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As Congress party allies with left parties in Brazil to claim a ‘scam’ in Covaxin deal, here is how the allegations are baseless

OpIndia Staff
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As Congress party allies with left parties in Brazil to claim a ‘scam’ in Covaxin deal, here is how the allegations are baseless

On Friday, the Congress party demanded that the Modi government should comment on the allegations of a scam in the purchase of Covaxin by Brazil, which has been levelled by Brazilian opposition parties against president Jair Bolsonaro. The Congress party said that although Bharat Biotech is a private company, the Covid-19 vaccine was developed in collaboration with ICMR, and as public money was used in it, the govt should not remain silent on the issue.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, “Taxpayers’ money was put into this and which is why we have a right to question: what has happened with that money and why is the government conspicuously silent on it?” She claimed that as ICMR is slated to get 5% from the sale of the vaccine, the govt agency is making a loss due to the ‘scam’, as she claimed that Bharat Biotech was selling the vaccine to a different company at a lower price, which was in turn supplying the vaccine to Brazil at the ‘high’ price of $15 per dose.

The deal to supply 20 million doses of Covaxin has been cancelled by the Brazil govt, after an opposition senator filed a complaint against president Bolsonaro alleging corruption in the deal. It was alleged that the president turned a blind eye to the allegations of wrongdoing in the deal, and subsequently the federal investigators have launched a probe in the deal.

However, a perusal of the available facts does not suggest any scam in the deal, and it seems a part of the effort of the Brazilian opposition to impeach the president to remove him from the post.

The allegations

In February this year, Brazil government had signed a deal with Bharat Biotech to purchase 20 million doses of Covaxin at a price of $324 million, at the rate of approx. $15 per dose.

The left-wing opposition parties also have been alleging that the price of $15 per dose is highest in the world, even higher than the Pfizer vaccine price. They have been claiming that the original price of the vaccine is $1.34, and it was jacked up to $15 when the deal was signed in February 2021.

The deal was cancelled after Brazilian Congressman Luiz Miranda claimed that he had warned the president about possible scam in the deal, but he was ignored. In testimony given to the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) on June 25, Luiz Miranda said that he was tipped off about the ‘scam’ by his brother Luis Ricardo Miranda, a former health ministry official, who was in charge of signing deals with vaccine-manufacturers.

Luis reportedly said that he was pressurised to sign the deal despite irregularities in it.

Luis also said that a Singapore based company Madison Biotech had sent an invoice of $45 million to the Brazilian govt for 3 million doses, at the rate of $15 per dose. He said that it was irregular, as Madison was not mentioned in the contract, which was signed by Bharat Biotech, the Brazil govt and Precisa Medicamentos, the representative of Bharat Biotech in Brazil.

The left wing opposition parties have been using this allegations to attack the government, which forced the govt to cancel the deal and order an enquiry.

The reality

The Congress party repeated the claim of Brazilian opposition parties that while the price of Covaxin is $1.34, it is being sold to Brazil at $15, therefore, there is a scam in the deal. But the fact is, this claim is absolutely wrong. There is no proof that actual price of Covaxin is $1.34 or ₹100. The vaccine is being supplied to the Indian govt at a highly subsidised price of ₹150, but the company says it is a non-competitive price and not sustainable in the long run. The company is selling the vaccine to private hospitals in India at the rate of ₹1200 per dose, which is around $16, more than the price charged from Brazil.

In April, Bharat Biotech had announced that the export price of Covaxin will be $15-$20, which means the price charged from Brazil is lowest in the range. A statement issued by the company on June 30 on the allegations says, “the pricing of COVAXIN® has been clearly established between $15-20 per dose for supplies to Governments outside India. The pricing for Brazil has also been indicated at $ 15 per dose.”

The allegations of the scam are based on the wrong claim that original price of Covaxin is $1.34, which is even less than the subsidised price for Indian govt, and Bharat Biotech is not selling the vaccine at that price to anyone else, including state governments and private hospitals in India. The price of $15 for Brazil is in line with the price for Indian private hospitals. If the Congress party and the opposition party expects the vaccine to be available for Brazil at ₹100 per dose, clearly they are wrong.

Brazil govt has denied that the country is paying more for the vaccine. Onyx Lorenzoni, the Secretary-General of the Presidency, said that the vaccine is not overprice, and those made the allegations do not know how to count. He also said that no vaccine has been purchase, no payment has been made, so there is no question of any scam. He also said that one of the documents presented by Luis Miranda was fake.

Precisa Medicamentos has also said that the price fixed by Bharat Biotech for Brazil is same as the price charged from 13 other countries which are using Covaxin. They said that the price was fixed by Bharat Biotech, and there was no scam in it.

Now coming to the Singapore based company Madison, contrary to the allegations of the opposition parties in India and Brazil, the company is actually part of Bharat Biotech. A statement issued by Bharat Biotech informs that Madison Biotech was founded in 2020 by Bharat Biotech founder Dr Krishna Ella, and it is a Bharat Biotech group company.

Statement of Bharat Biotech on Madison

The company informs that Madison Biotech acts as a global sales and marketing arm for Bharat Biotech. “Dr. Ella and his wife Mrs. Ella founded Bharat Biotech in 1996 with a mission to drive innovation and large-scale manufacturing in the field of human vaccines. Since then, Dr. Ella has also founded or acquired 13 other organizations. This includes Madison Biotech, which he founded in 2020 for the purpose of external R&D and sales and marketing of vaccines,” the statement by Bharat Biotech said.

“We wish to dispel any notion or implication of any wrongdoing whatsoever, as all these are affiliate companies founded / acquired and operated by Dr. Krishna Ella,” The company also added.

Brazil government has confirmed that the invoices were sent by Madison as it is authorised to do so by Bharat Biotech. The government displayed a letter from Bharat Biotech in the media, which said that Bharat Biotech has entered into a supply agreement with Madison Biotech to supply and distribute various products of Bharat Biotech in different regions and territories.

Bharat Biotech letter displayed on TV by Brazil govt (Source: The Wire)

The letter specifically adds that all the channel partners and entities are requested to accept invoices raised by Madison Biotech Pte Ltd for the products supplied.

Responding to the allegations by the left parties in the opposition, president Bolsonaro said that no payment has been to Bharat Biotech, as the country has not received any vaccine from the company, so there is no question of financial irregularities in the deal. The company has also confirmed that they have not received any payment from Brazil.

Although the deal was signed in February, Covaxin was approved by the health authorities in the country only in June. As a result, no batch of vaccines was shipped to the country by Bharat Biotech before the deal was cancelled by the Brazil government.

From the above, it can be concluded that the alleged scam in the Covaxin deal for Brazil does not exist, as the price is similar to the export price announced by the company, and the Singapore-based company is a group company of Bharat Biotech, not a shell company. It shows that the Congress party is collaborating with the left parties in Brazil to attack the right-wing governments in both the countries.

Here’s how much money you have to spend to make Priyanka Chopra, Virat Kohli and Rihanna post ‘why are we not talking about this’ on Instagram

OpIndia Staff
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Here’s how much money you have to spend to make Priyanka Chopra, Virat Kohli and Rihanna post ‘why are we not talking about this’ on Instagram

Priyanka Chopra Jonas is paid Rs. 3 crore for every promotional post she makes on Instagram, the Hopper Instagram Richlist for 2021 says. The Bollywood superstar who has since left for the United States of America acquired the 27th spot in the list this year.

Priyanka Chopra had landed the 19th spot last year on the list that ranks celebrities annually on the basis of the money they are paid for every promotional post on Instagram. Football great Cristiano Ronaldo topped the list Rs. 11 crores per promotional post on the social media platform.

Apart from the actress, cricketer Virat Kohli was the only other Indian in the list. The captain of the Indian cricket team was placed at the 19th spot with Rs. 5 crore payment for promotional posts.

Argentinian footballing legend Lionel Messi was at the 7th spot with him charging Rs. 8.7 crore for every promotional post. Other celebrities to feature on the Hopper Instagram Richlist include Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (2nd), Ariana Grande (3rd), Kylie Jenner (4th), Selena Gomez (5th) and Kim Kardashian (6th).

Beyonce (8th), Justin Bieber (9th) and Barcelona star Neymar (16th) also feature in the list.

Recently, celebrity Rihanna was in the docks after she tweeted ‘why are we not talking about this’ in order to garner support for the ‘farmer protests’. She landed in a huge controversy due to it. There were suspicions that Rihanna made the tweet from he account in lieu of payment. According to the list, Rihanna herself charges Rs. 4.5 crores for every promotional post on the platform.

In case anyone wishes to have Priyanka Chopra or Virat Kohli to post in favour of their campaign on Instagram, well, they now know the amount of money they will have to flush out.

How the BBC promoted nonsensical AI-based research to claim that Pakistanis were wishing India well during the Covid crisis

K Bhattacharjee
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How the BBC promoted nonsensical AI-based research to claim that Pakistanis were wishing India well during the Covid crisis

The BBC and its penchant for painting a tolerant picture of Pakistan while denigrating India is well documented. On Friday, the British public broadcaster discovered a novel method to once again propagandize in Pakistan’s favour, albeit rather subtly.

An artificial intelligence (AI) based study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University apparently discovered that an overwhelming number of tweets by Pakistanis between the 21st of April and the 4th of May were “positive”.

BBC promotes nonsensical AI-based 'research'
The BBC headline of the report

For convenience, the researchers looked at 3 hashtags #IndiaNeedsOxygen, #PakistanStandsWithIndia and #EndiaSaySorryToKashmir and then passed the tweets from Pakistan through what they call a “hope speech classifier”. It apparently a language processing tool that helps detect ‘positive comments’.

Ashiqur Khudabukhsh, the one who led the study, said, “Our research showed that there’s a universality in how people express emotions. If you search randomly, you’ll find positive tweets a little over 44% of the time. Our method throws up positive tweets 83% of the time.”

According to the BBC report, the study found that “tweets containing supportive hashtags originating in Pakistan heavily outnumbered those containing non-supportive hashtags and also had substantially more likes and retweets.”

Sophisticated nonsense is still nonsense

Needless to say, the methodology, at least the manner in which it was described in the BBC report, is shoddy to say the least and it is bizarre to reach such far reaching conclusions from such a faulty premise.

First of all, there’s the selection bias in terms of the hashtags that were chosen. There is nothing to indicate that they are representative of all the tweets made by Pakistanis during the same period. Furthermore, two of them are preordained to throw up more positive results as compared to one which was preordained to have adverse comments.

The ‘study’, if it can even be called that, does not say how many hashtags trended on Twitter during the same period. For instance, there could be 4 or 5 anti-India hashtags that trended in the top 10 during the same period. But since only one featured in the top 3 section, only one of them was eventually selected for the study.

Furthermore, if multiple hashtags were used to trend anti-India content, then it is only inevitable that each hashtag individually is likely to contain fewer negative comments in absolute numbers than the one hashtag that was used to trend positive comments.

It is likely that multiple hashtags were used to trend positive comments as well but the study makes no mention as to how many hashtags were trended in total and how many of them fell into each category. In short, the ‘study’ makes no effort to determine whether the top-3 hashtags are representative of the total number of tweets made by Pakistanis during the time frame in question.

Researcher bias and sample bias is evident

On the basis of the above reasoning, it can be said for certain that researcher bias crept into the ‘study’. Of course, it is far more likely that the researchers tailored their ‘study’ in such a way that they reached their desired conclusion.

The sample was biased too since the ‘study’ makes no effort to clarify whether the tweets they had chosen were representative of all the tweets made by Pakistanis during the same period. The so-called ‘study’ can be safely dumped in the junkyard of ‘pop-Science’.

Such ‘studies’ will obviously not be taken seriously by any researcher worth their salt. But it is the BBC we are talking about, so quite obviously, they wholeheartedly bought into the feel-good nonsense that was sold to them.

BBC has its personal history of publishing nonsensical ‘research’

During the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BBC published research what could only be described as garbage in order to claim that nationalism was the driving factor behind fake news in India. The study had several structural design flaws, the most glaring being that it was qualitative research the findings of which could not be normalised for the whole population.

During their research, they also failed to take into account the entire set of topics on which fake news is abundant and limited its scope to only politics. Then they used heavily biased sources for their source of fake news which inevitably biased their entire study.

Ultimately, the BBC had to pull down their study after OpIndia published several articles punching several holes into. It seems the broadcaster has not learnt its lessons and is now back to promoting nonsensical research by others to peddle nonsense that they find politically convenient.

What do the Pakistanis really think?

While the BBC did produce a few tweets that showed sympathy towards India during the second wave, it is only natural that such tweets will always be available. As for the retweets and likes on them, the ‘study’ they cited does not mention whether the majority of them came from Indians or Pakistanis themselves.

Similarly, OpIndia could find a torrent of tweets where Pakistanis can be found mocking India’s plight during the Covid-19 crisis. And it would not prove anything the other way for the same reason that BBC producing a few positive tweets does not proving anything either.

But what we can make a safe bet on is the policy of the state of Pakistan against India. And it is a known fact that while western countries, especially the USA, continue to treat Pakistan as their trusted ally, its human rights abuses against its Hindu minority continues unabated.

At the same time, while it is true that India and Pakistan have signed a ceasefire agreement recently, hostilities between the two countries continue and our neighbour is still waging a proxy war against us.

Thus, all such talk of Pakistanis harbouring a goodwill towards India is meaningless when the proxy war continues. Furthermore, there is sufficient indication even from social media platforms that Pakistanis do not really have profound love for Indians.

The objective of the BBC

The real objective here on the part of the BBC is to turn reality on its head. The public broadcaster wishes to give the impression that India and Indians are the reason why there is no peace between the two countries when Pakistanis harbour immense love for their neighbour.

Western media has no love lost for India and it is only natural that they seek to blame India for everything under the Sun. The latest ‘study’ that was promoted by the BBC is another effort towards that end.

Boats spray water on the sea at the Gulf of Mexico after gas leakage causes pipelines to catch fire, leaves netizens puzzled

OpIndia Staff
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Boats spray water on the sea at the Gulf of Mexico after gas leakage causes pipelines to catch fire, leaves netizens puzzled

On Friday (July 3), a fire broke out in the Gulf of Mexico after a gas leak from an underwater pipeline of a State-owned oil company Pemex.

According to Pemex, the fire broke out in an underwater pipeline near Ku Maloob Zaap oil development. It ignited at around 5:15 am local time and extinguished by 10:30 am. Reportedly, the adjoining boats used water streams as well as nitrogen to extinguish the fire. In visuals that have surfaced online, it showed orange flames coming out of water. The company informed no injuries were reported and that production was not affected.

Ku Maloob Zaap, located near the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico, is the largest producer of crude oil for Permex. It had vowed to investigate the cause of the fire. Citing sources, Reuters reported, “The turbomachinery of Ku Maloob Zaap’s active production facilities were affected by an electrical storm and heavy rains.”

Netizens react to the ‘eyes of fire’ in ocean

Netizens were initially left wondering as to how water can extinguish fire on water. “The ocean is on fire is one of those things that you can type and it’s true and yet it doesn’t feel believable,” wrote popular Twitter user Brian Kahn.

“I am not sure how spraying water on a fire that is literally in the ocean is going to help put it out. I need someone to make it make sense for me,” wrote Christopher Bouzy.

Another user wondered whether the boats should be in close proximity of the fire to extinguish it.

Another user lamented, “Why not? The ocean being on fire/ Portal to hell opening seems par for the course for 2021..”

ASEA, the oil safety regulator of Mexico, denied any oil spills but couldn’t explain what was burning on the surface of the water.

‘Security of the BJP MLA lies on the shoulders of the state’: Calcutta HC asks Mamata Banerjee govt to reinstate Suvendu Adhikari’s security

OpIndia Staff
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‘Security of the BJP MLA lies on the shoulders of the state’: Calcutta HC asks Mamata Banerjee govt to reinstate Suvendu Adhikari’s security

The Calcutta High Court has ordered the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal to immediately reinstate the security cover of BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, which it had withdrawn on May 18, 2021. The Leader of Opposition in the state assembly had approached the High Court over the matter.

While hearing the BJP leader’s petition, the single judge bench of Justice Shivkant Prasad observed that the security of the BJP MLA lies on the shoulders of the state and it should be its responsibility to ensure Adhikari is not exposed to threats. 

The Calcutta HC stated that since Suvendu Adhikari already has Z-category security cover provided by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the state need not provide any additional security besides the one which was withdrawn.

Meanwhile, in its defence, West Bengal Government told the court that the BJP leader is well-maintained according to the scale of Z category protectee as per the “Yellow Book” by the Government of West Bengal.

Irrespective, the Calcutta High Court asked the Mamata Banerjee govt to reinstate Suvendu Adhikari’s previous security cover.

Union Home Ministry provides ‘Z’ category security to Suvendu Adhikari

The Union Home Ministry had provided ‘Z’ category security to Suvendu Adhikari. The sanctioning of ‘Z’ security to Adhikari came after accessing the growing threats to the rebel TMC leader following his resignation from the party. Recently, Adhikari had said he has been attacked 11 times in West Bengal.

Suvendu Adhikari was on May 10, 2021 appointed the leader of the opposition in West Bengal. The BJP MLA from Bengal defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram in the hotly contested assembly elections in the state. He had only recently joined the BJP from the Trinamool Congress in December last year.

Exclusive: BJP leader, whose farmland in Punjab was destroyed by protesting farmers points to nexus between Congress, terrorists and police

OpIndia Staff
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Exclusive: BJP leader, whose farmland in Punjab was destroyed by protesting farmers points to nexus between Congress, terrorists and police

On July 2 (Friday) a group of protesting ‘farmers’ destroyed paddy from 1.5 acres of land that is owned by BJP leader Harjeet Singh Grewal in his native place in the Dhanaula village of Barnala district of Punjab. The so-called farmers, which included women, entered the BJP leader’s field on Friday afternoon, uprooted the paddy saplings and later ploughed the entire land with a tractor, thus destroying the entire transplanted crop.

These ‘farmers’ under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), made videos of the act and also raised anti-BJP slogans while destroying the crop.

Among those present at Friday’s protest were Balwant Singh Uppali, convener of Samyukta Kisan Morcha for Barnala district, Jagsir Singh Chhiniwal, president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Kadian, Karnail Singh Gandhi, president of BKU. Sidhupur, among other leaders.

After the incident, the Union leaders claimed they had only gone to talk to the farmer who had taken Grewal’s land on rent but some angry protesters damaged the saplings. They said that they had earlier warned farmers not to rent the BJP leaders land as he has always spoken in favour of the farm laws.

“We had appealed to the farmer to not work on Grewal’s land. However, he transplanted the paddy. When we visited for a talk today, the mob abruptly uprooted the saplings. We have no personal vendetta against the BJP leader but he should not use derogatory language against farmers,” said Balwant Singh Uppali, the convener of Samyukta Kisan Morcha for Barnala district.

‘Yeh aatanki, Congress aur Maowadi sab mile hue hain’: BJP leader Harjeet Singh Grewal tells OpIndia

Meanwhile, OpIndia got in touch with BJP leader Harjeet Singh Grewal to get his take on the entire incident. The BJP leader informed that a group of 100-200 people who called themselves farmers, entered the field on Friday afternoon. “At first, they hurled abuses while going live on social media. They destroyed the paddy crops and openly threatened and abused PM Modi and myself”, said Grewal, adding that these people are not farmers but terrorists.

He said: “Yeh aatanki (terroists) kisan, Congress aur Maowadi (Maoist) sab mile hue hain”, roughly translated as “these terrorists (farmers) are hands in gloves with Congress and the Maoists.

‘Farmers’ have the backing of Punjab police, alleges BJP leader

The BJP leader alleged that these people are being able to carry out such felonious activities with impunity because of the backing of Punjab police. He mentioned how difficult it was for him to file a police complaint against these miscreants, as the Punjab police, working at the behest of the Congress government in the state, were reluctant to register a complaint against them. It was only due to the intervention of higher authorities, that the case could be registered.

Punjab police reluctant to register complaints against these ‘farmers’: BJP leader Harjeet Singh Grewal

Speaking on how the entire system is in cahoots with these criminals, who identify themselves as farmers, Grewal informed that it was not only his complaint the Punjab police is unwilling to register any case against them. They have a free hand and can get away by doing whatever they want. They are not farmers but some sort of extortionists. They are a disgrace to society.

When asked whether the incident was a retaliation to his pro-farm law opinions, Grewal opined that in a democracy, everyone has the right to protest, but peacefully, definitely not by resorting to violence like these miscreants have been doing.

According to reports, the BJP leader has filed a complaint with the DGP of Punjab and also apprised Home Minister Amit Shah about the incident, who, in turn, also had a word with the DGP. An FIR has also been lodged in Dhanaula police station against the culprits,” said Grewal.

The BJP leader has also told The Indian Express that the incident would not have any financial impact on him as he had already got an annual contract of this land. The poor farmer, Nachhatar Singh, who took the 1.5 acres of land on rent is the one at loss, said Grewal, adding that he has assured Nachhatar that he will compensate him for his loss as it was not his fault and he is just a poor farmer.

“The loss will be that of Nachhatar Singh because I had already got an annual contract of this land. I have a total of 17 acres of family land in different patches, out of which paddy was transplanted only in this patch. This land in question belongs to my brother, who is in the UK. I have promised Nachhatar to compensate him for his loss as it was not his fault and he is just a poor farmer,” Grewal was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.

How these ‘Farmers’ have carried out rampant violence in the name of protest

This is not the first such incident where these so-called farmers have resorted to violent means in the name of agitating against the farm laws. The scars of the January 26 insurgency, when so-called farmers opposing Centre’s three agriculture bills marched into Delhi from various sites to lay siege to the Red Fort, have remained with the people.

After this tragic incident too, these ‘farmers’ refused to relent. On June 12, OpIndia reported how these protesting ‘farmers’ announced that they will stage ‘Raj Bhavan gherao’ across the country on June 26.

These are, of course, a few, of the many such incidents which have been carried out by these criminals disguised as farmers. In fact, details had emerged revealing how the very people who had instigated JNU violence and the Anti-Hindu riots in Delhi early this year are now fanning the ‘farmer protests’ along the Haryana-Punjab border. Furthermore, the Greta toolkit had also exposed how the anti-farm law protests in India is nothing but a systematic and well-planned conspiracy to destabilise India and dismantle the Indian democracy.

Blind leading blind: Navjot Singh Sidhu has not paid electricity bill worth lacs while he gives lectures on solving power crisis in Punjab

OpIndia Staff
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Blind leading blind: Navjot Singh Sidhu has not paid electricity bill worth lacs while he gives lectures on solving power crisis in Punjab

In a classic case of the blind leading the blind, on Friday (July 2), Congress heavyweight leader Navjot Singh Sidhu offered solutions to tackle the power crisis in the State of Punjab. However, the plan backfired and Sidhu was instead called out for defaulting on his own electricity payments.

At the very onset, Navjot Singh Sidhu claimed that it was possible to supply uninterrupted electricity for 24 hours to the people of Punjab. He claimed, “There is No need for Power-Cuts in Punjab or for the Chief Minister to regulate office timings or AC use of the Common People…”

“If we Act in the right direction…Punjab is buying Power at an average cost of Rs. 4.54 per unit, National Average is Rs. 3.85 per unit & Chandigarh is paying Rs. 3.44 per unit.” He added that Punjab is over-dependent on 3 privately owned Thermal plants, which charged between ₹5 – ₹8 per unit,” he clarified.

Navjot Singh Sidhu had accused the previous Badal government of signing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with 3 private Thermal power plants. He further alleged that the government had paid ₹5400 until 2020 and is expected to shell out an additional ₹65000 as fixed charges.

Sidhu noted, “Punjab can purchase power from National Grid at much cheaper rates, but these Badal-signed PPAs are acting against Punjab’s Public Interest. Punjab may not be able to re-negotiate these PPAs due to them having legal protection from Hon’ble Courts, But there is a way forward..”

In another tweet, the Congress leader urged the Punjab government to bring in a legislative measure retrospectively and cap purchase costs to protect the taxpayer’s money. “Punjab’s revenue per unit of consumption is one of the lowest in India, due to gross mismanagement of the complete power purchase & supply system … PSPCL pays Rs. 0.18 per unit “Extra” on every unit supplied, even after receiving over 9000 Crore in Subsidy from the State,” he emphasised.

He added, “Renewable Energy is becoming cheaper along with being environmental-friendly, But Punjab’s potential from Solar & BioMass Energy remains unutilised even though Central financial schemes can be availed for these projects. PEDA spends its time just on energy efficiency awareness…”

Navjot Singh Sidhu said, “Punjab already gives 9000 Crore Power Subsidy but Delhi gives only 1699 Crore as Power Subsidy. If Punjab copies Delhi Model, we will get merely 1600-2000 Crore as Subsidy. To better serve the People of Punjab – Punjab needs an Original Punjab Model, Not a copied Model.” He also said that the money spent on unreasonable Thermal plants must be used for providing power subsidy imnstead.

Doublespeak of Navjot Singh Sidhu

Despite talking in detail about the need to conserve energy, it has come to light that Navjot Singh Sidhu is yet to clear his dues of ₹8,67,540. Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL)’s websites showed that the last date for clearing the bills was July 2.

However, PSPCL officials have refused to comment on whether they intend to serve him a notice over his existing power bill. Reportedly, Navjot Singh Sidhu has not paid the electricity bill of his Amritsar home for three months.

Screengrab of the power bill of Navjot Singh Sidhu

“Normally, a connection is temporarily disconnected if the consumer fails to make the bill payment within a month. Following the pandemic, we have asked the consumers to pay in instalments. We will find out why the payment has not been made,” an official said when asked if the electric connection of Navjot Singh Sidhu was disconnected. While Navjot Singh Sidhu has been advocating to resolve the power crisis in the state, his lack of public accountability

Thrissur Mayor cribs about police officers not saluting him, police say ‘no standing order to salute mayor’: Read what happened

OpIndia Staff
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Thrissur Mayor cribs about police officers not saluting him, police say ‘no standing order to salute mayor’: Read what happened

In a bizarre incident, Thrissur Mayor VK Varghese has filed a complaint with the Kerala police chief saying police officials in the state disrespected him often by not offering the customary salute when he passes through the city in his official vehicle.

According to the reports, rebel Congress leader MK Varghese, who joined hands with the LDF to become Thrissur Mayor in December last year, has sent an official complaint to the state police chief alleging that Kerala police officers have not shown any respect to him or give him the customary salute despite him being a mayor.

In his letter, the Thrissur Mayor claimed that according to the state protocol, the mayor of the corporation is in the third position after the Governor and the Chief Minister and Mayor is considered the first citizen of the corporation he or she governs, he said.

Urging the Kerala DGP to look into the matter and do the needful, Varghese said that he was elected as the mayor of Thrissur Corporation only a few months back and added that he had been noticing this attitude of police officers for a long time now.

“They salute the ministers and even MLAs but not the mayor, who is actually above the other categories as per the protocol. Hence, I wrote to the police chief so that there would be a clarification on the matter,” said Varghese.

“When we go out in the field meeting people and ensuring that their needs are addressed, some police officers disrespect us by showing their back to us,” he added.

Meanwhile, the police officers have contended that they give salutes to people as per the standing order of the department and not protocol. The state police chief has directed Thrissur range DIG to inquire into the complaint and take necessary action.

Government includes retail and wholesale trade under MSMEs: Read how it will benefit 2.5 crore traders

OpIndia Staff
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Government includes retail and wholesale trade under MSMEs: Read how it will benefit 2.5 crore traders

The central government on Friday revised its guidelines on MSMEs, including retail and wholesale trade as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Minister of MSME and Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari said. The landmark decision means that retail and wholesale trade will also now be able to avail benefits such as priority sector lending under RBI guidelines.

“Retail and wholesale trade were left out of the ambit of MSME. Under the revised guidelines, the Ministry of MSME has issued an order to include retail and wholesale trade as MSME and extending to them the benefit of priority sector lending,” said Nitin Gadkari, who also added that the inclusion would benefit 2.5 crore retail and wholesale traders, and they would now be able to register on the Udyam Registration Portal.

Retail and trade associations have welcomed the move announced by the central government, stating that it would provide access to traders to the much-needed capital that had been impacted severely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After their inclusion, several measures announced for the MSME sector over the past year will now be applicable to retail and wholesale traders as well.

The decision comes at a time when the retail and wholesale business has taken a hit because of the coronavirus-induced lockdowns and restrictions, causing a severe liquidity crunch for the said businesses. A survey conducted by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) said the sector, which is dominated by small traders, witnessed a contraction of whooping 79 per cent in terms of monthly sales in May as compared to pre-COVID levels due to lockdown-like restrictions imposed by states to blunt the second wave of coronavirus pandemic.

Retail and Trade associations welcome government’s move to include retail and wholesale traders within the ambit of MSME

The CEO of RAI, Kumar Rajagopalan, said the move is a major fillip to small retailers across the country since this has been the specific ask of the industry since last year. “This monumental decision will have a structural impact for the sector, aiding it to get formalised by providing better finance opportunities for businesses that want to get structured. It will give retail MSMEs the support they need to survive, revive and thrive,” he added.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also welcomed the move. Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary-General, CAIT, said the demand for MSME status was on for more than a year and will benefit crores of small businesses. “The Covid pandemic-affected traders will now be able to restore their businesses by obtaining finances from banks, which was earlier denied to them. This will prove to be a milestone step in reviving not only the economy but even the retail sector,” Khandelwal said.

CAIT said in a statement that with this decision traders will be able to avail requisite finances from the banks and financial institutions under Priority Sector Lending along with several other benefits of various other Government schemes currently available for MSMEs. Khandelwal further added that the longer-term benefit of the move is that it would provide retailers a benefit to get registered under MSME schemes, hence formalising more businesses.

The move would not only help small traders get loans from banks and financial institutions, but it would also make them eligible for several government schemes that were hitherto extended only to the MSME sector. A week ago, the Finance Ministry expanded the emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS) to ₹4.5-lakh crore, mainly for the MSME sector. Now, retail and wholesale traders can also tap into this credit line to give a boost to their businesses.

Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao announce divorce: Read what they said in their statement

OpIndia Staff
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Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao announce divorce: Read what they said in their statement

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan and his wife for 15 years, Kiran Rao, have released a statement announcing their divorce. In the statement, they said that they had been planning the separation for a long time and while they would go their separate ways, they would continue to be co-parent their son, Azad. The statement also said that they will continue to work together for, Paani Foundation.

Here is the text of their statement:

“In these 15 beautiful years together we have shared a lifetime of experiences, joy and laughter, and our relationship has only grown in trust, respect and love. Now we would like to begin a new chapter in our lives – no longer as husband and wife, but as co-parents and family for each other. We began a planned separation some time ago, and now feel comfortable to formalise this arrangement, of living separately yet sharing our lives the way an extended family does. We remain devoted parents to our son Azad, who we will nurture and raise together”.

The statement further read, “We will also continue to work as collaborators on films, Paani Foundation, and other projects that we feel passionate about. A big thank you to our families and friends for their constant support and understanding about this evolution in our relationship, and without whom we would not have been so secure in taking this leap. We request our well-wishers for good wishes and blessings and hope that – like us – you will see this divorce not as an end, but as the start of a new journey. Thanks and love, Kiran and Aamir.”

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