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Resignation of PB Mehta from Ashoka University: What he said, what alumni and faculty believe and the speculations in liberal circles

K Bhattacharjee
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Resignation of PB Mehta from Ashoka University: What he said, what alumni and faculty believe and the speculations in liberal circles

There is much debate and discussion underway following the resignation of ’eminent intellectual’ Pratap Bhanu Mehta as a professor of the Ashoka University. After Mehta’s resignation, Arvind Subramanian resigned as well, leading to a host speculations regarding the reasons behind the same.

As is to be expected, the resignation drove liberals on social media into a frenzy alleging a sinister government plot behind the resignation. Pratap Bhanu Mehta was made to resign because the Modi Government cannot tolerate dissent, so goes the claim. And some of it was fueled by a report that surfaced soon after his resignation and Mehta’s own statements.

The Edict Report and what other ‘sources’ said

The Edict, an independent student newspaper of Ashoka University, claimed that there was a plot of land that was behind the resignation. It reported on the 17th of March, “A source, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Edict that the resignation of Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta was endorsed by the Founders of the University. This endorsement, according to a senior faculty member with whom our source spoke, was motivated by an understanding that if Prof. Mehta resigned, the University’s efforts to acquire a new plot of land to expand the campus would get much smoother.”

“Additionally, formal recognition for the fourth-year post-graduate diploma, Ashoka Scholars’ Program, was also hinted at being part of the deal,” added the report. Vineet Gupta, a trustee and co-founder of Ashoka University, however, rubbished the allegations made in the report.

He told The Print in a statement, “The Edict article about Prof. Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s departure and its purported link with either the plot for Ashoka’s new campus or statutory approval for the four-year UG programme is factually inaccurate.”

“The plot of land for Ashoka’s new campus was acquired three years ago. There is no question of approval for the four-year UG programme being a factor, because that is governed by a national law and is not specific to any university. The four-year programmes have anyway been approved by the government under the new National Education Policy for all universities. The article is purely speculative. Please treat it as such,” he added.

However, faculty members appear to believe that his criticism of the government may have played a part. “The university has always tried to stay away from unnecessary media attention. Being a private institution, it does not want to be seen as anti-government, and Pratap’s columns were doing just that, drawing attention to the university,” one faculty member was quoted by The Print as saying.

“The founders were not happy with it, hence he was first asked to step down as V-C, which slowly paved the way for his resignation.”

Indian Express reported that ‘sources’ had told them that Ashish Dhawan and Pramath Raj Sinha, the founders of the University, met Pratap Bhanu Mehta recently and ‘suggested’ that they could not protect his ‘intellectual interventions’ given the “current political environment”.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta in his own words

The perennial critic of the Modi Sarkar, in his resignation letter, is reported to have claimed that he is a victim of his political opinions. “After a meeting with founders it has become abundantly clear to me that my association with the university may be considered a political liability. My public writing in support of a politics that tries to honour constitutional values of freedom and equal respect for all citizens, is perceived to carry risks for the university,” he stated.

“It is clear it is time for me to leave Ashoka. A liberal university will need a liberal political and social context to flourish. I hope the university will play a role in securing that environment. Nietzsche once said that “no living for truth is possible in a university.” I hope that prophecy does not come true,” Mehta added. Vice Chancellor Malabika Sarkar is reported to have tried to convince him to reverse his decision but to no avail.

“The VC also stated that unfortunately, Prof. Mehta did not wish to rescind his resignation after she asked him to do the same this evening. Furthermore, there were questions on issues of accountability and why there was little to no transparency regarding Prof. Mehta’s resignation from the university. The VC replied that she was hoping for him to withdraw his resignation and hence the university had not put out an official statement yet, which would be done by the night or the following morning, since there is some certainty with respect to his decision at the present moment,” The Edict reported.

Resignation letter of Arvind Subramanian

Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic advisor to the Modi Government, had much to say about the episode in his own resignation letter, which came two days later. He said, “However, the circumstances involving the ‘resignation’ of Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who is not just a dear friend but a truly inspirational national figure, have devastated me. I am acutely aware of the broader context in which Ashoka and its trustees have to operate, and have so far admired the university for having navigated it so well.”

“But that someone of such integrity and eminence, who embodied the vision underlying Ashoka, felt compelled to leave is troubling. That even Ashoka — with its private status and backing by private capital — can no longer provide a space for academic expression and freedom is ominously disturbing. Above all, that the university’s commitment to fight for and sustain the Ashoka vision is now open to question makes it difficult for me to continue being part of Ashoka,” he continued.

The Alumni Speaks, so does the Faculty

The Ashoka University Student Government and the varsity’s Alumni Council backed Pratap Bhanu Mehta in a statement. “We express our unconditional support to Professor Mehta who always taught us to be critical of the structures we live around and question what is taken for granted,” it said.

“The events that have transpired point to a failure on the chancellor and vice-chancellor’s part in protecting the university faculty from external pressures, and more importantly, also point to the failure of the founders to ensure the same,” the statement read.

“We are also concerned about the larger implications this has on the freedom of speech for Ashoka’s students and faculty. This is not the first time that professors have come under fire for their opinions and/or their course content. We are worried about the support they will have in the future, whether it will force them to self-censor, and what this means for the quality of our education,” it added.

The University Faculty, in its own statement, stated, “This would fly against the principles of academic freedom on which Ashoka University has been set up — and which Professor Mehta, in his time as vice-chancellor and university professor, has so scrupulously fought to defend. It would also set a chilling precedent for future removals of faculty, curtailing our sense of who we are as researchers and teachers.”

The narrative in liberal circles

The circumstances of his resignation are still unclear. Pratap Bhanu Mehta claims that he has become a political liability but the Vice Chancellor of Ashoka University insists that she attempted to convince him to reverse his decision. It does not come across as the conduct of a Vice Chancellor who wants him gone.

Additionally, there are reports that the founders of the University themselves intervened in the matter. What was said in the meeting between them and Mehta, if such a meeting occurred at all, is not entirely known and all that we know is what has been reported in the mainstream media and from Mehta’s own comments.

The mainstream media, as we are well aware, has a well established tendency to misreport and misrepresent facts. Therefore, it is in the interests of everyone to reserve judgment until the founders present their own version of events.

Nevertheless, liberals have decided to paint Mehta a ‘martyr’ and interpret everything as he says as gospel truth. Sheldon Pollock, a professor at Columbia University, expressed his dissatisfaction with the Ashoka University in a statement to the Indian Express.

Pollock said, “With the resignation of Prof. Mehta, the University’s foremost scholar and public intellectual, my respect for the institution has been seriously tested. I have great admiration for the Chancellor of the University, Rudrangshu Mukherjee, and for many of the trustees. I call upon them to provide a full, public, accounting of whatever policies or pressures brought about the circumstances that forced Prof. Mehta’s resignation, and to offer an unequivocal, public repudiation of them.”

Sheldon Pollock’s statement to the Indian Express

“If this is not done, and done soon, the stain on the University will be indelible, and the support of its most fervent admirers permanently lost,” he added. Ichchhadhari protester Yogendra Yadav, who has been larping around as a farmer recently, said, “Pratap Mehta has single handedly raised the bar of public discourse in India.His mid-semester “resignation” shows we’ve entered next phase of suppression of ideas, that there are no “safe heavens” for dissenters, not even in private univs.”

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor opined, “There’s more to this than meets the eye but it ends the claims of AshokaU to be the leading liberal arts university in India. This craven caving in confirms my statement to the LokSabha Tues that Universities are no longer safe spaces for free expression.” Kapil Sibal, calling it an ‘induced resignation’, said, “The last bastions of resistance too are falling”.

The Indian Express said in an editorial, “Craven surrender by Ashoka’s founders inaugurates its slide, shows how private capital is unable and unwilling to stand up. As Universities go, Ashoka University is still young. But it is, sadly, already in decline. It took only about seven years for its founders and trustees to let down the fundamental idea that animated its institution.”

Indian Express editorial

Sanjay Jha, who was unceremoniously humiliated by the Congress party, said, “Pratap Bhanu Mehta is an exceptional commentator, bipartisan, candid and erudite. We need more public intellectuals like him. His resignation is a loss for the students of Ashoka University, which apparently is the fountainhead of liberalism. Irony just died.”

Ramachandra Guha, another ’eminent intellectual’, commented, “In its journey thus far, Ashoka University had shown much promise. They may have frittered all that away by the spinelessness of their trustees, who have chosen to crawl when asked to bend.”

There were some who used the episode to once again hail the students of Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University. One user said, “When you see what likes of Pratap Bhanu Mehta couldn’t put up with, try to imagine what students of Jamia and AMU have courageously endured.”

Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Political ideology and antecedents

Mehta has been a fierce critic of the Modi Government in recent times. In an interview to The Wire, he had said, “Even though the government is committed to winning elections to secure power, in every other way it ticks the checklist of fascist qualities”. Mehta claimed that “colloquially speaking, this is a fascist government and it is, therefore, not incorrect to use that term”. He also alleged that the current situation is worse than Indira Gandhi’s Emergency.

At the India Today Conclave ahead of the 2019 General Elections, Mehta declared that democracy in India was in a crisis and there was a “deep diminish of hope”. More recently, V-Dem released a report classifying India as an “electoral autocracy” where initially, its website mentioned Mehta as an advisor but his name has been wiped out since then. Mehta himself claims that he has not been on their advisory board since 2007.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta was also a Board member at Namati, an organisation where George Soros sits on its Advisory Council. But he appears to have been removed from his position since then as the website no longer mentions him as a member. It is pertinent to recall that George Soros had declared war against nationalism and Narendra Modi. Madeline Albright, former US Secretary of State during the Bill Clinton administration, is on its Advisory Council too.

Thus, from the onset, Mehta appears to be a foot-soldier for the neoliberal world order that is facing tough resistance from countries around the world. Even so, the precise reasons behind his resignation from Ashoka University remains unclear.

As Microsoft alleges its mail server were hacked by China-sponsored hackers, a brief look into various Chinese cyber-espionage groups

OpIndia Staff
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As Microsoft alleges its mail server were hacked by China-sponsored hackers, a brief look into various Chinese cyber-espionage groups

Just a few days ago, Microsoft reported a cyberattack on its mail server software. Microsoft has since then come forward to claim that a Chinese cyber-espionage group was responsible for this. According to Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Centre, the cyber-group named Hafnium was responsible for the attack on Microsoft. Hafnium has previously been accused of both being sponsored by China and operating out of the country. Microsoft claims that its conclusion is based upon “observed victimology, tactics and procedures”.

In recent years, China has successfully established itself as one of the world’s foremost forces in terms of cyber power. A 2020 report titled the “National Cyber Power Index 2020” published by Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, ranks China as 2nd in the world in terms of cyber power, only behind the United States. This index measures a multitude of factors including government strategies, capabilities for defence and offence, resource allocation, the private sector, workforce, and innovation. Therefore, as far as cyber-attacks go, China is more than capable of facilitating such cyber operations.

China has long been suspected of funding and facilitating malicious cyber groups which engage in cybercrimes. Here are only some of the most notorious cyber groups which are either suspected or confirmed to be Chinese-backed:-

APT10 (Advanced Persistent Threat 10)

According to a report by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Chinese-backed cyber-espionage group APT10 has been active since at least 2006. APT10’s focus is to facilitate economic and commercial espionage against powers like Japan, the U.K., the United States etc. APT10 utilizes a variety of methods on its targets including spear phishing, usage of various Chinese malware, persistent targeting of MSPs (Managed Service Providers) etc.

In December 2018, two Chinese hackers belonging to APT10 were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. According to the U.S. DoJ, these two Chinese hackers were working in association with the Chinese Ministry of State Security’s Tianjin State Security Bureau, therefore revealing themselves to be working for the Chinese government.

APT10 continues to be active and goes by a number of aliases including MenuPass, Red Apollo, Stone Panda, Cicada etc.

Mustang Panda

Mustang Panda is a China-backed cyber-espionage group with a history of committing cyber attacks against Western NGOs which have a nexus with Chinese minority groups. This cyber group dates back to at least 2017. Mustang Panda utilizes malware like PlugX and Poison Ivy which is in use by almost all the Chinese-backed cyber groups operating today. Mustang Panda also relies on phishing lures that look like official documents written in the target’s native language in order to get the target to open an attached file that contains a .zip archive that executes malware like PlugX when opened.

In 2020, it was reported that Mustang Panda was targeting organizations associated with the Catholic Church. At the time of these cyber attacks, the Chinese Government and the Vatican were discussing the renewal of a 2018 accord between China and the Vatican, fueling speculations that the cyber activities of Mustang Panda were meant to provide an insight into the negotiations between China and the Holy See.

Mustang Panda goes by a number of aliases including RedDelta, TA416, BRONZE PRESIDENT etc.

BlackTech

BlackTech is a cyber threat group which primarily operates in East Asia countries like Taiwan and Japan, conducting cyber espionage operations. Known targets of BlackTech include finance, engineering, technology and government sectors of countries like Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and the U.S. with relation to East Asia. BlackTech’s strategy for cyber attacks often includes using compromised legitimate software in order to achieve its goals.

Reports state that BlackTech continues to remain active, utilizing new strains of malware to attack sectors in countries like Japan, Taiwan etc. In August 2020, the Taiwanese Government linked the cyber group BlackTech to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), saying that BlackTech was working for the CCP in order to target multiple Taiwanese government and commercial entities.

BlackTech is known by several aliases including Palmerworm, CIRCUIT PANDA etc.

APT40 (Advanced Persistent Threat 40)

APT40 is a Chinese-backed cyber group which specifically focuses on countries and issues related to the South China Sea. The South China Sea is a disputed region over which China claims territorial sovereignty. APT40 is documented to digitally target maritime, engineering as well as government entities of countries bordering the South China Sea. A 2018 analysis report on APT40 infrastructure reveals that servers in Hainan, China were utilized by the group, which heavily suggests backing from the Chinese state. It is also important to keep in mind that Hainan is an island province of China located in the South China Sea.

In September 2020, Microsoft revealed that APT40 attempted to maliciously gain control of the cloud server but were identified and disrupted. A month before this, the Taiwanese government accused APT40 of digitally targeting various Taiwanese entities. Earlier in 2020, Malaysia’s Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT) issued an advisory naming APT40, linking the Chinese-backed cyber group to an espionage campaign against Malaysian officials.

APT40 goes by a number of aliases including GADOLINIUM, Leviathan, TEMP.Periscope etc.

APT 41 (Advanced Persistent Threat 41)

APT41 is one of the most prolific Chinese-backed cyber groups, with targets across various sectors and countries. Sectors like healthcare, media, and video games have been a target for cyber crimes by APT41. These cyber attacks by APT 41 hit multiple countries, including the U.S., Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and the U.K. APT40 utilizes various ways in order to digitally attack their targets. These methods include using stolen digital certificates to sign malware, exploitation of remote access, using a custom malware Trojan known as Winnti etc.

In September 2020, in an effort to shine a light on the activities of APT41 the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) unsealed three indictments against five Chinese hackers and two Malaysian businessmen for a plethora of cyber crimes. The DoJ linked the activities of the Chinese hackers to a Chinese company known as Chengdu 404 Network Technology, which most likely operates at the behest of Chinese Ministry of State Security, which is a secret police agency in China. The DoJ indictments state that the Chinese hackers associated with APT41 are responsible for cyber attacks against over a hundred different organizations located in multiple countries.

APT41 is known by many other aliases. These include Barium, Winnti, Wicked Panda, Wicked Spider etc.

Chinese cyberthreat is real

As evidenced by the National Cyber Index 2020, China is the 2nd most powerful cyber power in the world. What’s even more impressive is the fact that China did not feature in the top 10 of a similar list titled Global Cyber Security Index 2018 provided by the International Telecommunication Union, a specialized U.N. agency. This indicates that China’s rise in cyber power is very recent and that the abovementioned examples of Chinese-backed cyber groups do not fully represent China’s future capabilities, which could also target India.

India was also under analysis for the National Cyber Index 2020. Out of the 30 countries assessed, India secured a rank of 21, clearly nowhere close to our neighbour. In terms of cyber offence or defence, India lags behind China in various indicators. This is a potential cause of concern for India, with military tensions at the Line of Actual Control heightening in the past year. Clearly, in order to achieve parity with China, India needs to heavily invest in its cyberinfrastructure and cybersecurity across the board in general.

Municipal Corporation of Gurugram decides to keep meat shops closed in the city every Tuesday

OpIndia Staff
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Municipal Corporation of Gurugram decides to keep meat shops closed in the city every Tuesday

In its House meeting on Thursday, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram has decided that all the city meat shops will remain shut once a week every Tuesday. The directive was issued after a few councillors raised the issue during the meeting citing the religious sentiments of the Hindus. After long discussions and deliberation, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) officials approved the proposal.

According to Hindu mythology, Tuesday is dedicated to Lord Ganesha, Goddess Kali and Lord Hanuman. While many Hindus observe fasts on Tuesday some refrain from eating non-vegetarian food. Garlic and onions are also avoided as they are both rajasic and tamasic in nature.

Contending against the proposal, MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said that food was a personal choice. “One shouldn’t raise such issues, you may believe in closing meat shops on Tuesday. In my opinion, this is an individual choice. I eat meat but my wife doesn’t. I do not force her, and she does not force me. It is completely a personal choice. When households have differences on this issue, the House should give this a serious thought before making any decision regarding the entire city. Food is an independent choice,” said Singh.

The MCG commissioner, however, left the decision on this matter to the House as councillors emphasised that by-laws allow for the same.

Mayor Madhu Azad also lent her support to the motion and subsequently, the resolution on closing meat shops falling within the MCG area on Tuesdays was approved.

As per the provisions of the Haryana Municipal Corporation bylaws, 2008, a municipal corporation has the power to order the closure of meat shops on a single day of a week.

Moreover, the MCG also discussed resuming the issuance of licences to meat shop owners and doubling the license fee from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. The municipal body has also decided to increase the challan amount f unauthorised meat chops from Rs 500 to Rs 5000.

Soon after the agenda was tabled, MCG councillors Ashwani Sharma of ward no. 23 and Dharambir Singh of ward 21, said that the civic body should raise the licensing fee to Rs 50,000 and requested the closure on Tuesdays, citing religious sentiments.

The MCG’s original agenda of increasing the licensing fee from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 was approved after officials decided that Rs 50,000 was not feasible.

Expressing his displeasure over the orders, Pritam Singh, the president of Jacobpura meat shops association, said the move would cause revenue loss. “If the MCG has passed this resolution, there is little else the association or the shopkeepers can do. The MCG should have taken into account that even if a few members of one community do not consume meat on Tuesday, other communities consume it. We were open seven days a week but now, will be forced to close on Tuesdays and lose revenue,” said Singh.

According to the MCG officials, there are 129 licensed meat shops in Gurugram. According to an estimate, there are more than 150 shops that are operating without obtaining a license. 

Maharashtra: MBBS book linking COVID-19 outbreak to Tablighi Jamaat withdrawn after objections raised by Students Islamic Organisation

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: MBBS book linking COVID-19 outbreak to Tablighi Jamaat withdrawn after objections raised by Students Islamic Organisation

A reference book for the second-year students of MBBS in Maharashtra has created a stir after its contents linked the coronavirus outbreak in the country to the infamous Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi in March 2020. The book was later withdrawn after objections were raised for ascribing the COVID-19 outbreak to the event organised by the Islamic seminary.

An apology was issued by the authors of the third edition of the book titled ‘Essentials of Medical Microbiology’ for attributing the flare-up to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.

The Students Islamic Organisation had raised objections over the claims made in the book. The organisation claimed there was no epidemiological study to conclude that the COVID-19 spread was hastened because of the congregation of Tablighi Jamaat.

Following the objection, the book’s authors – Dr Apurba Sastry and Dr Sandhya Bhat – apologised “if they inadvertently hurt the sentiments of a group of people”. The authors also assured that necessary changes will be made in the new edition.

The withdrawal of the book was also confirmed by a government official. The organisation has welcomed the decision to withdraw the reference book.

Tablighi Jamaat congregation and the spread of COVID-19

The Tablighi Jamaat congregation was held in Nizamuddin Markaz in the first half of March. Scores of people who attended the event had later tested positive for the coronavirus. Many of them were later arrested and faced legal action. At one point, the congregation had contributed to about 30 per cent of the total active cases in the country.

It was termed as a mega-spreader of coronavirus in India, as many as more than one-third of cases in India are linked to that event now. The Muslims who had attended the event, and their family members and those who came into contact with them are testing positive regularly, contributing to the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the country.

The labelling of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation as the most potent COVID-19 hotspot was also precipitated by the fact that many of those who attended the event and tested positive for the coronavirus threw tantrums and misbehaved with the medical staff. A large number of Tablighi Jamaatis had reportedly spat on the doctors, nurses, ward-boys at the quarantine centres. In another instance, a few of the quarantined Tablighi Jamaat members were reported to have defecated in open.

Watch: BJP MP Babul Supriyo harassed by TMC mob led by Wasim Ahmed at Kolkata’s Bhawanipore

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: BJP MP Babul Supriyo harassed by TMC mob led by Wasim Ahmed at Kolkata’s Bhawanipore

BJP MP Babul Supriyo said that he was harassed by TMC workers when he stopped at Balwant Singh Dhaba in Bhawanipore for a cup of tea after a day of campaigning in Kolkata ahead of the assembly elections in the state. He said that the mob of Trinamool karyakartas were led by Wasim Ahmed.

In videos shared by Babul Supriyo, who happens to be the BJP candidate from Tollygunge, a short distance away from Bhawanipore, a raucous mob of TMC workers gathered around his car. When Supriyo got down to talk to them and politely ask them to not indulge in such conduct, they began to chant ‘Khela hobe’ (Let the games begin), TMC’s campaign slogan.

Babul Surpiyo can be seen to reason with the TMC mob but they refused to heed his politeness. The BJP MP said that there was the risk that a clash might erupt even if he chose to drive off from the area but he feared that cadres of political parties might embroil in a fight and end up injured.

The TMC mob, nevertheless, got into his face and invaded his personal space in an effort to intimidate the BJP leader. But Supriyo remained undaunted and emphasised that it will not be good for anyone if sons of Bengal end up injured.

Afterwards, Supriyo got into his car and left the area. Bhawanipore is Mamata Banerjee’s current constituency and is a Trinamool bastion.

West Bengal is heating up with elections set to begin on the 27th of March. The elections will occur over eight phases and end on the 29th of April.

Kerala Gold scam: State Crime Branch registers case against ED for ‘pressurising’ Swapna Suresh to name CM Pinarayi Vijayan

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala Gold scam: State Crime Branch registers case against ED for ‘pressurising’ Swapna Suresh to name CM Pinarayi Vijayan

In a sensational twist to the Kerala gold scam case, the Kerala Police registered a case against the central probe agency Enforcement Directorate for allegedly pressuring Swapna Suresh, the prime accused, to give a fake statement against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

According to the reports, the Kerala Crime Branch has now registered a case against the Enforcement Directorate on the offences of conspiracy. The complaint has been registered after Swapna Suresh had alleged that ED officials forced her to give a false statement against Chief Minister Vijayan.

The crime branch has submitted the FIR in the Ernakulam First Class Judicial Magistrate Court. A video clip, allegedly that of Suresh was circulated some months back stating that she was forced to implicate Kerala CM by ED officials.

The case was registered against the ED with the permission of the Director-General of Prosecutions. The case has been registered under various sections including conspiracy and forgery.

Mathrubumi has reported that two female police officials, namely Siji Vijayan of Palarivattom police station and S Rejimol of Kadavanthra police station had given statements that ED had pressurised Swapna to give false statements against the CM. The Crime Branch case has been based on their statements.

Earlier, the Kerala crime branch had recorded the statements of 18 persons including Swapna Suresh as part of the probe. Following this, the state home department had obtained legal advice on registering a complaint against ED officials.

The Kerala government has decided to form a special team to probe the case after Swapna Suresh had alleged that the ED officials were forcing her to implicate Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the gold scam. Recently it was reported that Swapna Suresh, the kingpin in the Kerala gold smuggling case, had revealed to the Customs Department that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was very much involved in the gold and dollar smuggling cases.

Swapna Suresh names CM Pinarayi Vijayan and three other ministers in Gold Scam

Ahead of the crucial assembly elections in Kerala, the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government was pushed into a spot of bother as one of the main accused in the high-profile gold smuggling case had named Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

In a sensational disclosure, Swapna Suresh reportedly had detailed Kerala CM Vijayan’s close connections with the previous UAE Consul General and alleged that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was very much involved in the gold and dollar smuggling cases.

During her interrogation, Swapna Suresh has stated that three other cabinet ministers, along with Kerala Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, were also involved in a gold smuggling case, the Customs Department submitted before the Kerala High Court.

In addition to this, Swapna Suresh had also revealed to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had held multiple meetings with the Consul General of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2017.

Kerala Gold Scam

In July last year, the Customs officials in Kerala had nabbed a former employee of the UAE Consulate in Kerala named Sarith where he had divulged that Swapna Suresh, also a former staffer, had forged documents to misuse diplomatic privileges, to smuggle gold from UAE illegally.

On July 5, Suresh’s baggage, marked with the UAE Consulate address, was held at the airport. Swapna Suresh worked as the marketing liaison officer of Space Park under the Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL) that comes directly under the IT department. Swapna Suresh was soon arrested for obtaining fake documents to claim diplomatic privileges and smuggling gold from UAE.

The call details of the main accused, Swapna Suresh, had revealed that the accused was in regular touch with Kerala’s Higher Education minister KT Jaleel.

Uttar Pradesh: Afzal becomes Rajiv to marry Hindu woman, tries to burn her alive with children for refusing to convert

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Afzal becomes Rajiv to marry Hindu woman, tries to burn her alive with children for refusing to convert

In Uttar Pradesh, yet another case of alleged grooming Jihad has surfaced wherein a Muslim man assumed a fake Hindu identity to entrap and marry a Hindu woman. The case pertains to state capital Lucknow where a man named Afzal allegedly identified himself as Rajiv and married a Hindu woman in the Arya Samaj Temple.

A few years after the marriage, the accused Afzal started pressuring his wife to give up her religion and embrace Islam. When the woman refused to abandon her religion for Islam, an enraged Afzal reportedly tried to burn her down, along with their children. However, the woman somehow managed to escape the fire and rushed to the nearby police station to file a complaint against the accused. Following her complaint, the police arrested the accused and slapped a case against him under the UP Anti-Conversion law.

As per the victim’s account, she had met Rajiv alias Afzal in 2009. Afzal had then described himself as a Hindu orphan and the duo had gotten married on 13 February 2009 at the Arya Samaj Temple. The couple had two children after their marriage. There was a dispute between the two when Rajiv alias Afzal insisted on keeping non-Hindu names of their children, the victim said. Rajiv’s insistence of keeping non-Hindu names of their children raised suspicions for the woman and she discovered that Rajiv was not a Hindu and that his real name was Mohammad Afzal Siddiqui. She also learnt that Afzal had parents and was not an orphan as he had claimed earlier.

In her complaint, the woman accused Afzal of not only pressuring her to convert her religion but also forced her to have physical relations with other men. When she raised her objections to this, she was subjected to domestic violence, the woman said. The woman also claims that she had filed complaints with the police several times about the violence inflicted on her by Afzal but no action was taken against him. According to the woman, on Wednesday night this week, when she was alone in the house with her children, Afzal bolted the door of the house from the outside and set it on fire.

The woman then called 112 control room and sought help. The police force was immediately sent to her place to rescue her, along with her children. The woman then filed a complaint with the police accusing Afzal of trying to burn her down with her children. A case has been registered under the Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 at the Thakurganj police station against Afzal, his parents and religious clerics for carrying out a murderous attack against the woman.

Republic TV vindicated as provisional attachment order of ED mentions India Today over 50 times in the context of ‘bribe for TRP’: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Republic TV vindicated as provisional attachment order of ED mentions India Today over 50 times in the context of ‘bribe for TRP’: Read details

In a massive revelation in the TRP scam investigation, the Enforcement Directorate has released its Provisional Attachment Order, detailing the depth of the TRP scam and exposing the channels manipulating TRPs. India Today has been named 50 times in the order in the context of the TRP scam, along with Box Cinema, Fakt Marathi and Maha Movie for which money was paid to the households with the Bar-o-meters to increase their TRPs.

By contrast, the ED order does not mention Republic TV as one of the accused in the TRP manipulation scam as alleged by the former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh who has now been ousted in connection with the ongoing Antilia bomb scare case. Republic TV stands vindicated as the extensive findings and the elaborate testimonies in the ED order decisively debunk the Mumbai Police’s narrative that Arnab Goswami’s channels had dishonestly raised its TRP by bribing the households with Bar-o-meters.

Here are some of the highlights of the 64-page Provisional Order released by the Enforcement Directorate:-

India Today mentioned 50 times in the order with respect to TRP manipulation

India Today has been extensively mentioned in the Provisional Order, precisely 50 times in the 64-page long document. It is the same channel that was originally mentioned in the FIR with the Mumbai Police regarding the TRP manipulation scam and was inexplicably given a clean chit by the Mumbai Police within 48 hours of the complaint being filed. The report by the Enforcement Directorate mentions that the accused relationship managers working at the Hansa Research Pvt. Ltd. were paid money to induce households with Bar-o-meters to watch the India Today channel.

Main complainant Nitin Deokar of Hansa Research names India Today in the context of ‘bribes for TRPs’

The ED order mentions that the main complainant of the TRP manipulation case, Mr Nitin Deokar, Deputy General Manager of M/s Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd., testified in his statement that one Vishal Bhandari had admitted of being approached telephonically by a person named Vinay to convince 5 panel-homes in Mumbai to watch India Today channel daily for two hours. Deokar further mentioned that for this Bhandari was paid Rs 5,000 as a commission and Rs 200 per household was distributed to each panel household for watching the said channel. Deokar cited Bhandari’s confession before the BARC team to state that he had done the work of paying panel households for watching the India Today channel for the period from November 2019 till May 2020.

BARC Head of Vigilance and Investigation admits abnormal viewership growth of India Today in January-February 2020

Another intriguing revelation mentioned in the released ED order is that of BARC vigilance head Dharamveer Mahecha, who said that he was informed by the Market Analytics Team of BARC about an abnormal viewership growth of India Today on 25.02.2020 and a field investigation was undertaken.

As per the company process, the channel was again re-investigated after 13 weeks and the top 25 household panel were selected wherein the higher viewership of India Today Channel was observed. This reveals that even the rating agency BARC had doubts over the unnatural rise in the viewership of India Today, further firming up the suspicions about the TRP manipulations.

The panel information was handed over to one Abhijit Mehendale for carrying out the investigation into the unusual spike in India Today’s TRPs. Mehendale, AVP BARC, found that the presence of an extra meter inside a panel house that belonged to Vishal Bhandari, who worked as the Relationship Manager with Hansa. When accosted about the additional meter, Bhandari reportedly confessed to Mehendale that he had been approached by an unknown person and paid money to induce panel homes to watch the India Today channel.

Hansa’s ex-relationship manager confesses to manipulating ratings for India Today

The Provisional Order by the Enforcement Directorate also included the testimony of a former relationship manager at Hansa who confessed to having manipulated ratings for the India Today channel. In his confession, Umesh Chandrakant Mishra, Ex-Relationship Manager of Hansa Research, said that he was approached by Mr Vinay Rajendra Tripathi, also an Ex-Relationship Manager of M/s Hansa Research Group Pvt. Ltd, who offered him to convince some of the Panel Households where Bar-O-Meters were installed to watch the channel India Today for half to one hour daily. For this, Umesh was given around Rs. 15,000 per month in his bank account.

Umesh added that around Rs. 3000 had been distributed by him among the households (Rs. 500 each) in cash and the rest of the amount was his commission and expenses for the said task. He said he had done this work of paying the Panel Households for watching the India Today channel for the period between November 2019 to May 2020, minus January 2020.

Household owners confess to being paid for watching India Today

Also, the ED order enlists the testimonies of the household owners who have confessed to being paid to watch certain channels, including India Today. One Mukesh Dauda stated that he had been paid by Shri Dinesh Vishwakarma for watching India Today and News Nation. Similarly, another household owner with Bar-o-meter installed, Rajesh Rudramani Shukla recorded his statement under section 50 of PMLA, 2002 on 13.01.2021 wherein he stated that he had been paid by Shri Umesh Mishra for watching News Nation and India Today Channel.

Likewise, Vishal Bhandari in his statement said he also watched different channels, including India Today, after Vinay Tripathi approached him to convince Households for watching India Today and since his house also had a Bar-O-Meter installed.

BARC VP confirms abnormalities in viewership of India Today

Pulak Banerjee, Vice President of M/s Broadcast Audience Research Council, in his statement to the Enforcement Directorate confirmed abnormalities in viewership in respect of India Today, News Nation, Box Cinema, Maha Movie, Fakt Marath.

Fifth channel accused of manipulating TRP

Till now only four channels were named in the case filed by the Hansa Research in the case, India Today, Box Cinema, Fakt Marathi and Maha Movie. But the ED provisional order has revealed the name of a fifth channel, News Nation. According to the ED, panel households were bribed to watch the News Nationa channel also, helping in increasing its viewership data.

ED lays out financial trails of companies that routed money to rig TRPs

The ED found that the mode and manner of the payments to the households was layered and routed through various intermediaries to obliterate the trail of money flow and to make it difficult to link the channel owners with the bribe money. However, it has laid out financial trail of 3 channels, namely—Fakt Marathi, Maha Movies, Box TV—between November 2019 to September 2020 with respect to manipulation of ratings.

The order says, “It is absolutely clear that the entire revenue generated by the aforesaid four channels, during the tabulated period, were generated by increasing TRP, consequently attracted more clients for advertisement which in turn increased the revenue for the respective channels. Hence by committing scheduled offences, the revenue of the four channels was increased during the period.”

Furthermore, the advertisement revenue generated during the period of criminal manipulation of TRPs of the channels is termed by the ED as “Proceeds of crime” in terms of Section 2 (1)(u) of PMLA, 2002 which was acquired illegally on the basis of manipulation of the TRPs rating by conniving with the relationship managers (RMs) and bribing the households to raise the TRP, which in turn helped in getting the revenue, which otherwise would not have been possible.

Channel owners and Hansa relationship managers charged under provisions of PMLA

In accordance with Section 3 of the PMLA, 2002, the channel owners namely Shri Narayan Nandkishore Sharma(Owner of Box Cinema), Shri Shirish Pattanshetty (50 per cent owner of Fakt Marathi), Shri Manish Singhal(50 per cent owner of Fakt Marathi), Shri Darshan Singh(Director of the company that runs Maha Movie) and Shri Vishwajeet(Director of the company that runs Maha Movie) are accused of having committed the offence of Money Laundering.

Additionally, the relationship managers namely/Shri Umesh Mishra, Vishal Ved Bhandari, Dinesh Vishwakarma, Vikas Burungale, Mahesh Bompalli, Ashwin Motiwale and Rajesh Vishwakarma are also held equally responsible for their knowing assistance in the entire act of money laundering in terms of section 3 of PMLA, 2002.

Protecting Arhtiya system was Congress’ poll promise: How Congress has served Arhtiyas and how ‘farmers’ protest is not about farmers at all

K Bhattacharjee
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Protecting Arhtiya system was Congress’ poll promise: How Congress has served Arhtiyas and how ‘farmers’ protest is not about farmers at all

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has threatened to move the Supreme Court if the state bills against the farm laws do not receive the President’s assent accusing the Centre of attempting to break the ‘age old’ relationship between farmers and the middlemen. Singh described the relationship between farmers and arhtiyas as ‘age-old time-tested’.

“We will go to the Supreme Court, if the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind does not give assent to the State Amendment Bills, which unfortunately the Governor is still sitting on, instead of forwarding them for presidential approval, even though the Vidhan Sabha had unanimously passed the Bills, with all parties voting for them. It was tragic, however, that the Akalis and AAP had later started playing political games on the issue,” Amarinder Singh said

As is evident, the Congress party is openly batting on behalf of Arhtiyas at this point. For quite some time now, the opposition parties have abandoned the veneer of farmer interests they had donned and operating as the arms and voice of the middlemen. It became clear once and for all when the Punjab government opposed the Direct Transfer of Funds to farmers in the state for crop procurement.

Punjab Food & Supply Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu had said on the 13th of March that payments to farmers would reach “directly” through Arhtiyas.

The stand adopted by the Congress party, as it turns out, has historical precedence. When the UPA Government in 2012 had suggested direct transfer of payment to farmers, Congress leaders from the state had opposed the same as well. There was a SAD-BJP alliance government in the state then.

Union minister and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, Sangrur MP Vijayinder Singla and other Congress MPs had met KV Thomas, the then union minister for consumer affairs, leading a delegation of the State Arhtiyas Association. They had urged the Union Government to be accommodative of Arhtiya interests as the latter formed the “backbone of the procurement process”.

“The union minister has apprised us that making direct payments to farmers was only a suggestion given to the Punjab government,” Preneet Kaur had said. “Without arhityas, there is no system in Punjab to carry out procurement of food grains. Abolishing the present system would only lead to problems for farmers.” Nine years later, nothing much appears to have changed.

However, what did change was the opinion of the farmer unions. The farmer unions had been furious with the Congress leaders for backing the Arhtiyas in the matter. “The Congress must come clean. Why this flip-flop? Several times the party leaders extended their support to abolish the system. Now they are supporting arhityas, who are looting the farmers in the name of commission,” Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakunda) state president Buta Singh Burajgill said.

“When Capt Amarinder Singh was the chief minister, he had assured us that he would pursue the matter of doing away with arhtiyas as they were bringing miseries to farmers,” Consortium of Farmers Association state president Satnaam Singh Behru said. “In the recent past too, the Congress supported us. The U-turn must be due to pressure from the strong arhitya lobby, which has money power.

By 2016, however, during the election campaign, Amarinder Singh had promised that the arhtiya system would not be abolished should the Congress form the government in the state. He said while addressing a delegation of Arhtiyas, “The Congress government will not take any decision or formulate any new policy without getting mandate from the arhtiyas and other communities connected with the trade.”

In 2018, the Punjab Government had brought a Bill to regulate Arhtiyas which drew sharp reactions within the party itself. While Amarinder Singh may now described the relationship between farmers and Arhtiyas as ‘age-old time-tested’, his own MLA had said back then, “There was a time when farmers and commission agents had a good equation but now the scenario has changed.”

By the time the protests against the farm laws began, the Congress party was fully on the side of the Arhtiyas. The Punjab Chief Minister accused the central government of adopting “intimidatory tactics” against “arhtiyas” following IT Raids against some of them.

Meanwhile, there were reports that the Arhtiyas found themselves on the wrong side of the fence when demonetisation was announced. “When we go to these arhtiyas for our money or for loans and advance payments, they make us sit for the whole day for even a paltry amount of Rs 5,000. How do they expect us to convert their black money worth lakhs into white overnight?,” one farmer had told Catch News.

It is widely known that Arhtiyas have been at the forefront of the ‘farmer protests’ and these protests in the name of farmers is, in reality, a protest by the middlemen, of the middlemen and for the middlemen. The recent statements by the Punjab Chief Minister and other Ministers in his cabinet have only served to drive home the point further.

Russian President Putin challenges Joe Biden to a ‘live debate’ after Joe Biden refers to Putin as a ‘killer’, White House shuts it down

OpIndia Staff
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Russian President Putin challenges Joe Biden to a ‘live debate’ after Joe Biden refers to Putin as a ‘killer’, White House shuts it down

Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with Russian state media responded to U.S. President Joe Biden comments referring to the Russian President as a killer. In the interview, Putin said, “I want to propose to President Biden to continue our discussion, but on the condition that we do it basically live, as it’s called. Without any delays and directly in an open, direct discussion. It seems to me that would be interesting for the people of Russia and for the people of the United States.”

There is a widespread belief that this proposal essentially amounts to a debate challenge from the Russian Prez to Joe Biden. This proposal from Putin comes after an initial response to Joe Biden’s “killer” comments, wherein Putin wished Joe Biden the best of health. In that statement, Putin said, “I wish you good health, I am saying this without any irony or jokes.”

This apparent debate challenge from Putin has already been shut down by the Biden Administration, with the White House quickly rejecting it, citing Joe Biden’s busy schedule. The White House Press Secretary also clarified that Joe Biden has “no regrets” over his comments calling Putin a “killer”.

“We are confident that we can continue to look for ways where there’s a mutual interest,” said press secretary Jen Psaki. “​But the president is not going to hold back, clearly, when he has concerns, whether it is with words or actions.”

In an ABC interview on Wednesday, Joe Biden was asked about whether he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin is a killer. “Mmm-hmm, I do,” Biden responded. Joe Biden’s remarks about the Russian President have elicited strong criticism in Russia, with Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying, “I’ll say only that these remarks by the U.S. president are very bad. He definitely doesn’t want to normalize relations with our country. And we’ll be acting based precisely on this premise.”

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