform their marital duties with their wives, who were often young.
The Afghan men frequently married four wives, the maximum number permitted under Shariah law. The reasoning behind such an offer was motivated by more mundane logistical realities of war.
“If you give an asset $1000, he’ll go out and buy the shiniest junk he can find, and it will be apparent that he has suddenly come into a lot of money,” one veteran said. “Even if he doesn’t get killed, he becomes ineffective as an informant because everyone knows where he got it.”
Viagra worked wonders for the US forces stationed in Afghanistan, intimately related to the manner it usually does. “He came up to us beaming,” the official said. “He said, ‘You are a great man.’ ” “And after that we could do whatever we wanted in his area.”
Explaining the decision, a CIA veteran said, “You’re trying to bridge a gap between people living in the 18th century and people coming in from the 21st century, so you look for those common things in the form of material aid that motivate people everywhere.”
Viagra is usually sold as a prescription drug but conventional norms do not apply to the CIA and in war. Urologist Christopher Saigal said in 2008, “Viagra can increase the risk of having a heart attack if you’re taking nitrates, which are used to relieve chest pain from heart disease.” It can also cause a condition known as priapism or an “erection that won’t go down”.
Men reach their sexual peak in the 20s and it starts going down after the age of 30. At 60 years of age, it is understandable that Afghan men were long past their peak burdened with four young wives they could not satisfy. Under such circumstances, Viagra would have come across as Manna from heaven for them.
The war in Afghanistan finally came to an end on the 30th of August, 2021 after the exit of all US forces from the country. There has been much criticism about Joe Biden’s handling of the withdrawal, where Americans have been left stranded in the war torn country.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has kicked up a storm after its academic council has approved a new ‘counter-terrorism’ course for engineering students pursuing a dual degree programme. Many opposition parties have opposed the inclusion of the particular course material.
CPI Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam has written to the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, raising objection to ‘prejudiced & inaccurate nature of the material being included in JNU course titled Counter-Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts & Strategies for Cooperation among Major Powers’.
CPI Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam writes to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, raising objection to ‘prejudiced & inaccurate nature of material being included in JNU course titled Counter-Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts & Strategies for Cooperation among Major Powers’ pic.twitter.com/AfvLNUIC0w
The CPI leader has, in his letter dated August 31, 2021, expressed remorse that “higher education is being used as a platform to communalise and politicise geopolitical issues through the presentation of half-truths and academically dishonest information”.
Criticising the course, CPI leader Binoy Viswam called it a ‘distortion of history’ to serve the vested political and communal interest of certain ideologies. Viswam wrote that the content of the course makes incredulous assertions pertaining to global terrorism and political regimes that have supported it.
He added in his letter that the statement in this counter-terrorism module includes assertions such as “Jihadi terrorism” the only form of fundamentalist-religious terrorism”. The course, under module, ‘State-sponsored Terrorism: Its Influence and Impact’ also refers to the Soviet Union and China alone for state-sponsored terrorism that influenced “radical-Islamist states”. Taking offence at what the module has to offer to the students, the CPI leader asserted that these statements are “deeply prejudiced and politically motivated”.
Screenshot of the letter written by the CPI leader to union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan
Slamming the JNU authorities who drafted the curriculum, Viswam said that it goes against the very ethos of education and critical thinking that has been the hallmark of eminent institutions like JNU.
He urged the Union Education Minister to intervene and ensure that the university deploys senior professors, who are experts in the subject matter, to undertake a comprehensive review of the course content. He asked Dharmendra Pradhan to ensure that such “biased” content is not allowed.
JNU offers a ‘counter-terrorism’ course, sparks controversy
The controversy erupted after Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Academic Council on August 17 cleared the new optional course, titled ‘Counter Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts and Strategies for Cooperation among Major Powers’. The new elective course has been offered to engineering students who opt for a dual degree and go on to pursue an MS with specialisation in International Relations after completing their BTech in JNU.
Despite the fact that this paper is optional, engineering students will learn how to deal with terrorism and the role of world powers in this regard.
The rapid spread of jihadi cultist violence is due to a perverted interpretation of the Quran, reads one module of JNU’s new course
One of the modules of the new course, titled ‘Fundamentalist-religious Terrorism and its Impact’, reads: “Fundamentalist – religious-inspired terrorism has played a very critical and dominant role in the spawning of terrorist violence at the beginning of the 21st century. The perverse interpretation of the Koran has resulted in the rapid proliferation of jihadi cultist violence that glorifies death by terror in suicidal and homicidal variants.”
“The exploitation of cyberspace by the radical Islamic religious clerics has resulted in the electronic propagation of jihadi terrorism world over. Online electronic dissemination of Jihadi terrorism has resulted in the spurt of violence in non-Islamic societies that are secular and are now increasingly vulnerable to the violence that (is) on the increase,” it adds.
Module claims the Soviet Union and China provides tactical support to Jihadists
Another module, titled ‘State-sponsored Terrorism: Its Influence and Impact’, states that the Soviet Union and China Soviet Union and China have been “heavily involved” in providing “logistical support to Communist ultras and terrorists”.
“Terrorism has always a geographical base and support havens for its operations. State-sponsored terrorism has been largely during the ideological war between the West and the Soviet Union and China. The Soviet Union and China have been predominant state-sponsors of terrorism and they have been heavily involved in terms of their intelligence agencies training, aiding and providing logistical support to Communist ultras and terrorists,” it states.
“In the post-Cold War period, the trend has been well adopted by several radical Islamic states that have mirrored the earlier tactical strategies of the Communist powers and have continued to aid and arm the various terrorist groups,” it reads.
Professor Arvind Kumar expresses his thought behind the introduction of the new course
Speaking about the new course, Professor Arvind Kumar, Professor and Chairperson of the School of International Studies, who designed the course, told Aaj Tak, “This is part of our course where students after doing BTech come to study about International Relations. That’s why we choose such a subject which has to do with international security as well as technology.”
Arvind Kumar is the chairperson of the Centre for Canadian, United States and Latin American Studies who co-designed the course with assistant professor Anshu Joshi of the same centre.
From India’s standpoint, the war against terrorism is a critical issue. This problem becomes even more significant at a time when many countries around the world are not paying as much attention to India’s security concerns as they should, added Kumar.
“Jihad is a global challenge. At a time when Afghanistan has been occupied by the Taliban, nothing could have been a more contemporary topic than this,” he said.
Different countries must work together to combat jihad, which has a significant impact on South Asia’s geopolitics. Those who are debating this should also be aware that cyber and economic terrorism has been included in this document, said Professor Arvind Kumar.
Dean of JNU’s School of International Studies disassociates himself from the controversy
Meanwhile, distancing himself from the controversy, Aswini Mohapatra, the Dean of JNU’s School of International Studies (SIS) and concurrent faculty in the School of Engineering, said he was not involved in the design of the course.
Ruchir Gupta, Dean of the School of Engineering, said Arvind Kumar, Chairperson of the Centre for Canadian, US and Latin American Studies, wanted to introduce the course. “We have a joint programme with SIS, they asked us to pass this course so we passed it. I’m not an expert on international relations,” Gupta said.
Although the Academic Council, the university’s decision-making committee on academic concerns, has approved the new subject, approval from the Executive Council, the university’s highest authority for management matters, will be required in the near future. If the Executive Council also approves this request for a new JNU course, the optional paper will be offered to students in the new session beginning September 20.
Shalabh Mani Tripathi, adviser to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, has taken cognizance of a recent development in the infamous ‘sullideals’ controversy. There are allegations circulating that the aap, which offered Muslim women as a ‘deal’ for people on social media, was created by a Muslim man, contrary to the narrative that the mainstream media has been trying to peddle.
An account with the username ‘sullidealsXpose’ has alleged that the person behind the app is one man named Javed. The account claims that Javed had two accounts, one with the username @AnonMark3 and another with @AnonHindu4.
With the former account, it is alleged that he used to post derogatory content about Hindu women and with the other, about Muslim women. The accounts were loaded with objectionable sexual content, it is alleged.
Now what if I told you both these accs are operated by the one and the same person – and what if I told you that this person is a MUSLlM??
His name is JAVED, here he's having some chat with a M woman – who gave all this info to us.. [contd.] pic.twitter.com/PIxV2ViuyD
The expose account claims to have received the information from a Muslim woman. A screen recording of the conversation allegedly between the Muslim woman and Javed has been shared where the latter makes some rather creepy comments.
In the texts, the man can be seen asking the Muslim woman about her interfaith love, with presumably a Hindu man. He asks her how they ended up in a relationship to which she replied that he had proposed her.
Javed, who is allegedly the man behind the account asking the questions, made some remarks which could only ever be considered creepy. As per the screen recording, he said that he believes Hindus and Muslims should have more interfaith relationships because it is “beautiful”.
Posing as a Hindu, the man reveals that he had a Muslim girlfriend during his time at college. “I have this account to make people understand this (interfaith love is beautiful) through interfaith erotica,” he says.
Then, screenshots are shared of what appears to be a Telegram conversation. While the conversation does not mention ‘sullideals’ specifically, the conversation suggests that the man, allegedly Javed, had built an app where pictures of Muslim women would be misused.
When asked what about the Muslim women whose pictures were misused, he said that he has “no regrets” because all the women are “wh*res”.
Next conversation they move on to tg, where shockingly & perhaps to impress the girl Javed admits to creating the infamous #SulliDealsApp
Reason? To create a "scenario" where some M women pics're misused which'll "teach 'em a lession"
The ‘expose’ account claims to have found the person making the claims, which they claim is one Javed Alam from GLA University in Mathura. The ‘expose’ account also claims to have found three of his phone numbers.
Later he adds the girl to his contact list & we're able to track him down to his home address..
He is Javed Alam, 23, B. Tech CSE from GLA University Mathura, living in Padrauna, UP and currently working with @AccentureIndia
On July 24th, 2021, online portal DOPolitics reported that they had contacted Javed over the matter. According to the report, while Javed accepted that he had a normal conversation regarding interfaith relationships, he denied ever having a conversation regarding ‘sullideals’ with the woman.
He also denied making comments against any religion or making comments that could religious sentiments. He claimed that he said things to impress the woman and there was no conspiracy behind the same.
The report also says that Javed claimed he was a student and he has no intention of getting involved in the matter. And if his actions hurt anyone, then he seeks forgiveness from the public.
When we contact Javed over the matter, he initially did not respond to our call. When we tried to contact him again, he cut out call without receiving it. Thus, we will update our report accordingly if and when he does decide to respond.
India’s COVID-19 vaccination programme has been continuing at a breakneck pace. It has so far completed the inoculation of a staggering 64 crore people, including more than 14 crore people who have received both their doses of vaccines. Last week, India administered a record one crore vaccine doses, the highest single-day tally achieved since the rollout of the COVID-19 immunisation drive on January 16.
According to the CoWIN dashboard, India on Friday, i.e August 27, jabbed as many as 1,08,99,699 doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Two days before the record single-day vaccination, India had crossed an important milestone of vaccinating over 60 crore people. Significantly, the last 10 crore of vaccine doses—from 50 crores to 60 crores—were achieved in just 19 days, the lowest number of days since the start of the pandemic to surpass the 10-crore vaccine doses milestone.
On the occasion, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed that India took 85 days for administering the first 10 crore vaccines, 45 to touch the 20 crore mark, 29 days to reach 30 crores, 24 days to reach 40 crores and 20 days to touch the 50-crore mark. It took only 19 days to reach the 60 crore mark. The reducing number of days to achieve the 10-crore vaccine dose milestone demonstrates that India’s inoculation drive is on the right path to vaccinate its gargantuan population and suppress the subsequent waves of coronavirus outbreak.
The spectacular numbers of vaccinations completed in India belie the doomsday scenario painted by the western media outlets, who in their hubris and arrogance, had poured scorn over India’s inoculation drive and foreboded that the country would struggle and flounder in its endeavour to completely vaccinate its population against the menace of COVID-19.
In December 2020, when Central government led by PM Narendra Modi had announced that as many as 60 crore vaccine doses would be administered in next 7-8 months (till August 2021 since vaccination drive began in January 2021 for frontline workers), the western media was particularly quick to dismiss the ambitious plans.
Foreign media outlets stoke scepticism over India’s vaccination drive
As India launched its ambitious coronavirus vaccination campaign on January 16, 2021, western media outlets were replete with articles that were prejudiced against India and cast doubt over its ability to successfully accomplish the objective of vaccinating its population against COVID-19. India’s outsize population, availability of vaccines, their efficacy, and requisite infrastructure needed to ensure vaccine reaches remote and inaccessible locations in the country were some of the factors that the western media focused on to condescendingly declare that it will be an uphill task for India to continue its vaccination programme without hitting snags.
The New York Times, which has a knack for publishing patronising articles on India and is known for its anti-Hindu prejudice, published a bevvy of expressing scepticism over India’s COVID-19 vaccine drive. In fact, the articles on its websites routinely belittled India’s progress on the COVID front and sowed doubts over the authenticity of data trickling out of the country. India had extended the emergency use approval(EuA) to two vaccines—Covishield and Covaxin. But, western media outlets ran a sinister campaign to undermine India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive and raise questions over the efficacy of the two vaccines.
Source: New York Times
Here’s how another prominent western media outlet ‘The Washington Post’ indulged in smear campaign against India’s vaccination efforts:-
Source: The Washington Post
As India was pummelled by a devastating second wave of coronavirus outbreak, the western media outlets had a field time in not only exploiting the tragedy that befell the country but also in fuelling suspicions about the success of the nation’s vaccination programme. With the country firmly in the grips of the second wave, powered by the more transmissible Delta variant, the western media resorted to monetizing and promoting the human catastrophe caused due to the Wuhan Coronavirus infection. With an intention to draw more eyeballs and glamorise Covid deaths in the country, publications such as the Washington Post and Deutsche Welle (DW) News largely relied on traumatising pictures of corpses, and burning funeral pyres.
India emerged from the second wave fairly quickly and suppressed its ominous spread. In opposition to the predictions made by the western media outlets, the resurgent coronavirus outbreak did little to derail India’s vaccination programme. As evident from the numbers released by the Health Minister, the subsequent milestone of 10-crore vaccine doses took less time than the previous one, indicating that India’s vaccination drive was impervious to the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Myriad articles were published in various publications, declaring that India’s coronavirus vaccination drive is foundering just when the country was in the throes of a catastrophic bout of coronavirus outbreak. The second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak provided enough fodder for the western media outlets to use it to discredit and run down the country’s vaccination drive.
Source: The Washington Post
Back in 2020, when India announced that it planned to vaccinate 300 million or 30 crore people in the first phase of its vaccination drive, CNN could not hide its condescension for India’s ambitious inoculation campaign. It snootily remarked that vaccinating 300 million people against COVID-19 would be equivalent to almost the size of the US population. In less than 8 months since the start of India’s vaccination campaign, the country has already vaccinated more than 64 crore people, which is roughly close to twice the size of the US population.
Source: CNN
CNN, while speaking about vaccination programme, where India had plans to fully vaccinate 30 crore people, the media outlet had cast doubts about India’s capabilities to administer a total of 60 crore (600 million) doses by August. As August 2021 comes to an end, India has not only inoculated at least 60 crore people with one dose, but over 14 crore people have been fully vaccinated.
Western media’s stoic silence over galloping coronavirus recrudscence in the US
While the western media outlets went into overdrive to write off India’s vaccination campaign and predict its failure, they have surprisingly remained muted to the devastation wreaked by the resurgent coronavirus outbreak in western countries such as the United States, the UK and Israel. The infection, which is powered by the new Delta variant has proven to be resilient against the vaccines and there have been numerous cases where fully vaccinated people have fallen ill to the coronavirus. But this has been highlighted enough in the western media as they have shifted their focus on the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan.
As coronavirus sweeps the United States, with more than 1.5 lakh cases being reported on a daily basis, the western media outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and others have busied themselves in defending Joe Biden’s disastrous decision of hasty pullout from Afghanistan. It has been reported that the hospitalisations across the United States have seen an unprecedented rise, but the western media outlets, which had a morbid fascination with displaying dead bodies and funeral pyres in India, have not been keen on reporting the hospital pictures or graveyard scenario in the United States.
Instead, the foreign press is involved in defending the untenable: justifying the Biden administration’s decision of drawdown from Afghanistan and rationalising the violence, uncertainty and humanitarian crisis that swept the country in the wake of an ill-conceived withdrawal.
An old video of the leader of the Populist Party for Freedom (PVV) of the Netherlands, Geert Wilders is making the round on social media.
Wilders, known for his unhinged opinions and speeches on the mass immigration policies of the Netherlands and vocal opposition to Islamists, had slammed the Dutch Prime Minister in 2020 saying, “You have imported a Monster called Islam into our Country.”
This was shortly after the beheading of French school teacher Samuel Paty for ‘blasphemy’. In his short speech in the Netherlands Parliament, Wilders had highlighted that their country now had a population of 7,00,000 Muslims, all of whom reject ‘free society.’
Calling the religion ‘dangerous’, Wilders had urged the government to recognize Islam as a ‘violent ideology, one that comes with hate and terror.’ He further advised the country to shut its borders for the Muslim refugees.
Additionally, Wilders had also demanded the dismantling of all Islamic institutions including mosques and locking up not just those who pose a threat to the country but even the ones who sympathize with the ‘Jihadis.’
In his last demand, Wilders suggested that every media should publish a cartoon on Mohammad. Ending his speech, Wilders asked the Muslim population who do not believe in Dutch values of democracy and free society to rather find asylum in an Islamic country where they would get to live under Sharia law.
While this particular video is from November 2020, Wilders’ stance on Islam and Muslims continues to remain the same.
“Sharia law is pure violence, oppression and lawlessness”
With the Taliban gaining control over Afghanistan and thousands of Afghanis fleeing the war-torn country, the political leader has been reiterating his take on the immigration policies.
“Sharia law is pure violence, oppression and lawlessness. 100% barbarism,” Tweeted Wilders last week.
Wat een gestoorde idioten daar bij de @nos. Een beetje de #sharia relativeren. Ongelooflijk. De sharia is puur geweld, onderdrukking en rechteloosheid. 100 procent barbarisme. https://t.co/yjwzeLRryB
The Parliamentarian also shared a cartoon where a Dutch (hinting at the government plausibly) can be seen shielding a Muslim man from the rain while a poor Dutch gets drenched.
Wilders has been criticized heavily for his speeches time and again but he continues to assert that Islamic ideology and its adherents cannot be assimilated in the Dutch society.
5 time Olympian and shooter Abhinav Bindra took to Twitter to congratulate Adhana. “Congratulations Singhraj Adhana on winning the Bronze medal in the men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 at the #Tokyo2020 Paralympics,” Tweeted Bindra.
Congratulations Singhraj Adhana on winning the Bronze medal in the men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 at the #Tokyo2020 Paralympics #Praise4Para
With this, India’s medal tally at Tokyo Paralympics 2020 has reached eight.
“My wife sold jewellery”
The shooter who suffers from a limb impairment did not let this fade his dreams. Adhana who comes from a financially unstable background had shared his struggles in an interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Shooting is an expensive sport, and it was not easy pursuing it. My wife sold her jewellery to support my shooting dream,” he revealed in his interaction with the Prime Minister.
While Hindus across the world celebrated Sri Krishna Janmashtami on Monday, August 30, radical Islamists in Pakistan have vandalised a Hindu temple and broken the idol of Lord Krishna at Khipro in the Sanghar district of Sindh province of Pakistan.
The incident happened when locals were celebrating Janmashtami rituals at the temple.
Journalist Aditya Raj Kaul took to Twitter to share the pictures of the vandalised Krishna Idol. In one picture, the idol can be seen lying desecrated on a piece of red and white cloth. The hands and one leg of the idol have been broken, as can be seen in the picture. In the other three pictures shared by Kaul, a section of Hindu devotees can be seen carrying and attempting to secure the broken pieces of the Krishna idol together.
Islamist mob has yet again vandalized a Hindu temple and broken the idol of Lord Krishna during a religious function held to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna on #Janmashtami at Khipro in Sanghar district of Sindh province of Pakistan. State backed terror against minorities. pic.twitter.com/nRZEwXmXxo
He also shared a snippet where an elderly Hindu woman, who was an eyewitness to the crime, is heard categorically saying that some Islamists desecrated the Krishna idol.
Local Hindu woman who is also an eyewitness to the Islamist mob attacking a Hindu temple and breaking Lord Krishna statue gives details of the brutal act as the Pakistan Government turned the other way. Minority Hindu temples have been regularly attacked and gutted in Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/7Ga7cIYH88
In Pakistan, there has been an increase in attacks against religious minorities’ houses of worship in recent years. The international community has repeatedly chastised the country for failing to protect the interests of its minority. Despite this, the Imran Khan government has done little to address the situation.
Ganesh temple vandalised in Punjab province of Pakistan
Earlier in the month, a violent mob of Pakistani men had vandalized a Ganesh temple in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Parts of the temple were burnt down and idols were desecrated. The mob attacked the temple on August 4, 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.
7 Hindu temples vandalized and destroyed by Islamists since 2020
OpIndia had on August 5 also reported about 7 such Hindu temples which were vandalized and destroyed by Islamists since 2020 in Pakistan. As per an India Today report, out of 365 Hindu temples in Pakistan, only 13 are being managed by the Evacuee Trust Property Board board, leaving the responsibility of 65 to the persecuted and impoverished Hindu community, abandoning the rest to the land mafias.
A lathi charge by Haryana police on alleged farmers protesting violently against the Farm Bills in Karnal has triggered a war of words between the Punjab CM Amarinder Singh and Haryana CM ML Khattar.
#WATCH | Haryana: Police baton charged farmers who were protesting at Bastara toll plaza area in Karnal pic.twitter.com/NlYiUnDJMr
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh reacting to the incident demanded the resignation of Haryana CM ML Khattar and also asked him to issue an apology to the protesting ‘farmers.’ Singh had described the police action as “brazen brutality”.
Calling it a ‘government-sponsored attack’, Singh asked Khattar to compensate the injured farmers. “This is no way to treat our annadaatas (farmers),” remarked the Punjab CM.
“Who is he to demand my resignation?”
Khattar while responding to a media query on Singh’s demand, remarked, “Who is he to demand my resignation? He should be the one to resign as he is responsible for the farmers’ agitation.”
पंजाब के मुख्यमंत्री कौन होते हैं मुझसे त्यागपत्र मांगने वाले, बल्कि उन्हें त्यागपत्र दे देना चाहिए, उन्होंने आंदोलन के लिए पंजाब के लोगों को उकसाया है। pic.twitter.com/cRSAzm5TO6
“We are taking care of our farmers in Haryana. No farmer from Haryana is sitting at the Tikri or Singhu border,” stated Khattar further.
Khattar also accused Singh of instigating protests. “In Punjab, he (Captain Amarinder Singh) is instigating farmers. In Haryana, (Bhupinder Singh) Hooda saheb and other Congress leaders are instigating them. You think we don’t know?”
While disapproving Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha’s alleged remarks that stirred controversy, Khattar asserted that strictness has to be maintained to ensure law and order. “I am getting calls from people that the farmers need to be dealt with sternly but we are exercising restraint as they are our people,” said Haryana’s Chief Minister.
‘Who is anti-farmer’ questions Khattar, exposes Punjab govt
Continuing the tussle, ML Khattar shared a thread highlighting the work done by his government for the farmers of his state.
Tagging the Punjab CM in his Tweets, Khattar informed that Haryana procures as many as 10 crops at MSP making use of Direct Benefit Transfer. He questioned Singh as to how many crops does the Congress-led Punjab government procures at MSP.
Dear @capt_amarinder ji, 1. Haryana procures 10 crops at MSP – paddy, wheat, mustard, bajra, gram, moong, maize, ground nut, sun flower, cotton and makes the MSP payment directly into the account of the farmer. How many crops does Punjab buy from the farmer at MSP?
Khattar continued to inform that the Haryana government provides an incentive of Rs 7000/- per acre to every farmer who wants to move away from paddy cultivation and pays an incentive of Rs 5000 per acre to the farmer who adopts direct seeding of rice technology, asking what incentive Punjab provides to its farmers.
ML Khattar’s Twitter thread.
“Haryana has been paying the highest MSP in the country for sugarcane to its farmers for the last 7 years,” said Khattar in a Tweet. The Haryana CM further listed the various initiatives undertaken to support horticulture and micro-irrigation schemes. He added that his government pays interest at the rate of 12% to the farmers if the payment is delayed beyond 72 hours from the approval of the I-form, asking if Punjab does the same.
Khattar added that Haryana supports farmers growing horticultural produce by instituting the Bhawantar Bharpayee Yojana to insulate them from price fluctuations below cost. He asked what does Captain Amarinder’s government does to incentivise horticultural farmers.
In a stern reply to Singh’s anti-farmer allegation on Khattar, the Haryana CM ended his thread by asking, “Who is anti-farmer, @capt_amarinder ji? Punjab or Haryana?”
Prominent Muslim body Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has asked for separate schools for boys and girls and asked non-Muslims to not send their daughters to co-education schools and colleges to ‘keep them away from immorality and misbehaviour’. Jamiat also asked wealthy and influential people to construct separate schools for boys and girls.
Maulana Arshad Madani claimed that no religion teaches immorality and obscenity and is condemned in every religion in the world. He said these things ‘spread misbehaviour’ in the society. Madani therefore urged non-Muslims to not send their children to co-education schools.
The Jamiat working committee met on Monday to discuss ‘ways to reform society’. The members discussed that separate schools for boys and girls are needed in a religious environment for girls. The committee also discussed ways to reform the society.
Referring to incidents of alleged mob violence, Madani claimed that they were all planned and aimed at uniting the majority against the minority by inciting religious extremism. He further claimed that in today’s situation, people need good madarsas and higher ‘secular’ educational institutions for children to provide equal opportunity for education. He also urged Muslims to ‘b’ their children with higher education at any cost.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
Recently, Deoband based Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had come to the rescue of alleged Al Qaeda terrorist in Uttar Pradesh and offered legal aid to him. “The process of using terrorism as a weapon to destroy the lives of Muslim youth continues. Our legal struggle will continue till the honorable release of innocent Muslims,” said Maulana Arshad Madani had said. Madani is also the chief of Darul Uloom Deoband. Taliban is believed to have drawn inspiration from the same Deobandi movement.
Anna Hazare, the social activist, has raised questions over the Maharashtra government’s orders to open bars and pubs in the state while the temples are still closed. Hazare has offered his support if devotees hold protests to lift curbs on the temples in the state.
In his statement, Hazare added that the government seems fine with the big queues outside liquor shops in the state, but they are not okay with reopening the temples. Reportedly, he met a delegation of people demanding the reopening of the temples across the state.
He said, “Why the state government is not opening temples? What danger the state government sees in opening temples for people? If COVID-19 is the reason, then there are big queues outside liquor shops.” Hazare has assured support for the delegation and offered to be with them if they stage an agitation to reopen the temples.
BJP staged protests to reopen temples
On August 30, Chandrakant Patil, state chief BJP, held a ‘shankhnad andolan’ and sought the reopening of temples for the public. Protests were held by the party workers outside temples across the state in cities including Mumbai, Nashik, Pune, Nagpur and Solapur. The party workers marched towards the temples blowing conch shells. Patil said, “The shankhanad is necessary to wake up the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which is in deep slumber. Pleas demanding the reopening of temples have gone unheard for the past 15 months.”
While the state government has allowed several sectors to function in the state and have allowed fully vaccinated people to travel in local train, the Uddhav Thackeray-led government is still unwilling to open temples claiming it may lead to further spread of Covid-19 in the state.
Covid-19 in Maharashtra
On August 30, Maharashtra reported 3,741 new cases of Covid-19. There are 51,834 active cases in the state. So far, the state has reported 64,60,680 cases of Covid-19. 62,68,112 people have recovered from the disease. A total of 1,37,209 people have lost their lives due to complications associated with coronavirus infection. So far, the state has administered 5.7 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
