The South Delhi Municipal Corporation is planning to make it necessary for eateries and meat retailers in its jurisdiction to specify whether the meat they’re serving is halal or jhatka, reports TOI. The SDMC draft states that since consuming Halal meat is forbidden for Hindus and Sikhs, it should be their prerogative to know which meat they are being served so that they could make an informed choice.
The resolution which has been approved by the standing committee of the civic body on Thursday and would now be going to the house of the Parliament for approval, states that “thousands of eating places are working in 104 wards of 4 zones falling below SDMC and meat is being served in 90% eating places however it’s not displayed by them whether or not…(it) is halal or jhatka.” An identical state of affairs prevailed at meat retail shops, it read.
“According to Hinduism and Sikhism, consuming halal meat is forbidden and in opposition to the religions… Therefore, the committee resolves that this route be given to eating places and meat shops that it should be displayed mandatorily as to which meat is being bought and served by them…that halal or jhatka meat is available here”, furthered the resolution.
Most customers normally don’t take the trouble to find out at a restaurant whether or not the meat is halal or jhatka. The civic body might also ask for a declaration for customers to make an informed choice.
No intention to ban Halal meat but give the right to consumers to make an informed choice: SDMC
The resolution which was moved by the Chhattarpur councillor Anita Tanwar was tabled by the medical reduction and public well-being panel on November 9, 2020. Tanwar cleared that the intent behind the move was not to stop anyone from eating one form of meat but to respect the religious sentiments of the people. “This is not to ban one form of meat or the other. The change is to respect religious sentiments. Everyone is free to eat the kind of meat they want. Hindus don’t like to eat halal meat. If we put up a board at each restaurant, people will know what kind of meat is being served to them, he added.
Meanwhile, the Standing committee chairperson, Rajdutt Gahlot said that the target is to let the buyer know in regards to the sort of meat being served, in order that they’ll make a knowledgeable selection.
All eateries have to obtain an annual health trade licence from the corporation and the councillors want the condition to be a part of the process.
Speaking about the proposal, an SDMC official opined that even if it is approved it would be difficult to enforce it as there are more than 2,000 eateries in south Delhi and it would be a mammoth task to convince each as many might be reluctant to adopt it.
“If they mention one type of meat, some people may avoid it. Who would want to lose business?” he asked.
Yesterday we reported how the EU states have also been given the right by the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) to impose a ban on religious slaughtering like Halal and Kosher, of animals. Since Halal and Kosher slaughterings require livestock to be conscious when their throats are slit, the decision was taken on the grounds of animal humanity and rights.
Amidst the ongoing ‘farmer’ protests against the farm reforms that have been hijacked by pro-Khalistani, far-left and various political parties to further their agenda against the Modi government, several social media users sympathetic to the alleged farmers are now resorting to spreading fake news, images on the internet to garner support to the protests which have already caused massive inconvenience to the public.
On Thursday, members of the Congress party, a few farmer organisations and alleged actors took to social media to share an image of a deceased elder person. According to their claim, the elderly farmer was one of the protestors camping along the Haryana-Delhi border and he passed away during the protests against the Modi government.
Aabid Mir Magami, who is the spokesperson of Jammu and Kashmir’s Youth Congress tweeted the image to claim that another farmer has been ‘martyred’ in the current protests. Essentially, sharing the image of a deceased old man, Magami insinuated that the so-called deceased farmer had passed away during the ongoing farmer protest against the Modi government.
Tweet by J and K Youth Congress leader
All India Kisan Sanghrash, which claims to be a Twitter account representing ‘farmers’, also resorted to peddle fake news on social media. Taking to Twitter, AIKS shared the same image and claimed that the ‘farmer’ has sacrificed his life during the Delhi Kisan Morcha.
Interestingly, the account also tagged handles of self-proclaimed journalists Vinod Kapri and Prashant Kanojia, Islamist Sayema and actor Sonu Sood in the post. The likes of Kaprii, Kanojia and Sayema are notoriously known for spreading fake news and inciting people on social media platforms.
Tweet by All India Kisan Sangharsh
Actor Sushant Singh, as usual, too fell for the fake images. Sharing a post of another social media user, who had himself falsely claimed that it was painful for him to share the news of a farmer passing away during the protests against the three farm laws.
Tweeting that post, the alleged actor Singh attacked Prime Minister Modi saying it was ‘unbearable’.
Tweet by Sushant Singh
However, the image shared by assorted trolls associated with the alleged ‘farmer protests’, the farmer’s associations and actors have nothing to do with the ongoing protests against the Modi government.
Fact-Check:
The image of the elderly deceased man which is being aggressively shared on social media platforms claiming that he was one of the protestors at the ‘Delhi chalo’ rally of the alleged farmers, who passed away during the protests is a blatant lie.
Twitter user Befittingfacts had called out the lies spread by the trolls and political handles.
The image was first shared on Facebook page ‘Gareeb jatt’ in September 2018. According to his Facebook post, the old man who was around 70 years old, was found dead at Bohdi crossroad and his details are not available. He had urged the fellow social media users to share the post so that the family of the deceased can know about his death.
Here is the image of the Facebook post that was posted two years back on September 2, 2018, by the account named ‘Gareeb Jatt’.
The 2-year old Facebook post about an unknown dead body found in Tarn Taran district
From the above, it can be said that the images being shared on social media to claim a farmer has ‘died for the protests’ to generate a sympathy wave for the dubious protests is nothing but a fake image being spread for propaganda.
As soon as social media users started sharing the old Facebook post to ‘fact-check’ the fake news peddlers, actor Sushant Singh acknowledged his mistake and said that he needs to apologise to the PM too.
While coping valiantly with COVID, the beleaguered world is also busy planning New Year and Christmas celebrations. However, there are several controversies surrounding the birth of Christ and the celebration of Christmas as we know it today.
Ironically we celebrate Christ’s birthday, without knowing the date of His birth for sure. The Holy Bible is silent about the timing of His birth and there are no other historical documents on this subject either. All that Biblical gospels of Luke and Matthew tell us is that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea to a virgin called Mary and His birth was caused by “divine intervention”, without a biological father. Interestingly, the date and the time of His birth are surprisingly missing.
What we ‘know’ in this respect is a result of an arbitrary decision or at best, only a guess. The date (December 25) was randomly fixed by an enterprising Pope. It was in the late 330s AD, that Pope Julius 1 had declared: “December 25th, Christ born in Bethlehem, Judea”, despite the fact that the Bible is silent on his date of birth. In fact, there is a massive debate in the Christian community that it is entirely possible that Jesus was born in September and not December. One theory that has been often spoken off as the reason for declaring December 25th as ‘Christmas’ is that Pope Julius saw the date coincided with the winter solstice and the Jewish Hannukah, which were already times of celebration, so let the festivities be enhanced during this period.
For over three hundred years after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, there were no birthday celebrations for Him. Easter was the main holiday for Christians. The Christmas celebrations started in Rome, about 336 CE, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine.
In fact, one could argue that the date was picked up cleverly. It coincided with the celebrations of Saturnalia- an ancient Roman festival in honour of God Saturn, held on December 17 of the Julian calendar, and later expanded with festivities through to December 23. With this clever move, Pope Julius managed to subsume an important pagan festival into Christianity. Today there is no trace of pre-Christianity pagan traditions in most of Europe.
It is pertinent to note that Pope Julius l decision to steal a pagan event and re-launch it under a Christian brand didn’t go well with a large section of devout Christians. There were instances, when Christian authorities put a stop to Christmas celebrations.
In 1659, the Massachusetts Bay colony banned Christmas, as in subject to criminal prosecution and a fine of five shillings (now, about $ 8000) as part of its efforts to “reform” and ‘Purify’ the church by purging it of the idolatry and ceremonial excesses. Earlier, in the 1640s, England underwent a revolution that drove king Charles I from his throne (and ultimately to the headman’s block) and established a Puritan Commonwealth. Among the ruling of new Parliament was the decree in 1644 that December 25 would thereafter be a day of “fasting and humiliation” and that anyone caught celebrating would be charged with an offence and fined.
Not just the appropriation of a pre-Christianity pagan festival, the Church has committed many crimes
The Catholic Church’s sordid record is not confined to fudging details of Jesus’s birthday. In 1466, Catholic church Pope Paul ll forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city. “They ran amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the ‘Holy father’ stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily”, it is said.
In the book, Holy Hatred: Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust by R. Michael, the persecution of Jews in the name of Christ is described in painful details. Here is an excerpt:
Holy Hatred: Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust by R. Michael
Holy Hatred: Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust by R. Michael
As part of the carnival throughout the 18th and 19th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. When the Jewish community of Rome sent a petition in 1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, “It is not opportune to make any innovation.” On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into Anti-Semitic frenzies that led to riots across the country.
In Warsaw 12 Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped. Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed. The subsequent emergence of Hitler prior to the Second World War as a devil in Europe, responsible for the genocide of Jews, was after all not in a vacuum. The Church had surely contributed to creating an anti-Jew mindset over the centuries.
Not just the persecution of Jews, but the Church and its clergy has been mired in controversy ever since. It is not just today that we see Bishops being arrested for sexual abuse or accusations of nuns being ‘pimped out’ and priests having sex parties have emerged.
Pope Honorius I (625-638) was condemned and excommunicated for heresy by the sixth general council in 680 AD. Stephen VI (896-89) had the body of his predecessor Pope Formosus exhumed and put on trial (this is the famous cadaver synod) for his unbecoming conduct during his tenure. Stephen had Formosa’s papal vestments removed and two fingers from his right hand cut off. Formosa’s’ body was thrown into the Tiber. After the synod, public opinion turned against Stephen. He was deposed in an uprising and strangled to death.
Then there was John XII (955-964) who died a mysterious death, after having been accused of adultery and turning his pontification into a whore house. However, John XII had more than his match in Benedict IX to the only man to have served as Pope for three discontinuous periods, beginning 1032. Pope Victor III described Pope Benedict and his deeds in these words, “his rapes, murders and other unspeakable acts…. his life as a Pope so vile, so foul, so execrable, that I shudder to think of it.”
What Boniface VIII (1294-1303) did during his nine-year tenure as a Pope, brought under focus the extortionist face of the Church. He released one of the most important papal bulls of catholic History. Unam Sanctum. It declared that both spiritual and temporal power were under the pope’s jurisdiction and those kings were subordinate to the age of the Church.
Despite the fact that there is no Biblical proof of 25th December being the date of birth of Christ, that we know Christmas itself is an appropriation of Pagan holiday of Saturnalia, that Jews were persecuted in Christmas carnivals and that the Church itself has been tarnished by sex scandals, Christmas is celebrated with pomp and fair by Christians, and even non-Christians, without a shadow of doubt or questions asked.
As a Hindu, I feel hurt. Here is why
I don’t really fell hurt because we celebrate Christmas. Those of us who want to, are welcome to do so. Any occasion or pretext that brings hope or cheer to life, in these difficult times, is worth holding on to. But what hurts me is that the same consideration is conspicuously absent in the case of my faith. I am asked to provide proof about Lord Rama or Lord Krishna’s birthplace or their very existence, or the rationale of my beliefs, traditions, rituals and religious practices. I am even denied my history, my roots. I am denied historical facts that invaders murdered, raped and enslaved Hindus, driven by religious frenzy.
Most of my festivals are systematically demonised and sought to be painted as social evils. Diwali is noise and air pollution. Holi is wastage of water and hooliganism. Milk offered to Lord Shiva on Shivratri is squandering of precious nutrition because of pagan ignorance, sustained by blind faith and superstition, and so on.
This smear campaign, against the traditions which define timeless Indian ethos and spiritual underpinning, is not run by some random characters. There is a well-oiled machine, funded and inspired by alien creeds and forces (with hired local help) that has been working systematically for over a century to destroy the very foundations on which the edifice of plural, secular and democratic India rests.
Recall 2007. The Government of India (remote-controlled at that time, by Mrs Sonia Gandhi, a born Christian) filed an affidavit on the Sethusamudram project in the Supreme Court claiming there was no historical or scientific evidence to establish the existence of Lord Rama and Ram Setu. In the Ram Janmabhoomi case, questions were asked about Ram’s existence and evidence to prove the location of His birthplace in Ayodhya.
Repeated assertions were made claiming that Lord Rama was merely a myth. If Ram is a myth, then so is India. Because without Lord Rama and Krishna and their message, there can’t be any India. It was indeed a cunning and devious move, aimed at taking out Indianness from within India. Minus its spiritual content, India is an empty shell, devoid of its spiritual content.
However, fearing a huge public backlash, the then Government, subsequently withdrew the affidavit. But why am I put to such obnoxious tests repeatedly? How do I prove the existence of Lord Rama in a Court of Law? Or the place of His birth? Or that of Lord Krishna? Or antiquity of Vedas? Are the Courts even competent to deal with such issues? I am glad no such ridiculous questions are asked about either the Christ or celebrations connected with His ‘birthday’.
Perhaps, Christmas could serve as a time to reflect
It’s Christmas season. Many of us will join the holy Christmas mass in a church of our denomination or choice. It’s time to introspect and reflect on all that has been done or is being done by the Church in Jesus’s name. However, there is much to talk about other than the festivities and there is much to rectify.
According to available information, in the US, over 22 million turkeys are killed each year at Christmas alone, and 10 million in the UK. Turkeys for Christmas dinner are raised through a large scale industrialised process at a heavy cost to the environment. While we sing corals for the Lord, millions of hapless turkeys have been forced to go under a butcher’s knife. No questions are asked.
No campaigns are run to save these poor, hapless animals. Is it not time to reflect?
According to the US Agriculture Department, over 1.50 crores Christmas trees were cut down in 2017. This horrendous figure is only for the US. One can imagine the havoc this obsession with Christmas trees must be causing to the environment worldwide.
In many parts of the world, Christmas trees are just not available. Church enthusiasts replace them with artificial look-alike, manufactured from assorted materials like wood, plastic, paper and synthetic stuff. While such ‘trees’ look dazzling in the glitz of malls and showrooms, their disposal as trash is a big environmental concern.
No questions are asked. No campaigns are run to save the environment. Is it not time to reflect?
Millions of innocents were burnt alive at stakes, tortured or hanged by the Church after having been declared `heretics’ during Inquisition, or accused of witchcraft or heresy. Nearer home, thousands of Hindus and Muslims were persecuted, maimed killed, forced to convert to Christianity or flee, after Francis Xavier landed in Goa on May 6, 1542.
No questions are asked. No campaigns are run for reparations and apologies from the Church. Is it not time to reflect?
Before the church moved in, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand had a thriving rich culture. The church, through its campaigns, destroyed an infinite number of aboriginals and their culture. An endless number of Dalits in India and blacks in the US were cheated of their original identity, faith and traditions by the church on a false promise offering them dignity and equality in the new faith.
No questions are asked. No campaigns are run for reparations and apologies from the Church. Is it not time to reflect?
Gospels, parables, fables and legends describe Jesus as a spiritual leader who was unassuming, simple and unpretentious. He was forgiving, full of love and compassion. But sadly His birthday celebrations include violence against nature (killing of turkeys and felling of Christmas trees) and over centuries, have become synonymous with opulence, vulgar display of wealth by the rich, lavish dinners and decorations. All this is surely not in conformity with the teachings of Jesus. It is a gross injustice to the values, He lived and died for.
Besides being endowed with the gift of the gab, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a prolific poet. While he had penned down many philosophical poems, the one which he composed in 1999 was converted into a music video featuring stellar artists such as Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh, the angry young man of the Bollywood–Amitabh Bachchan, the king of romance–Shah Rukh Khan and legendary film director Yash Chopra.
In the year 2002, a poem titled “Kya Khoya Kya Paya” by India’s one of the most prolific wordsmiths, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was converted into a song by Jagjit Singh. The album was titled “Samvedna” and Singh composed the music as well as sung the track. Actor Amitabh Bachchan narrated the preface of the video, while actor Shah Rukh Khan featured in it. The music video was directed by Yash Chopra.
Kya Khoya Kya Paya’ was a part of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s book, ‘Samvedna‘ that was released in 1999.
Source: YouTube
The coming together of an ensemble cast created a surrealistic music composition that was in harmony with the sombre lyrics of the poem. Jagjit Singh’s soulful rendition, Shah Rukh’s poignant acting and Amitabh Bachchan’s legendary voiceover, along with Yash Chopra’s magical direction did the perfect job of evoking the emotions that the lyrics conveyed.
According to the cover of the album, Javed Akhtar had written the commentary by Amitabh Bachchan that was given in the album.
The poems have been picked from Vajpayee’s book Meri Ikyavan Kavitayaen. Interspersed in the album is Vajpayee’s own narrative in which he describes the events and emotions that inspired each of his poems, spanning from the Emergency days to his birthday.
Lyrics of his poem “Kya Khoya Kya Paya”
Here are the lyrics of the poem penned by Atal Bihari Vajpayee:
A day after the special cell of Delhi Police conducted raids at the office premises of advocate Mehmood Pracha, the Congress party has now come out in his defence. It is important to note that Pracha had featured in a pro-ISIS media outlet in February this year.
In a tweet on Friday, senior Congress leader Manish Tewari said that he was ‘deeply disturbed’ after the police searched the office of Pracha. While highlighting his personal connections with the accused, he wrote, “A contemporary at Campus Law Centre Delhi University and later my General Secretary Indian Youth Congress when I was National President.”
Calling the police action as ‘arbitrary harassment’, Manish Tewari urged the Bar Council to intervene as soon as possible. It is pertinent to remember that the search by Delhi police was done after obtaining a court warrant and not arbitrarily, as alleged by the Congress leader. The court authorised the police to conduct the search during the day to find evidence and had ordered it to be video recorded.
According to the search warrant, the lawyer has been booked under section 182, 193, 420, 468, 471, 472, 473, 120B of the IPC. It notes that the metadata of outbox of email account which was used to send incriminating documents are essential to the investigation being conducted by the Special Cell of Delhi police. Pracha had been handling a number of cases, related to anti-Hindu Delhi riots.
Mohammed Pracha – The ISIS poster boy
In February this year, a pro-ISIS media outlet had launched an India-centric publication as the country was going through a period of communal turmoil. The publication titled ‘Voice of Hind’ was issued by Al-Qitaal Media Center and Junudul Khilafah al-Hind as per its cover page and featured Mohammed Pracha on its cover page.
The person who was the main focus on the cover page was senior lawyer Mahmood Paracha who has been accused of inciting communal hatred in the past. According to a copy with OpIndia, the first part of the magazine talked about dead IS-JK militants in Kashmir. It showcased pictures and talks about how they started jihad in Kashmir and achieved their goal. Then featured a message from active ISHP militant, identified as ‘Abu Zakariya Al-Hindi’. Further, the magazine reportedly says that there is no place for Nationalism in Islam and Muslims should reject the notion and join the caliphate instead.
Pracha wanted to give weapons training to Muslims
In a press conference last year, Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad and Mahmood Paracha announced that they would be setting up a camp in Lucknow to teach Muslims and Dalits about the ‘right to self-defence’ and how to apply for a firearm licence.
Mahmood Pracha had cited the incidents of mob lynchings and the Sonbhadra massacre as reasons for conducting the camp. According to him, those events wouldn’t have occurred if the victims had legal firearms to defend themselves. They were basically planning to raise an armed militia to combat ‘mob lynchings’, using licenced weapons. Later, Mahmood Paracha was seen holding that training camp inside a Lucknow Mosque where he was training Muslims about how to fill forms for licences and acquire firearms, even though an FIR had been registered against him for his incendiary speech.
Several BJP workers, including women, were brutally thrashed by the West Bengal police officials outside Khardah Police Station in North 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
The BJP has alleged that its party workers, even the women, were lathi-charged by the West Bengal police during a protest. The videos of West Bengal police thrashing BJP women workers have emerged on social media platforms.
In the video shared by the BJP National general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, West Bengal police officials were seen chasing the BJP workers to thrash them. The visuals of BJP workers bleeding and screaming after being hit by the West Bengal police can also be seen in the video.
खरदाह पुलिस स्टेशन विरोध दर्ज कराने गए बीजेपी कार्यकर्ताओं पर पुलिस ने लाठीचार्ज किया।
महिलाओं के खिलाफ पुलिस की कार्रवाई देखें।
एक महिला मुख्यमंत्री होते हुए राज्य में महिलाओं के साथ @WBPolice असंवेदनशील और अमानवीयता व्यवहार कर रही है!
According to the reports, the Khardah police on Wednesday arrested a BJP worker Bullet Roy on charges of threatening police. A group of BJP supporters gathered at the police station to protest against the witch-hunt against its party and demanded his release. The matter escalated when a group of women entered the police station premises to protest.
Reportedly, the police tried to intervene and unleashed lathi-charge on the BJP workers to disperse them. This led to a brutal clash between police and BJP supporters, leaving several party workers injured.
More than 40 injured, senior party leader suffered serious blows
Following the lathi-charge, more than 40 party workers, including several women workers, have reportedly been injured. BJYM Kolkata North Suburban District President Pintu Das also suffered injuries. They have been rushed to the nearest hospital.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal police have arrested seven people for the violence. The arrested seven persons have been released on bail.
BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu said that party workers were targeted while carrying out a “peaceful demonstration”.
Meanwhile, Panihati’s TMC MLA Nirmal Ghosh claimed to media persons that the police had to resort to lathi-charge as the opposition party workers tried to “snatch the firearms of the policemen”.
Political violence continue to rise in West Bengal
Ever since the BJP made inroads in West Bengal, the political violence in West Bengal has only raised with the ruling TMC workers resorting to extreme violence against the opposition cadres. With the assembly elections just months away, the violence has only increased. The Bengal police has also been accused of unleashing violence against BJP workers at the behest of the state government.
The BJP has accused that the law and order in the state is in shambles.
Mumbai Police and its city crime branch has made the 15th arrest in the fake TRP scandal that had broken out earlier this year. Days after they arrested BARC COO Romil Ramgarhia, they have arrested Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)’s former CEO Partho Dasgupta.
According to the police, Dasgupta has been arrested on Thursday from Pune Rural which is under the jurisdiction of Raigad police station. He is currently being taken to Mumbai and will be produced before the court on Friday.
Reportedly, the police is all set to hold another press conference on Friday, explaining the developments in the TRP case, the investigation of which has been surrounded in controversy.
The arrest of BARC’s former COO in fake TRP case
On 18th of December, the special investigation team (SIT) of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch had arrested former BARC Chief Operating Officer Romil Ramgarhia. A team headed by controversial Police officer Sachin Vaze reached Ramgarhia’s residence at Dosti Acres in Wadala. The SIT had initially brought Ramgarhia for questioning, however, he was taken into custody on Thursday noon by Vaze’s team.
The prosecutors claimed that Romil Ramgarhia’s custody is necessary as it is essential for them to retrieve data from his laptop in connection with the ongoing investigation into the ‘Fake TRP’ scam.
The SIT also claimed before the court that Ramgarhia allegedly leaked confidential information aiding the accused in the case to fix TRPs for some channels. The SIT said that Romil Ramgarhia leaked this information during his tenure with BARC. Ramgarhia was rating agency BARC’s first COO and he remained in that position till his resignation in July 2020.
“While working with BARC, he guided and assisted some TV channels in manipulating TRPs. He was aware of the location of barometers across the country and we suspect that he shared this information too with some channels,” the officer added. The Police also stated that Ramgarhia’s mobile phone has been seized and will be sent to the forensic science laboratory for cyber analysis.
Fake TRP scam
In October, Mumbai Police had made some sensational claims against some TV channels saying that they were manipulating TRP ratings. In a press conference, Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh had said that three TV channels, including Republic TV, were involved in manipulating viewership data of BARC by paying those households where Bar-o-meters, the devices that track TV viewership, are installed.
Param Bir Singh had specifically mentioned that Hansa Research had filed a complaint with the police. Hansa Group is an organisation that regulated the devices to record TRP for BARC. Interestingly, in this FIR that was filed by Hansa Research, Republic TV was not mentioned even once. The channel that was mentioned several times was India Today.
During the investigation, several evidence and witnesses came forward that alleged Mumbai Police have been intimidating them to speak against Republic TV, including Hansa officials. Hansa has also complained that they are being harassed by the Mumbai Police to give statements against Republic TV.
BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur on Thursday sent a legal notice to far-left troll Rachita Taneja for registering and blocking domain name for a website on the Bhopal MP’s name after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
According to the reports, the Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur, in her notice, has asked Rachita Taneja to immediately restrain, cease and desist from using the website/ domain name ‘www.pragyasinghthakur.com’.
In her legal notice, Sadvi Pragya Singh Thakur alleged that the far-left troll Taneja, who is known for of posting vile, derogatory cartoons on Twitter, has been slandering her by referring to her as a ‘terrorist’ which is a “contumacious and designed with the sole intention to malign the image”. The notice further alleged that Taneja’s intention is to create a narrative against Thakur so as to hamper her pending trial.
Rachita Taneja runs a page – ‘Sanitary Panels’, that is notoriously known for posting abusive and derogatory content on social media platforms.
Thakur, through her lawyer and Advocate on Record Namit Saxena, has mentioned some of Taneja’s posts in the legal notice to allege that the intention behind her vile posts was to “orchestrate a motivated public hearing to obstruct the ongoing bench hearing against the MP and harass her”, as per a report in New Indian Express.
“That the timeline on which these posts have been uploaded by you is extremely crucial as you wanted to create a narrative against my client to malign her reputation and goodwill immediately after my client’s election results. This is in line with concerted efforts made to jeopardize my client’s image amongst the society,” read the legal notice.
In the legal notice, the BJP MP asked the far-left ‘cartoonist’ to respond within seven days as to why and under what circumstances and with what intention did Taneja purchase/create/register/block the said domain name on June 8, 2019. The Bhopal MP asked the ‘cartoonist’ to restrain from using the said website/domain name or any variant thereof in the name of Pragya Thakur.
The notice to Taneja also warned of initiating appropriate legal proceedings, both civil and criminal, against her in case she fails to comply with the terms of this notice.
Contempt of court case against Taneja
Sanitary Panels founder Rachita Taneja, who proclaims to be a ‘Webcomic’, is known for her controversial, hateful and often Hinduphobic Tweets. Through her cartoons, Rachita Taneja has regularly indulged in mocking and berating the Indian judiciary, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and people associated with it.
In April, soon after the demise of actor Irrfan Khan, the cartoonist had posted a deplorable Tweet wherein she wished death on Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar while mourning actor Irrfan Khan’s demise. This animosity against Akshay Kumar was evidently because the superstar has been a vocal supporter of PM Narendra Modi.
Following the Supreme Court verdict on Ram Janmabhoomi case where the apex court decided in favour of constructing the Ram Mandir, Taneja had taken to Twitter to abuse the temple and Hindus. Recently, the far-left troll had attacked the Supreme Court for granting bail to Republic TV Chief Arnab Goswami, inviting a contempt of court case.
The Attorney General KK Venugopal had granted consent to a law student to initiate contempt proceedings against comic artist Rachita Taneja for Tweets saying they are an “audacious assault and insult to the institution.” While granting the consent, the AG stated that the Tweets by Sanitary Panels has a clear implication that Supreme Court is biased towards the ruling political party BJP, which is somehow interested in protecting Republic TV Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami.
A 28-year-old Muslim man by the name of Qasim Khan has been receiving death threats from his own community members after he willingly left Islam and embraced Hinduism.
While talking to the media, he said, “My name was Qasim and after I converted people from Muslim community are threatening to kill me & my family. I need police protection.” Aligarh Superintendent of Police (Crime) Arvind Kumar informed that a case has been registered based on his complaint. He added that Qasim is being threatened by some people and that security has been deployed outside his house in Aligarh.
As per reports, Qasim had married 24-year-old Hindu woman named Anita Kumari in 2012. He met Anita when his father had taken a construction workshop on lease from her father. They fell in love and got hitched 8 years ago. Reportedly, Qasim Although the girl’s family was not happy with the marriage, the duo married as per Hindu traditions in 2013. The couple, who resides in Aligarh, has two kids, 7-year-old Kasifa and 4-year-old Ayaz.
We have registered a case based on the complaint filed by the man. He has alleged that he is being threatened by some people so we have deployed security at his residence: Arvind Kumar, SP Crime, Aligarh pic.twitter.com/v8EVH120aD
He had earlier raised security concerns. Qasim said, “I had sought security from the district administration but they didn’t get back to me. I request the government again, I need protection.” His wife Anita had conceded that there was no pressure on her to convert to Islam or not follow Hindu rituals.
Conversion facilitated by a Hindu group
Eight years after his marriage, he voluntarily decided to convert to Hinduism. “No one forced me. I took this decision on my own,” Qasim emphasised. After embracing Hinduism, he has adopted the name of Karamveer Singh.
His conversion was facilitated on Sunday by a Hindu group. A member of the said organisation, Neeraj informed, “They are welcome to the fold of Hindu religion. We did the rituals at Arya Samaj temple on Sunday.” Although Qasim had applied for legal conversion on December 15 to the district magistrate, he did not hear back even after 5 days. As such, the Arya Samaj temple took it upon itself to facilitate the conversion.
50 Muslim families convert to Hinduism
The day Ram Mandir’s Bhoomi Pujan in Ayodhya was successfully performed by PM Narendra Modi, as many as 250 Muslims of 50 families, living in Motisara village of Payala Kalla Panchayat Samiti of Barmer city, in Rajasthan, decided to re-convert to Hinduism. According to reports, Vedic rituals were performed at the village and all 250 members of the 50 families converted to Hinduism by wearing the sacred thread.
The family members asserted that they have not been forced and that they have converted out of free will. The senior members of these Muslim families asserted that they originally belonged to the Kanchan Dhadhi caste. They were following Hindu customs for the past several years. They celebrate Hindu festivals every year at their residences.
25 December 2020 marks the 96th birth anniversary of one of the most admired politicians in the history of independent India and the tenth Prime Minister of India — Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Born in 1924 in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, to a middle-class Brahmin family, Vajpayee had completed his M.A. in Political Science with a first-class degree from DAV College, Kanpur.
His first brush with politics occurred in August 1942 at the time of Quit India Movement. Vajpayee and his elder brother Prem faced 23 days of incarceration after they heeded Mahatma Gandhi’s call to join the movement. Vajpayee was deeply inspired by RSS ideologue Syama Prasad Mookherjee after joining the Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1951.
Vajpayee jumped into the election fray in 1957 and won from the Balrampur Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituency of Uttar Pradesh. He also served as the President of the party from 1969 to 1972. Subsequently, Vajpayee also served as the Minister of External Affairs in 1977 when the Janata Party won the Lok Sabha elections and Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister of India.
Three years later, in 1980, Vajpayee joined L.K. Advani, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and his other colleagues from RSS, Jan Sangh to form Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and became the party’s first president. In 1984 Lok Sabha elections, the party won just two seats. But, an unflinching Vajpayee weathered the political storm and led the party during these tumultuous years, fashioning out an identity for itself by aligning with the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Movement by RSS and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).
A decade later, in a turn of fortunes, BJP rose in prominence after performing well in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat state assembly elections. This brought Vajpayee and BJP back into the political centre stage of the country.
Known for his impeccable oratorical skills, Atal Bihari Vajpayee remains the only non-Congress prime minister to have occupied the chair three times and only the third overall after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Vajpayee came to power for the first time on May 16, 1996, by forming a minority government. But his government barely lasted a fortnight till June 1 as it failed to pass the floor test.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister of India for the second time on 19 March 1998. The NDA proved its majority in the house but the government lasted for only 13 months after the AIADMK under Jayalalithaa withdrew its support. The government lost the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha by a single vote.
When fresh elections were held in 1999, the NDA came back with a majority and Vajpayee became the prime minister for the third time. His government lasted till 2004, completing a full term of five years, the first non-Congress government to have done so.
Though his first brief tenure remained relatively uneventful, his other two tenures were seminal in shaping India’s growth trajectory. The important initiatives he presided over, the crucial policies his government formulated had a far-reaching and profound impact on the country’s On his 96th birthday anniversary, here is a look at the key decisions taken by late Vajpayee that transformed the country radically.
Developing Infrastructure in India
India witnessed a rapid growth of infrastructure development under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. For decades, the Indian politicians, primarily from the Congress party and the left, turned a blind eye towards building a robust infrastructural capability to advance the country into the modern age.
Soon after Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to power in 1998, he turned his attention towards connecting far corners of the country through a network of interconnected highways. In 2001, Vajpayee launched the Golden Quadrilateral, connecting the major industrial and cultural centres across the length and breadth of the country was a brainchild of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
His critics mocked him stating that the government of India lacked funds to bankroll such an ambitious project, however, years later he proved them wrong as major metro centres of the country was connected with the roads and highways. The project was modelled on the lines of the National Highway System of the US. Vajpayee firmly believed that construction and infrastructure advancement would act as harbingers of economic development.
Another contribution made by Vajpayee in developing the country’s moribund infrastructure was by launching the rural roads scheme called the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The project aimed at providing all-weather connectivity to hitherto unconnected villages. Vajpayee was of the opinion that the development of roads and improved connectivity to pave the way from economic development of the hinterland. It is little wonder then that the subsequent UPA government continued with this scheme implemented by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Though the policy of developing roads and highways appeared to reinforce the urban connectivity programme, in reality, it was a policy that provided Rural India access to Urban India. More than 6,000 KMs of roads were built under the projects envisaged by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Lakhs of people, from both Rural and Urban India, got employment under this visionary plan. Farmers and rural artisans were connected to the nearby urban centres which enhanced their business and employment prospects and brought greater prosperity.
How Atal Bihari Vajpayee transformed India into a nuclear power
Amongst the many decisions taken by Atal Bihari Vajpayee while he was in power, transforming India into nuclear power was the most significant and momentous of them all. It demonstrated, perhaps for the first time, that India’s decisions would be guided by its self-interest and not by the geopolitical pressures.
After Vajpayee came to power in his second term in March 1998, he immediately ordered nuclear tests. In May 1998, Vajpayee hurriedly called a press conference to announce that India had conducted three underground nuclear tests in Pokhran. The decision evoked sharp criticism from several countries across the world and India had to face harsh sanctions, denying it critical nuclear and space technology.
However, Vajpayee was not preoccupied with the threats of sanctions from the international community. He was concerned with the expanding nuclear capabilities of India’s hostile neighbours. Earlier, Indira Gandhi had conducted first nuclear tests in Pokhran but India’s nuclear programme hit a snag following Rajiv Gandhi’s emphasis on nuclear disarmament. Meanwhile, China was continue augmenting its nuclear capabilities and India’s arch-nemesis, Pakistan, had also clandestinely acquired know-how for building its nuclear capabilities.
What is, perhaps, a little-known fact is that Vajpayee was predisposed to have the nuclear tests done in 1996 itself when he formed a minority government at the centre and which lasted for just 13 days. According to the accounts narrated by journalist Raj Chengappa in his book ‘Weapon of Peace’, the former Prime Minister was prepared to do the test even during his short-lived tenure in 1996 and instructed the then DRDO chief A P J Abdul Kalam to prepare for the test.
In a bid to create deterrence against India’s two neighbours, Vajpayee felt the urgency to revive India’s dormant nuclear programme. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, along with the Missile Man of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, ushered the country into the nuclear age. Shortly afterwards, Pakistan followed the move and carried out its own nuclear bombs. On the other hand, China sought a great commercial relationship with India after it demonstrated its nuclear capabilities.
As nations were coming to terms with India’s nuclear proficiency, Vajpayee told the Indian Parliament that the government was ordering a voluntary moratorium on further tests. The then Prime Minister also assured that India would not be the first to carry out a nuclear strike and would always follow a No-First-Use doctrine. Besides, he also added that nuclear weapons would never be used against a non-nuclear state and remain under civilian control, reinforcing India’s commitment towards maintaining peace and stability.
A decade later, this decision by Atal Bihari Vajpayee of exerting the country’s nuclear capabilities played a crucial role in the country’s signing of a nuclear pact with the United States in 2008 that granted India the recognition of being a responsible nuclear weapon state with strong non-proliferation credentials. The deal with the US not only paved the way for India to gain access to critical technologies, it also made the import of supercomputers and high-technology equipment easier.
Education for All with ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’
Realising that even after decades since India’s independence, the literacy rate of the country was at abysmal levels, Atal Bihari Vajpayee launched a revolutionary scheme— ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan'(SSA) in 2001, aimed at providing elementary education to all in a time-bound manner and achieving universal literacy.
The initiative was mandated by the 86th Amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to children between the ages of 6 to 14 a fundamental right. As a consequence, the school drop-out rate came down by 60 per cent within five years of its implementation.
The SSA is hailed as one of the most successful education schemes implemented by any central government. The fact that a non-Congress government, almost after 50 years of India’s independence, had to come up with as basic a scheme as compulsory education for children in the age group of 6 to 14 is a scathing indictment of all the central governments that preceded the Vajpayee regime. Moreover, the SSA formed a cornerstone for the implementation of the Right to Education Act, which has helped push elementary education in India.
Pioneering a telecom revolution with New Telecom Policy
Under the leadership of Vajpayee, the Indian government announced the New Telecom Policy (NTP) on 3 March 1999, opening up the sector to private players and giving a push to what had become a static and lacklustre industry.
The New Telecom Policy ended the hegemony of government-owned telecom companies and catalysed the participation of private companies that kicked up a telecom revolution. The government waived off a fixed fee that the telecom companies were asked to pay for using the spectrum. Instead, the companies were asked to share a part of their revenue under the new telecom policy.
The New Telecom Policy touched off a massive revolution, bringing in more revenue from the greater amounts of profits made by the private players. The new policy also reduced the cost of telecom companies owned by the government. The policy made a clear separation between policy formation and service provision, turning the old telecom department into a corporation – BSNL.
Competition among the private players led to a dramatic fall in tariffs and a massive improvement in the quality of services being offered. This, in turn, prompted mobile phone companies to draw the focus on India and flood the markets with new and feature-rich mobile phones. So great and extensive the impact of the New Telecom Policy that it still fuels the growth in the country’s telecom sector. India has become the second-largest smartphone market and is all poised to surpass China in the coming years.
At Corporate Awards Functions in December 2009, when Idea Cellular’s then managing-director Sanjeev Aga was asked to point out the turning point in India’s telecom sector, he referred to the 1999 NTP, saying, “When I read it today, it is still contemporary and comprehensive”. He described the NTP policy as ‘watershed moment’ of India’s telecom sector.
Authors Harsh Madhusudhan and Rajeev Mantri in their recently released book–’A New Idea of India’ hail the policy as an action that liberated the telecom sector from the political control. They also argued that Atal Bihari Vajpayee should be given the due credit that he deserves for pioneering a futuristic telecom policy as against the former PM Rajiv Gandhi and technocrat Sam Pitroda who are falsely hailed by Congress ministers and supporters as progenitors of the mobile revolution.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and laying the foundation for strong economic reforms
The six years of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure from 1998 to 2004 was an important interval between the drab rule of Congress-led governments for over 6 decades. Vajpayee’s regime reset India’s economic aspirations and laid the foundations for strong economic growth for years to come.
Even though Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ‘India Shining’ campaign failed in 2004 and UPA government came back in power, the country really shone in the years after Vajpayee when economic growth picked up to high single digits almost as soon as the NDA government lost. This was due to the economic reforms and the sound fundamentals of the Vajpayee years.
Disinvestment gathered pace under Atal-Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. While disinvestment was kick-started by Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao when he started selling minority stakes of the state-owned companies, but it was Vajpayee who took the courageous decision of privatising public sector companies under “strategic sales”.
In fact, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first Prime Minister of the country to have a separate disinvestment ministry. The Vajpayee government privatised as many as 12 public sector companies during their tenure, including behemoths such as Maruti Udyog, Hindustan Zinc, Bharat Aluminium, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited and many others.
The Vajpayee-led NDA government was one of the few regimes which were more conscious than many other governments to how the international investors viewed the Indian market and the government. There was an unswerving focus on the fiscal rectitude with the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act providing the framework within which the fiscal math had to be contained.
