Home Blog Page 4220

Pakistan: Journalist Hamid Mir apologises after lambasting army and ISI over attacks on media personnel

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Pakistan: Journalist Hamid Mir apologises after lambasting army and ISI over attacks on media personnel

Days after Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir was taken off air for his critical remarks against the ISI and the military establishment, he has tendered an apology. The journalist issued a statement offering his apology on Tuesday (June 8). He had made the controversial comments on March 28 after a fellow journalist named Asad Ali Toor was brutally assaulted.

In a joint statement issued by Hamid Mir, the Rawalpindi Union of journalists (RIUJ) and the National Press Club, it said that the veteran journalist did not intend to defame the army and held the institution and its ‘sacrifices’ in high regard. Mir had emphasised covering army operations from LoC (Line of Control) to Siachen. In his apology note, he talked about being ‘carried away’ after hearing stories about attacks on other journalists.

Statement of apology by Hamid Mir in Urdu (Image Credits: Twitter/Irshad Bhatti)

The veteran journalist apologised if his speech hurt the feelings of any individual. Mir said that he neither named any person in his contentious speech nor had any differences with the Pakistani army. On Wednesday (June 9), he clarified in a tweet, “Statement was given to a joint committee of 3 journalists bodies defending me everywhere. I never gave this statement to Geo management because I never used their platform. Still demanding to arrest culprits involved in attacks against journalists.”

It must be mentioned that on June 4, a committee was formed to end the ‘confusion’ created after Mir’s fiery speech on May 28. It comprised of ex-PFUJ president Afzal Butt, NPC president Shakeel Anjum and RIUJ president Amir Sajjad Syed.

Sacked from Geo News, petition seeking sedition charges filed against Hamid Mir

On May 28, the former Geo News journalist had attended a gathering of Pakistani journalists for showing solidarity with fellow journalist Asad Ali Toor. The latter was attacked at his residence in Islamabad by three unidentified assailants on May 25 at 11 o’clock in the morning. Toor was then reportedly dragged to his bedroom and then brutally assaulted and gagged. According to the journalist, the assailants identified themselves as members of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). 

An agitated Hamid Mir had condemned the attack on Asad Ali Toor and threatened to reveal the secrets of the military establishment.  “If you are a man of courage, then, publicly acknowledge that you ambushed the house of Asad Ali Toor. But you are such shameless and cowardly that you cannot accept it. Instead, you claim that he was beaten by the brother of one girl. We are up against a cowardly enemy which believes that we don’t know them. We know who you’re,” he emphasised. Hamid Mir further stated that the establishment is miffed at the media for not giving in to their demands of establishing diplomatic relations with Israel and India.

Following his comments, he was taken off air by Geo News. The channel had said that the veteran journalist has been sent on leave for some time and that he will not be hosting his popular program. On June 4, a petition was filed before the Lahore High Court, seeking sedition charges against him, by one Sardar Farrukh Mushtaq. The petitioner alleged that the statement made by Hamid Mir on May 28 contained ‘serious derogatory remarks’ and allegations against the ‘discipline institution of Pakistan.’ Furthermore, he alleged that Mir’s behaviour amounted to contempt of society and the institutions.

Rapper MC Kode found from Madhya Pradesh, had gone ‘missing’ after posting cryptic message last week

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Rapper MC Kode found from Madhya Pradesh, had gone ‘missing’ after posting cryptic message last week

Rapper MC Kode had been found from Madhya Pradesh, after having gone missing earlier this month from Delhi. He had written a cryptic message on Instagram before going missing.

On June 3, Kode had gone missing after putting up a cryptic message on Instagram.

MC Kode’s message

Many of his fans speculated it was a suicide note and had called for a search and rescue operation for him. Few days later, his mother had filed a missing person report in Delhi’s Mehrauli Police station.

A week prior to his disappearance, his videos insulting Hinduism and holy scriptures of Hinduism during a ‘rapping’ battle had gone viral on social media. Netizens had demanded action against him for his provocative raps.

Aditya Tiwari, who has MC Kode as his stage name, is a rap artist based out of New Delhi. For years, he has been hosting, participating, and judging rap battles across many states, including Mumbai, Gujarat, Guwahati, Jaipur, Uttar Pradesh & Haryana.

China’s Agri-Warfare: USA caught napping while China steps up efforts to steal intellectual property in agriculture

Anurag
-
0
China’s Agri-Warfare: USA caught napping while China steps up efforts to steal intellectual property in agriculture

The United States is one of the leaders in agriculture technology. However, it has been facing a tough challenge from China for the last few years as it has repeatedly been crawling into the “secure” web around the agro-tech industry and stealing valuable intellectual property. In 2019, China announced, “Made in China 2025” with an aim to dominate high-tech industries across the world, including agriculture. China aims to become the most powerful nation in the world by 2049. To achieve the target, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not shy away from theft, cyber-hacking and espionage to steal information from the leaders in the industry.

According to a report published by the US Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property in 2017, IP thefts cost the US $255 billion to $600 billion every year. The key infringer, according to the report, is China. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) acknowledged in 2020 that it opens a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours. Fifty per cent of all the active FBI counterintelligence cases include China. In the last decade, the FBI said, economic espionage linked to China increased by almost 1,300 per cent.

Trillions of dollars worth of US tech has been stolen by China in the last ten years, and agriculture technology has been one of the top targets. As per reports, Chinese nationals have been arrested on several occasions while trying to transport pilfered corn and rice seed to China. Experts believe that the cases where arrests were made and the accused were prosecuted just the tip of the iceberg.

Popular cases of seed theft

In 2011, Mo Hailong, the US director of international business for Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group, was spotted stealing Pioneer and Monsanto seed corn. FBI had initiated an investigation and arrested Hailong and other Chinese nationals in 2013 when they were trying to board a plane for China. Authorities had found hundreds of seed samples in their luggage. Hailong was sentenced to 36 months in prison.

Weiqiang Zhang, a seed breeder at Ventria who studied biotech crop production at Kansas State University and received a degree in rice genetics at Louisiana State University, was caught by the agencies for fraudulently inviting “Chinese research colleagues” for a tour of Ventria and other US agriculture research centres. They were caught trying to smuggle rice seeds to China by the US Customs during routine luggage check. Zhang was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In 2017, Haitao Xiang, an imaging scientist at Monsanto and its subsidiary The Climate Corporation, was arrested at the airport with a micro SD card copy of a proprietary algorithm. Xiang had been working with the company since 2008.

In 2018, Liu Xuejun and Sun Yue were indicted for “conspiracy to steal trade secrets and conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property.” According to a report in Reuters, they visited rice research and production facilities and stole rice seeds. Those seeds were recovered from their luggage while they were trying to board plane back to China.

Col. (Ret.) John Mills, national security professional and former Director of Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs at the Department of Defense said, “It’s fair to label these cases as tip of the iceberg or tip of the dinner fork. I mean, they are a drop in the bucket. For so long, US counterintelligence has been focused on Russia, yet China presents a threat many orders of magnitude greater. China is intent on cataloguing seed and DNA on a vast scale, and they’ve spent at least ten years vacuuming up every piece of tech from every sector in the US. You can be absolutely certain: Agriculture is right up there at the top, and this is happening right now.”

China’s attempt to increase farmland and production

China is the largest country population-wise, and it keeps looking to increase its agriculture base to ensure food security. It plans to increase its farmland to 132 million acres in the next ten years. Recently, it has revamped 16.5 million acres into farmland which is roughly equal to the size of Ireland. China’s President Xi Jinping does not leave any chance to mention food security in his speeches hinting towards the fact that the communist government would not shy away stoop to the lowest in order to achieve its targets.

Notably, ChemChina invested $46 billion in Syngenta, a Switzerland-based company with locations covering Chicago, Tel Aviv and Shanghai. With the investment, China gained access to the company’s transgenic seeds and crop protection products.

BRI – the preparation for the future

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an infrastructure project that will cross through 70 nations giving unparallel access to global trade to China by 2049. It was launched in 2013, and to compliment the project, China announced a 10-year initiative to dominate ten high-tech sectors by 2025, including IT, AI, telecommunications, electric vehicles, aerospace engineering, advanced electronics, biomedicine, high-speed rail, maritime engineering, and, of course, agricultural technology.

Cyberwarfare to steal technology

China follows a simple rule, if technology cannot be bought or developed, it can be stolen. Notably, the Strategic Support Force, an army command dedicated to cyber warfare, has been a frontrunner in espionage.

CCP’s loyal followers are the biggest threat

The ruling party of China has around 90 million members. They are committed to the party and have sworn oath of allegiance, promising to “carry out the Party’s decisions, strictly observe Party discipline, guard Party secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life, be ready at all times to sacrifice my all for the Party and the people, and never betray the Party.”

Christopher Wray, Director, FBI, The Chinese intelligence services strategically use every tool at their disposal, including state-owned businesses, students, researchers and ostensibly private companies, to systematically steal information and intellectual property.”

According to US security experts, there are roughly 360,000 Chinese nationals at any given time studying in US universities. Joe Augustyn, a 28-year veteran of the CIA, had said in 2019, “We know without a doubt that anytime a graduate student from China comes to the US, they are briefed when they go and brief when they come back. They don’t just come here to spy … they come here to study, and a lot of it is legitimate. But there is no question in my mind, depending on where they are and what they are doing, that they have a role to play for their government.”

John Mills believes there is a high percentage of Chinese nationals studying in US universities funnelling information to CCP. He said, “It’s my opinion that many are either working for the Ministry of State Security (China’s CIA-FBI hybrid organization), and 100% are fully aware of their obligation to the CCP. That is the price to be here. Part of their presence here, granted with CCP permission, is a promise, often a quid pro quo, to assist the CCP in getting whatever is needed.”

‘FBI woke up too late

Mills said the FBI woke up to the threat far too late. “It is the CCP’s goal to steal, glean, obtain, transcribe, and photograph anything of value from the US, and the agriculture sector is right at the top. China is a net food importer, and that is a strategic vulnerability of the CCP.”

He added, “China is a net importer of food. They cannot feed their population without American farmers. The spike in bacon prices over the last few years is related to China’s demand for pork and is an exemplar of the strategic food situation. Agriculture is absolutely one of the CCP’s top targets of intelligence collection, and unfortunately for American farmers, agriculture is one of the softest targets through the theft of intellectual property, privileged company research, or the physical theft of seeds. Rest assured, even if China can’t produce a crop with the stolen info, they are passing it to other breadbasket nations that are kindred, or at least beholden, to assist in growing food.”

China’s ideological marketing machines in Universities

Earlier, it was reported that China has been trying to overtake education in schools and universities across developed nations. Reports suggest that CCP uses Confucius Institutes and Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs) to gain access to the US universities resulting in espionage and surveillance. Reportedly, after learning about the consequences, 75 universities have closed Confucius Institutes. However, there are still 140 such institutes operating in the US. Notably, Michael Lauer, deputy director of extramural research at the National Institutes for Health (NIH), admitted in front of a Senate Committee that they had found 500 “scientists of concern” at federally funded institutions. In April 2021, NIH has contacted “more than 90 awardee institutions” regarding specific issues with 200 scientists.

The worrisome numbers of scientists on CCP’s payroll

Agencies have been trying to weed out experts on CCP’s payroll. According to Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), “China designed the Thousand Talents Plan in 2008 to recruit 2,000 high-quality overseas experts. By 2017, China dramatically exceeds its recruitment goal, recruiting more than 7,000′ high-end professionals.”

He added, “Thousand Talents Plan members typically receive a salary and funding for their research from Chinese institutions, such as Chinese universities or research institutions. In exchange for the salary and research funding, which sometimes include what’s called a shadow lab in China, members sign legally binding contracts with the Chinese institutions that typically contain provisions that prevent the members from disclosing their participation in the program. This requirement, of course, runs counter to US regulations that require grant recipients to disclose foreign funding sources.  In effect, it incentivizes program members to lie on grant applications to US grant-making agencies and to avoid disclosing their funding from Chinese institutions. China now wants to keep this quiet.”

According to a Wall Street Journal report, “When officials at the Texas A&M University System sought to determine how much Chinese government funding its faculty members were receiving, they were astounded at the results—more than 100 were involved with a Chinese talent-recruitment program, even though only five had disclosed their participation. A plant pathologist at the Texas system, where the median annual salary for such scientists employed by the state is around $130,000, told officials that the researcher had been offered $250,000 in compensation and more than $1 million in seed money to start a lab in China through one of the talent programs.”

Fight against CCP

In April 2021, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) efforts resulted in the introduction of the Agricultural Intelligence Measures (AIM) Act to create an intelligence office with USDA. Cotton said, “The Chinese Communist Party wants to undermine vital American industries through sabotage and intellectual property theft—US agriculture is no exception. Our bill will help safeguard the food and technology that our country depends on for its prosperity and freedom.” More such efforts are now in place to stop the theft by the Chinese. However, it is still too early to say if the US would be able to fight back the espionage considering the deep-rooted access to the Chinese government in the US’s agriculture sector.

Why a cartoonist imagines ‘gothra’ while reality is ‘halal’ vaccines. Understanding the mindset

Shashank Singh
-
0
Why a cartoonist imagines ‘gothra’ while reality is ‘halal’ vaccines. Understanding the mindset

Dictionary meaning of secularism is: indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations. Except, in Indian left wing scenario, secularism means ‘inclusion of all religions’. Even that is fine if you see all religions equally. Except, in reality, some religions are more equal.

Only way the ‘liberals’ in India can portray themselves as ‘seculars’ if they put down Hinduism while hailing other religions. Which is why ‘Jai Shree Ram’ is being normalised as ‘Hindutva militant war cry’ while no one bats an eye on Allahu Akbar which Islamist terrorists shout before either beheading a ‘kafir’ or blowing themselves up.

The ‘liberals’ who like to claim they speak truth to power often demonise Hinduism because, well, other religions wouldn’t let them. Here is an example.

So-called satirist Satish Acharya decided to mock Hindus over vaccine hesitancy in India. In a cartoon shared on Tuesday, Acharya showed a man asking the nurse what the ‘Gothra’ of the vaccine is since he would want to match it with his horoscope. Which is amusing because no one has ever heard of such a request from any Hindu while getting vaccinated.

However, there is a section of one community which has been showing vaccine hesitancy because of its formulation.

‘Halal status of vaccines’

But Acharya would not mock this. Mocking worries of Muslim community over halal status of vaccines is, well, haram (forbidden), so to say.

And one need not even go this far.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday shared a snippet which read like a matrimonial ad.

While the above image shared by Tharoor is not real and is created on an app, it talks about a Roman Catholic girl seeking alliance from a Roman Catholic boy. In the ad, the girl has mentioned how she is fully vaccinated with Covishield and seeks groom who also has had the same vaccine.

While it was satirical ad, when Acharya drew the cartoon about ‘gothra’ of vaccine, instead of mocking the Roman Catholics, he chose to mock Hindus. This is how the pressure of secularism works.

There is tremendous pressure to create a narrative of ‘Hindu Taliban’ and ‘Hindu terror’ to combat the very real Islamic terror guised as Islamophobia. Terrorism has no religion is a valid statement only if terrorists are Islamists. For crimes committed by people of other religion, make sure to demonise the entire community to keep your secular credentials going.

You see, Satish Acharya wouldn’t really want to be Charlie Hebdo’ed, right?

The Hindu’s ‘fact-check’ about PM Modi’s address to the nation on vaccines is flawed and self-contradictory. Details

Jinit Jain
-
0
The Hindu’s ‘fact-check’ about PM Modi’s address to the nation on vaccines is flawed and self-contradictory. Details

PM Modi on Monday had announced that India would revert to a system of centralised procurement of vaccines against COVID-19 and slammed the politicisation of vaccination drive. In a blistering attack against the detractors, Modi hailed India’s vaccination drive and highlighted how India is at the forefront of manufacturing its own vaccines, a far cry from what it used to be years ago when it took decades for the foreign vaccines to come to India.

“If you look at the history of vaccinations in India, whether it was a vaccine for smallpox, hepatitis B or polio, you will see that India would have to wait for decades to procure vaccines from abroad. When vaccination programmes ended in other countries, it wouldn’t have even begun in our country. Imagine if India had not produced its own vaccines, what would have happened to a country as big as India?” PM Modi asked rhetorically while emphasising the achievement of developing ‘Made-in-India’ COVID-19 vaccines.

However, a day after PM Modi’s announcement, The Hindu came up with a lousy “fact check” to discredit the claims made by PM Modi in his speech on Monday evening. The article started with asserting that PM Modi’s views on vaccination history are “at odds with the facts”.

The claims made by The Hindu in its article was conclusively debunked by a Twitter handle, who goes by the handle @knowthenation. In a string of tweets, Know The Nation pointed out the glaring holes in The Hindu’s ‘fact-check’ article and how it was trying to claim that India did not lack vaccine access.

Know The Nation shared an infographic to highlight when were the major vaccines introduced in India vis-a-vis the world. The vaccine for Rotavirus was made available in 1998 in the developed countries of the world, but in India, they were introduced in 2015, a staggering 17 years later. The difference in the accessibility of vaccine for Japanese Encephalitis is even more profound. The vaccine was invented in 1930 but India got it after 83 years, in 2013.

Similarly, the vaccine for Hepatitis B was available in the world in 1982 but in India, it came in 2002, an astounding 20 years later. The antidote for Polio was developed in 1955 but India could get access to it only in 1978. And as for tetanus, it was introduced in India in 1978, after 54 years of its invention in 1924.

The Hindu’s ‘fact-check’ ends up contradicting its own claim that India did not lack access to vaccines in the past

The article, authored by writer Jacob Koshy selectively cited excerpts from an article by Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, which was published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research(IJMR) in 2012 to conclude on its own that “India, even before Independence, was among the countries that indigenously manufactured vaccines almost years within they were discovered, historical records suggest.” 

Source: The Hindu

Quoting from Lahariya’s article, The Hindu cited the vaccination of a three-year-old Indian in 1802, a mere four years after English physician Edward Jenner published the result of his experiments on inoculating subjects with a cowpox virus, to claim that smallpox vaccines reached India much earlier and not decades later as alleged by PM Modi.  

However, what The Hindu’s ‘fact-check’ inadvertently revealed is that it took over 170 years since the first vaccination of a three-year-old Indian in 1802 for India to achieve complete eradication from smallpox. Because it was only in 1975 that India declared the complete eradication of smallpox.

Additionally, the article published in The Hindu itself said that smallpox was eradicated in North America and Europe by 1953 itself, while in India this was achieved in 1975. The article made a spurious claim that India was self-sufficient in the production of smallpox vaccines when the Britishers left the country in 1947. If that was the case, then why did the governments ruling independent India take more than 3 decades to vaccinate the entire population against smallpox?

Polio vaccination started in India 19 years after its introduction in the US

Clearly, it appears that The Hindu had determined the conclusion first and then selectively used facts to reinforce it. Its agenda-driven ‘fact-checking’ becomes even starker when it talks about Oral Polio Vaccination. However, what it says in the body of the article only ends up contradicting its conclusion and buttressing PM Modi’s assertion.

“India was also the pioneer-leader in polio research — epidemiology, vaccine-prevention — and in the manufacture of both Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV). India’s lead position was squandered in later years due to short-sighted policies and capricious decisions, a blot in our history of public health,” The Hindu article said while quoting T. Jacob John and M. Vipin Vashishta from the 2013 edition of the IJMR.

“The OPV was developed by 1960…The Pasteur Institute of India developed and produced, for the first time in India, an indigenous trivalent OPV in 1970. Manufacture of the IPV was discouraged in India primarily because there were worries that the seed virus, necessary for manufacture, could escape out of the lab. It was not until 2006 that IPV was licensed for manufacture in India,” the article published in The Hindu read.

The article published in The Hindu says the polio vaccination was available in the United States in 1960, 19 years before its vaccination started in India. It also adds that for years India imported Polio vaccines from abroad since its IPV was not licenced for manufacturing in India till 2006. No wonder, India took more than 3 decades to eradicate polio. The polio vaccination was started in 1979 and India was polio-free only in 2012.

The Hindu conveniently omits ‘fact-checking’ of Hepatitis B vaccination

As for Hepatitis B, the US introduced it in its vaccination process in 1982. In India, it was added to the inoculation programme only after 20 years, in 2002. However, the Hindu article conveniently ignored to ‘fact-check’ Hepatitis B vaccinations in India.

The Hindu’s shoddy ‘fact-check’ only adds weight to the assertions made by PM Modi in his speech that vaccinating its population was not a priority for the past Indian governments. In fact, the content of the article published in The Hindu conclusively vindicates PM Modi and contradicts its own premise that India did not lack access to vaccines under previous governments. However, when the sole agenda is to disprove PM Modi, consistency in arguments and factual accuracy are the least things to be bothered about. All that one requires is to selectively quote scholars and their work from the past and use ‘fact check’ as a tool to discredit PM Modi.

TMC MP Nusrat Jahan says her marriage with Nikhil Jain is not valid in India because they never married formally as per Indian law

OpIndia Staff
-
0
TMC MP Nusrat Jahan says her marriage with Nikhil Jain is not valid in India because they never married formally as per Indian law

Amidst speculations regarding her split with husband Nikhil Jain and also over the pregnancy, actor-turned-politician Nusrat Jahan has finally broken her silence. The actress and TMC MP has released a statement on Wednesday revealing that her marriage with Nikhil Jain is not valid in India.

On Wednesday, TMC MP from Basirhat Nusrat Jahan Ruhi released a statement ending speculation over the status of her marriage with businessman Nikhil Jain. In her statement, the actress said she has separated from Jain long back and that her wedding in Turkey was not valid as no formal marriage took place as per Indian law and it was not a legal marriage as per Turkish regulations either.

The Bengali actress also alleged that her belongings, including family jewellery and other assets, have been “illegally held back”. She also alleged that her “funds were mishandled” from various accounts without her knowledge.

“Being on foreign land, as per Turkish Marriage Regulation, the ceremony is invalid. Moreover, since it was an interfaith marriage, it requires validation under the Special Marriage Act in India, which did not happen. As per the court of law, it is not a Marriage, but a relationship or a live-in relationship. Thus, the question of divorce does not arise. Our separation happened long back, but I did not speak about it as I intended to keep my private life to myself. Thus, my actions must not be questioned based on “separation”, by the media or anybody I am not related to. The alleged marriage is not legal, valid and tenable; and thus, was not a marriage at all in the eye of the law,” the statement read.

Further, the actress said that her visit to any place for business or for the purpose of leisure should not concern anyone with whom she has separated. All my expenses have always been borne by me contrary to claims by “someone”, she claimed.

“I would also state that I have solely borne the expenses for my sister’s education and my family’s well-being, from day one, as they have been my responsibility. I need not use or keep anyone’s Credit Card, which I am not related to anymore. This too can be backed up by evidence,” the letter said.

In an apparent reference to her estranged husband in the statement, Nusrat Jahan said, “The one who claims to be “rich” and “been used by me” has been taking money from my account by accessing my bank accounts illegally and by illegitimate means at odd-hours of the night, even post-separation. The actress said she has already taken this up with the concerned banking authority and said that a police complaint would be filed shortly.

“In the past, details of all family accounts were handed over to him, upon his requests and none of me or my family members was aware of any instructions given to the bank via our accounts. He has also been mishandling my funds from various accounts without my knowledge and consent. I am still battling it out with the bank & if need be, would release proof of the same,” the letter claimed.

Nusrat Jahan says her bank accounts, belongings have been held back by Nikhil Jain’s family

The Bengali actress also added that all her belongings, including clothes, bags and accessories still remain with her former husband and she was disheartened and disappointed to state that all her family jewellery, given by her parents, friends and extended family, including her own hard-earned assets, has been illegally held back by her husband’s family.

“Being “rich” does not always give a man the right to act as a victim & belittle the woman alone, in this society. I have made my own identity by my sheer hard work; thus I would not allow anyone not related to me to share the limelight or a title or followers, based on my identity,” she said.

“I would never speak up about my personal life or anyone I am not related to. Thus, people who call themselves “normal people” must not entertain anything which is not related to them. I would request the media to refrain from questioning the wrong person, who has not been a part of my life for long now. Turning a “Sadaharon” person, as claimed by someone, into a “Hero”, giving one-sided stories to malign my image is not desirable. I would earnestly request my friends from the media to not give unnecessary mileage to such people or situations. Thank you, Nusrat Jahan,” the letter signed by Nusrat Jahan said.

Nusrat Jahan and Nikhil Jain got married on June 19, 2019, after dating for some time. The actress got married in an intimate ceremony in Turkey in the presence of close friends and family members. The actress’ wedding pictures, with elegant Hindu bridal attires, were quite a rage on social media.

The letter by the actor-turned-politician comes just a day after there were speculations that she was pregnant, amid the reports that she has separated from her husband.

Nikhil Jain says he has applied for annulment

Speaking to India Today, Nikhil Jain has stated that he and Nusrat have been separated since November 2020. He added that since the matter is sub-judice he cannot comment on issues of legalities of their marriage, but confirmed that he has applied for an annulment in a Kolkata court.

Nusrat Jahan pregnant?

For the past few days, news reports regarding Nusrat’s pregnancy are doing rounds on social media. Amidst these rumours, the actress dropped a cryptic post on her Instagram account. 

“You will blossom in our way,” read the Instagram story posted by the 30-year-old actress-turned-politician.

Interestingly, Nusrat’s husband, Nikhil Jain, who is currently separated from the actor, had no idea about his estranged wife being pregnant. Speaking to a local media, Jain had said that he has been separated from Nusrat for over six months now, and the child, if the news is true, is not his.

“I don’t know anything about this. I have no contact with her for a long time. From this, it is clear that this child is not mine,” Nikhil Jain said.

The Bengali actress and the Lok Sabha MP from Basirhat Nusrat Jahan Ruhi had married Nikhil Jain two years ago. However, the relationship between the two turned sour within a year of their marriage. In the meantime, Nusrat’s closeness with actor Yash Dasgupta continued to grow as they were seen together at different parties.

According to ABP, Nusrat Jahan and Yash Dasgupta are eager to welcome their child. The report said the couple received the news a month ago. It is expected that the couple will acknowledge being parents in the coming weeks and announce the same in public.

English cricketer James Anderson deletes old tweet calling Stuart Broad a ‘15-Year-Old Lesbian’, says he is a changed man now

OpIndia Staff
-
0
English cricketer James Anderson deletes old tweet calling Stuart Broad a ‘15-Year-Old Lesbian’, says he is a changed man now

A few days after English pacer Ollie Robinson was reprimanded by England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for his old “racist and sexist” tweets, legendary English cricketer James Anderson is in the dock over one of his old tweets in which he had called fellow seamer Stuart Broad a ’15-year-old lesbian’.

A tweet put out by veteran fast bowler James Anderson mocking his Test match teammate Stuart Broad on February 20, 2010, has now come under ECB’s scanner. In his tweet, James Anderson had said that Stuart Broad “looked like a 15 yr old lesbian!” in his new haircut.

“I saw Broady’s new haircut for the first time today. Not sure about it. Thought he looked like a 15 yr old lesbian!,” the tweet from February 2010 read.

James Anderson’s now deleted tweet/ Image Source: Dailymail

The fast bowler seems to have deleted the tweet in the wake of the recent fallout over Robinson’s messages. It is not clear when the tweet was taken down.

James Anderson has reacted to the latest controversy saying, “For me, it’s 10-11 years ago, I’ve certainly changed as a person. I think that’s the difficulty, things do change, you do make mistakes. It’s something that we’re definitely going to have to look at.”

“If there are any tweets from years ago, we do have to look at that and again learn from this and be better in the future, try and make sure we know it’s unacceptable to use these sorts of phrases and language.”

Anderson, who is the highest wicket taker for England in tests, said players were also attending workshops.

The fast bowler said, “It’s a difficult time. As players, we’re trying to learn from this, really. We’ve realised that it’s important to try and get educated around these issues, which we’re continuing to do with the ECB and the PCA (Professional Cricketers’ Association).”

English Cricket rocked by controversy over players’ historical tweets

Meanwhile, the ECB has pledged to take “relevant and appropriate action” as more historical tweets put out players that are allegedly offensive in nature continue to emerge. Last week, old tweets put out by English debutant Ollie Anderson surfaced, creating a massive furore on the internet.

Robinson is currently facing an ECB investigation into “racist and sexist tweets” he posted in 2012 and 2013, drawing attention away from a strong international debut against New Zealand.

Tweets put out by Ollie Robinson

Not just Robinson, England stars Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan have also found themselves in similar controversies for certain old tweets.

The two English players are also allegedly under investigation from the ECB, for mocking the Indians and their elocution of English. After batsman Alex Hales struck a ton, Buttler tweeted a congratulatory message for Hales and wrote, “much beauty batting you are on fire, sir.”

Old tweets of Jos Butler/ Image Source: Dailymail

On the other hand, England ODI captain Eoin Morgan had mocked Indians in his tweet saying Buttler is his favourite batsman.

Image
Image Source: News18

All three players are under ECB’s investigation over their previous ‘racist’ tweets.

West Bengal: Doctor assaulted after one Sheikh Ismail dies in Pandua, hospital staff on strike in protest

OpIndia Staff
-
0
West Bengal: Doctor assaulted after one Sheikh Ismail dies in Pandua, hospital staff on strike in protest

On Monday (June 9), a doctor was brutally thrashed by the family members of a 28-year-old patient after he died at the Pandua Rural Hospital in Hooghly district of West Bengal.

As per reports, the patient named Sheikh Ismail was brought to the hospital on Monday morning, after he complained of chest pain. According to his family members, Dr. Shivshankar Roy attended the patient and asked him to undergo an Electro Cardiogram (ECG) test. They alleged that the doctor-in-charge had prescribed the patient a total of four medicines and asked him to take them at the same time. They further claimed that Sheikh Ismail died within 5 minutes of taking the medicines.

At that point, the family members along with other locals stormed the hospital premises and unleashed violence. They brutally assaulted Dr. Shivashankar Roy and injured him. The video of the incident, shared by Times Now journalist Sreyashi Dey, has gone viral on social media. Besides, the accused also hurled bricks at the hospital and vandalised property. The local Pandua police were called in to pacify the situation. One police personnel was also injured in the scuffle.

Culprits on the loose, doctors stage protest

Although more than 24 hours have passed since the incident, the accused have not been arrested. Miffed by police inaction, administrative laxity and threats posed to the security of health officials, doctors, and nurses of Pandua Rural Hospital have launched a strike. The OPD unit and surgeries have been temporarily shut down. Meanwhile, the doctors are only attending to patients in the Emergency unit. In a video shared by the journalist, doctors were seen wearing black badges in protest.

The hospital staff has demanded immediate arrest of the perpetrators, besides setting up of a police camp at the hospital for safety. Several patients and their family members have accused the protesting doctors of disrupting the medical services and causing inconvenience. Sheikh Ismail worked in the gold industry in Gujarat and had returned home to Pandua during Eid.

Doctors assaulted in Assam, police arrest accused

Earlier on June 2, Assam Police arrested 24 people, including main perpetrators and conspirators, for attacking a doctor at a Covid care centre. A video of the incident went viral on social media platforms that triggered a strong protest. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma quoted the viral video and called it a barbaric attack. He said, “Such barbaric attacks on our frontline workers won’t be tolerated by our administration. Assam Police and DGP GP Singh ensure that the culprits brought to justice.”

According to the reports, Dr. Seuj Kumar Senapati, who was posted at Udali CCC in Hojai district of central Assam, was attacked by the relatives of a patient. The patient was admitted on June 1 at 11 AM and died at 2 PM of Covid related complications. In the viral video, security personnel and other staff members were seen trying to stop them, but no one listened.

The Police identified the main perpetrators as Md. Kamaruddin, Md. Jainal uddin, Rehanuddin, Saidul Alam, Rahim Uddin, Rajul Islam, Tayebur Rahman and Sahil Islam. By 4 AM, Tuesday, the Police had arrested 24 people in the case.

Congress leader Jitin Prasada quits party, joins BJP ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress leader Jitin Prasada quits party, joins BJP ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections

On Wednesday (June 9), former union minister and Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh, Jitin Prasada called it quits and joined BJP at the party headquarters in New Delhi. Before reaching the BJP headquarters, he met Railway Minister Piyush Goyal at his residence, and from there both of them went to meet home minister Amit Shah. Piyush Goyal formal welcomed Prasada to BJP at 1.20 PM today. The development comes ahead of the Uttar Pradesh State Legislative elections that are scheduled to be held next year.

Earlier in the day, BJP MP and National spokesperson Anil Baluni had informed, “An Eminent personality will join BJP today (Wednesday) 09 June, 1 PM at BJP HQ, 6A DDU Marg, New Delhi.”

The 47-year-old Jitin Prasada was once a close aide to Congress dynast Rahul Gandhi. Interestingly, he was part of the ‘G-23′ group which wrote to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 asking for in-party reforms. His exit from the grand-old party makes him the second influential Congress leader to desert the party after Jyotiraditya Scindia. Prior to defecting to the BJP, Jitin Prasada was appointed as the General Secretary of All India Congress Committee for the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee. He was also the Minister of State for Steel (2008-2009), Petroleum and Natural Gas (2009-2011), Road Transport and Highways (2011-2012), and HRD (2012-2014) under the UPA-II government. Jitin Prasada as seen as the Brahmin face of the party in UP.

His disillusionment with the party became evident when he slammed the Congress party for forging an alliance with the Left and the Islamist Indian Secular Front (ISF). On March 1, Jitin Prasada had tweeted, “Alliance decisions are taken keeping in mind the best interests of the party and the workers. Now is the time for everyone to join hands and work towards strengthening the prospects of the Congress in the poll bound states.”

It must be mentioned that his late father Jitendra Prasada had challenged the leadership of Sonia Gandhi in 1999. He had contested against her in a failed bid for the post of Congress President.

USA: Biden administration’s budget proposal refers to mothers as ‘birthing people’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
USA: Biden administration’s budget proposal refers to mothers as ‘birthing people’

US President Joe Biden’s 2022 Budget proposal replaces the word “mothers” referring to women who both deliver a baby and raise the child with “birthing people”.

The section that talks about maternal mortality begins by incorporating gender-specific terms such as “maternal” and “women of color”.

“The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, with an unacceptably high mortality rate for Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and other women of color,” read the provision.

However, it soon reverts to gender-neutral wording later in the paragraph. The paragraph said, “Biden’s budget would allocate over $200 million in funding to help end this high rate of maternal mortality and race-based disparities in outcomes among birthing people.”

The provision once again flipped to using phrases such as “maternal health” and “maternal morbidity,” as per convenience. 

The term “birthing people” was used in Biden’s budget proposal after elected officials, such as Democratic Missouri representative Cori Bush, were slammed by conservatives for referring to Black mothers as “Black birthing people” surrounding a House Oversight Committee hearing on black maternal health.

Bush received support from the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, a pro-abortion non-profit organization who in a statement said, “…it’s not just cis-gender women that can get pregnant and give birth. Reproductive freedom is for every body.”

Why does Biden want to ‘cancel mothers’?

A Heritage Foundation lobbyist on Capitol Hill in reference to the proposal Tweeted, “Biden’s budget would literally erase the word “mother” and replace it with the woke and watered-down term “birthing people” in relation to maternal health. Why does Biden want to cancel mothers?”

Brest-feeding replaced with ‘chest-feeding’

We had reported in February how a similar movement emerged in England where the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust had decided to be more ‘gender-inclusive’ to respect ‘trans and non-binary birthing people’.

In doing so, they had changed the post-natal terminologies and instructed their staff to use phrases such as “human milk”, “chest milk”, and “milk from the feeding mother or parent” instead of the word “breastmilk”. They have somehow concluded that the word ‘breast’ is discriminatory.

Reduces women to their mechanical abilities 

Critics of gender-inclusive terminology and campaign argue that it reduces women to their mechanical reproductive abilities, thereby, insulting their special nurturing and child-rearing gifts. It diminishes the unique joys and challenges of the female experience, the critics believe. 

In recent months, celebrities like author JK Rowling have received hatred and faced ‘cancellations’ for arguing that biological sex is real.

1...4,2194,2204,221...7,655Page 4,220 of 7,655