In a significant observation, the Madras High Court on Wednesday said that the state government cannot use temple land for any purpose other than for holding religious functions.
The Madras High Court, responding to grievances raised by devotees regarding the alienation of temple land of two temples in Tamil Nadu, emphasised that temple land can be utilised only for the beneficial purposes of the temple.
The High Court also observed that temples in Tamil Nadu are not only a source of identification of the ancient culture but also a testimony of pride and knowledge of the talent in the fields of arts, science and sculpture. The court also directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to identify and protect all temple lands from encroachers with an officer in charge filing periodical reports.
The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department is one of the departments of the Government of Tamil Nadu that is responsible for managing and regulating the temple administration within the state.
The High Court order came at the backdrop several petitions filed by aggrieved devotees against the encroachment of lands of the Sakthi Muthamman temple near Neelankarai and the Kottai Mariamman temple in Salem. The petitions were filed after the Fisheries Department of the state developed a modern fish market, fish eatery and office building on some of the land belonging to the Sakthi Mathamman Temple. The department had done this disregarding the objections made by devotees.
Similarly, some land belonging to the Arulmighu Kottai Mariamman Thirukoil was transferred to the Regional Transport Department without following due procedure. Some of the temple’s land was also taken over by the Highways Department to construct a bridge.
Religious institutions should be maintained properly, HR&CE failed to take any steps: Madras HC
In his order, Justice R Mahadevan directed that the properties of religious institutions, particularly temples, have to be maintained properly. He added, however, the HR&CE Department, which is the custodian of the temple properties, failed to take any steps to protect the interests of temples, though the subject falls within its purview. Such a callous attitude on their part cannot be countenanced, the court slammed the Government of Tamil Nadu.
The Madras HC, ordering the removal of encroachments from temple lands, also asked the fisheries department that has constructed a building near Sri Sakthi Muthamman Temple in Neelankarai to enter into an agreement with the department to fix rent for the building.
Justice R Mahadevan also ordered the Commissioner, HR&CE Department to take action in reclaiming the lands by removing all the encroachments and maintain them.
“The HR&CE Department shall take steps to start construction by putting a compound wall to security and safety of the subject lands. Except for temple related purposes, the lands shall not be used for any other purposes. The officer authorised by the Commissioner, HR&CE Department shall maintain a proper register with respect to the financial aspects of the subject temples and its properties and file the same before the authority concerned at regular intervals,” the court said in its order.
The Presidency of the United States still hangs very much in the balance as any outcome is likely to be challenged in the Courts. Democratic nominee Joe Biden certainly seems poised to win but sitting US President Donald Trump has made it very clear that the Supreme Court will be involved in the process. With uncertainty over the Presidency, chaos looms large over the horizon.
Thus, while Joe Biden is tweeting like a Buddhist Monk, his Democratic comrades appear to have made up their minds to launch a crusade against heretics. At a time when Biden is saying, “We are not enemies, we are Americans,” prominent members of the Democrat party and their elite support base are making lists of those they perceive to have helped Donald Trump so that they can be adequately punished.
The most prominent Democrat to have given voice to that idea is, perhaps, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She said on Twitter, “Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future? I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future”.
AOC tweets
It’s not clear what she means by ‘complicity’. Donald Trump is an elected President after all. AOC appears to give one the impression that ‘Trump sycophants’ are guilty of performing the duty they were either appointed or elected to perform. And it’s not clear who she means by ‘sycophants’. Is she referring to only those people who served in the Trump administration? Or does it include Trump supporters on social media as well?
AOC did receive a lot of criticism from people on social media for her insane remarks but that does not appear to have deterred her spirits. She responded, “Lol at the “party of personal responsibility” being upset at the idea of being responsible for their behavior over last four years”. AOC and her squad call themselves ‘Democratic Socialists’ but one gets the impression there might be gulags involved in a Democratic Socialist regime as well.
Enthusiastic supporters of AOC have come up with a plan to ensure that no ‘Trump sycophant’ goes unpunished. A ‘Trump Accountability Project’ (TAP) has been established to document the names of every administration staffer, campaign staffer bundler and lawyer who worked for US President Donald Trump. In the prevailing political climate in the USA, it’s hard not to see it as a hitlist for radical leftists.
The Trump Accountability Project
The objective of TAP is “to make sure anyone who took a paycheck to help Trump undermine America is held responsible for what they did.” If this gives readers the uneasy feeling that the whole thing could soon devolve into totalitarian nightmare, they have every reason to believe so. What’s astonishing is that no one is even pretending to hide their sinister agenda.
Jennifer Rubin, a prominent supporter of Joe Biden and Washington Post and MSNBC columnist, asserted that any Republican “now promoting rejection of an election or calling to not to follow the will of voters or making baseless allegations of fraud should never serve in office, join a corporate board, find a faculty position or be accepted into “polite” society. We have a list.” This is after Democrats en masse refused to recognise the results of the 2016 presidential elections and blamed Russia for Trump’s victory.
Jennifer Rubin tweet
But it appears clear that the TAP will not limit itself to Trump administration officials and will include everyone who voted for Donald Trump as well. In the run-up to the elections, harassment of Trump supporters was a familiar sight. One Trump supporter was even murdered by a far-left goon. Thus, even if Donald Trump eventually loses the elections, the war against Trumpians will certainly continue. In such a scenario, the chaos in the United States appears to be far from over.
The TAP will be directed against every Trump supporter
Democrats have justified widespread looting and rioting in the run up to the 2020 US Presidential Elections. It appears their crusade will certainly not end with a Joe Biden victory. The geriatric Democrat has campaigned on the promise to return normalcy to the United States but it appears almost certain that his Democratic comrades will make that job very difficult.
Will ‘Sleepy Joe’ be able to maintain a check on the radical leftists within his party? It remains to be seen. However, it is very likely that he will have to spend a significant amount of his time fighting the radical elements within his own party while combating Republicans simultaneously if he does wish to restore normalcy. However, given the uncertainty still looming large over election results, things could take a turn for the worse in the short-term.
It is also unclear what precise form the punishment for Trump supporters might take if Joe Biden decides to relinquish power to the radical leftists in the Democratic party. Phony Tribunals may be set to legitimise the whole process and imprisonment may not be a stretch too far. There have been occasions in the past when Bernie supporters have attempted to assassinate Republicans as well and the list being drawn up may serve as hitlists for leftist terrorists.
There are some shocking revelations that come to the fore after the lawyers of Arnab Goswami filed a habeas corpus petition in the High Court asking for not only the FIR against him to be quashed but also to grant him interim protection and release him from judicial custody.
Arnab Goswami has filed for bail before the Bombay High Court along with his Habeas Corpus plea challenging his arrest on the morning of November 4 in connection in a 2018 suicide of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother Kumud Naik, that was revived by the Mumbai police without judicial consent, as is the law.
The bail application is being heard by a Bench of Justice SS Shinde and MS Karnik at 12 pm today.
Editor-in-chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, in his bail plea for immediate release from the illegal detention and wrongful custody by the Maharashtra Police, Goswami also makes some startling revelations as to how he was beaten and tortured by the police.
Following is the tale of torture that has purportedly been inflicted on Arnab Goswami by the Mumbai Police after he was dragged out of his home and arrested.
1) Arnab suffered a 6-inch-deep gash on his left hand.
2) Serious injury to his spinal cord.
3) Hit by a heavy uniform police officer’s boot.
4) Not allowed to wear shoes.
5) Suffered vein injuries.
6) Not even given access to drinking water.
7) forced to consume certain liquid by the police officers guarding him and choked as a result thereof.
In this regard, Arnab Goswami’s habeas corpus application says:
“During the course of his arrest and while being transferred to Alibaug in a police van and in the custody of the police, the Petitioner suffered a 6-inch-deep gash on his left hand, a serious injury to his spinal cord, was hit by a heavy uniform police officer’s boot, was not allowed to wear shoes throughout, suffered vein injuries and was not even given access to drinking water. Additionally, the Petitioner was also forced to consume certain liquid by the police officers guarding him and choked as a result thereof.”
Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami files habeas corpus petition after his arrest
After being manhandled at his residence by Raigad police cops who came to arrest him at his house yesterday in relation to a two-year-old closed case, Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami has filed a plea before the Bombay High Court challenging his arrest by the police.
The plea in the Bombay High Court came after Mumbai Police had arbitrarily started re-investigation in the 2018 closed case of interior designer Anvay Naik’s suicide on the direction of Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
Today is the third day of the hearing of the plea. Yesterday, the High Court had asked Arnab Goswami to file a separate bail application in the High court as well. Representing Arnab Goswami, Harish Salve in the Mumbai High Court had argued yesterday that the arrest of Arnab Goswami itself was illegal and that there was no ground to keep him in custody. He had also argued that the re-opening of the case itself is dubious since the case was closed and the Magistrate has also observed that the case was re-opened without the due permission.
“Merely on the allegation of harassment without there being any positive action proximate to the time of occurrence on the part of the accused which led or compelled the person to commit suicide, conviction in terms of Section 306 IPC is not sustainable”, Salve quoted, reiterating the Magistrates stand that even if Anvay Naik committed suicide due to financial losses, why did his mother end her life? We do not know the curious circumstances of the suicide. Nobody has established that there is illegal Commission, argued Salve furthering that under these circumstances, there is no need to keep Arnab in custody.
Referring to the earlier FIRs registered against Arnab Goswami, Salve said that there has been a specific pattern adopted by the Maharashtra govt to harass his client. Salve also made references to Hansa Research Group which made submissions in court that it is being harassed by the Mumbai Police forcing them to make false statements against Republic Media Network.
The arguments made by Harish Salve in the matter yesterday can be read here.
It is to be kept in mind that the Alibaug Magistrate had granted judicial custody of Arnab Goswami after the police had demanded a 14-day police custody. The Magistrate had also observed that the arrest, prima facie, seemed illegal and there was no ground to grant police custody. She had also observed that there seems to be no connection between the suicide and the involvement of Arnab Goswami in the case.
Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami arrested
Continuing their witch-hunt against Republic TV chief, the Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested Arnab Goswami. The Mumbai Police reached Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami’s residence on Wednesday and physically manhandled him as they tried to detain him in a 2018 abetment to suicide case that was already closed.
A team of Mumbai Police arrested Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami after they physically assaulted and dragged him by grabbing his hair. In a shocking act, a large contingent of Mumbai Police was seen present at Goswami’s residence on Wednesday morning. In the below video, it can be seen how officials of the Mumbai Police were manhandling the Republic TV chief.
In May 2018, an FIR was filed against Arnab Goswami after an interior designer had committed suicide in Mumbai. In a suicide note, Anvay Naik claimed Goswami owed him a total of Rs 5.4 crore. However, Goswami was investigated and case was closed by court after a closure report was filed by the Police.
As the Bihar entered its third and final phase of assembly elections, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi made a controversial remark in an election rally. The controversial politician proclaimed India to be his ancestors’ propriety.
“I may not be from Bihar but entire India is Asaduddin Owaisi’ father’s proprietary. How? My father, your father, their fathers and their ancestors put their first steps in India. In this way, this country belongs to my ancestors. No one has the courage of calling me an intruder on my ancestors’ land,” Owaisi said.
Owaisi’s contentious remarks came on the eve of the final phase of the Bihar elections. AIMIM chief was addressing a rally in Bihar when he made the controversial remark that has now attracted criticism from several quarters.
History of Owaisi’s AIMIM and their atrocities against Hindus
While Owaisi insisted that his ancestors belong to India, it is equally important to note the antecedents of his forebears and their actions against Indians. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is the legacy of the Razakars, a Jihadist terror group that committed innumerable atrocities against Hindus in the Nizam’s kingdom before it was crushed by the Iron Man of India, Sardar Patel.
Founded in 1927 as the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the MIM was a pro-Nizam party that did not want the Nizam’s Hyderabad to be merged fully with the Union of India. Instead, in line with the Nizam’s wishes, the MIM wanted a ‘Muslim dominion’ rather complete integration with the Indian Union. It was either that or being a part of Pakistan.
To achieve its objective, the MIM floated the Razakars headed by one Qasim Rizvi. The Razakars were basically the Jihadist mob that the MIM used to perpetrate violence on the streets in order to ensure that the Nizam’s wishes were fulfilled. Rizvi, a student of the Aligarh Muslim University, was elected the President of the MIM in 1946 and it was he who led the Razakars when they perpetuated the most heinous crimes against Hindus in the region. The Razakars molested and raped women and children, slaughtered Hindus indiscriminately and engaged in the mutilation and massacre of Hindus.
Though Owaisi claimed that his forebears belonged to India, he was clever enough to reveal the colourful details of their past atrocities. It is perhaps this reign of terror and slaughter that Owaisi was referring to when he claimed India is his “forefathers’ property”.
AIMIM in the fray for the Bihar elections
Asaduddin Owaisi’s party is in the fray as a part of the Grand Democratic Secular Front (GDSF) that has four other parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). With Bihar elections, MIM is hoping to spoil the fun of other parties, most notably Congress and RJD, in the 243-member Assembly.
The Chinese employees working for Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project of the Punjab Mass Transit Authority in Lahore, are being paid higher salaries as compared to their Pakistani counterparts, reportedThe NewsInternational.
The large disparity between the wages of Chinese and Pakistani employees have lowered the morale of the local staff and can affect the operations of OLMT. It has been reported that the Pakistani employees are paid as per different grade system than the 200 odd Chinese employees. The News reported that Chinese workers are drawing salaries in Yuans while the Pakistani employees are paid in Pakistani Rupees (PKR).
The disparity in salaries of Chinese and Pakistani employees
Three top managerial positions at OLMT are held by Chinese officials. The salary of a Chinese Deputy CEO/CFO/Director is about 1,36,000 yuans (= 3.26 million PKR) under the L2 grading system. Similarly, a Chinese employee working as the DGM is paid 83,000 yuans (=1.9 million PKR) per month. However, the salary of their Pakistani counterpart is significantly lower. For the same position, Pakistani DGM (Equipment and Maintenance) Umer Chisti is paid 6,25,000 PKR while Salmanul Haq, another locally recruited DGM of Finance and Accounts, is paid 4,00,000 PKR.
Reportedly, Chinese origin employees were recruited through the GMG company for the post of GM (Operations and Management). They are being paid around 92,000 yuan (=2 million PKR) every month. Similarly, 7 Chinese officials recruited on the post of GM of the auxiliary Department of DGM (Operations and Management). They are paid around 89,000 yuan (~ 2 million PKR). At the same time, 7 Chinese-origin assistants to GM are paid 78,000 yuans every month. 5 Chinese managers are paid 68000 yuans (=1.63 million PKR) each while 6 Chinese engineers/deputy managers/chief dispatchers are paid 60,000 yuans every month (=1.43 million PKR).
The disparity in staff salary is also seen at lower levels of the project hierarchy. For instance, 43 Chinese-origin employees recruited for the post of technicians or train operators are paid 47,500 yuan (= 1.13 million PKR) each. 12 Chinese train crews/train dispatchers are being paid 57,000 yuan (=1.36 million PKR). At the same time, 3 Chinese depot dispatcher/assistant engineers are paid 52000 yuan (=1.24 million PKR).
However, locally recruited train operator Ateeq Ur Rehman is paid a mere 60,000 PKR. While Admin officer Hassan Zahid and Fleet officer Badar Riaz are paid 55,000 PKR, interpreter Mubasher Ali is paid 1,00,000 PKR. At the same time, equipment dispatcher Mushahid Saleem, supply chain executive Adeel Malik, track engineer Muhammad Ali are paid 80,000 PKR, 80000 PKR and 1,75,000 PKR. Several Pakistan-origin workers, recruited for the project, believe that the wide pay gap is affecting the operations of OLMT.
Low salary won’t have an impact on morale, claims Pakistan authorities
While speaking on the issue of salary disparity between Pakistani and Chinese employees, General Manager (Operations) Uzair Shah of Punjab Mass Transit Authority stated that the Chinese officials are in Pakistan to train their counterparts. He conceded that the Chinese employees are paid high wages and that too in the foreign currency of yuan. Shah informed that about 200 Chinese employees are working on the project, out of which 102 of them are recruited as drivers.
On being asked about the low morale of Pakistani workers, Shah dismissed the existence of any such thing. He claimed that comparisons cannot be drawn between the salaries of Pakistani and Chinese officials and that it has no bearing on the morale of the employees. While conceding that Chinese workers are here to train their Pakistani counterparts, the local staff said that the wide wage gap raises several questions.
Advocate Vibhor Anand, who had been tweeted incessantly about the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and claiming to have several highly placed sources will continue to remain in jail after a Mumbai sessions court extended the stay on the earlier bail order. Interestingly, while he claimed to have all these sources, during the hearing, he had blamed Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV.
According to the reports, the Delhi-based lawyer was granted bail earlier this week by a local court, however, the sessions court has now put a stay on the bail order.
Reportedly, the prosecution had sought the stay as it wanted time to appeal against the bail order before the Bombay HC. The court has now extended the stay till Monday.
Advocate Vibhor Anand was arrested by Mumbai Police on October 15. Vibhor Anand was arrested by Mumbai police on charges of spreading conspiracy theories on the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and making ‘false’ allegations against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
The Delhi-based lawyer has been booked for offences punishable under Sections 509, 505(2), 500, 504 of IPC and Sec.67 of IT Act.
Anand was granted bail by a local court earlier
On Wednesday, Vibhor Anand was granted bail by the Mumbai session court, who was accused of posting objectionable tweets against CM Uddhav Thackeray and others.
While Vibhor used to earlier claim that his inputs were based on his ‘highly placed’ sources, during the hearing, Anand interestingly had told the court that he had been made to believe certain persons had committed the murders of the actor and Disha Salian after watching Republic TV and its anchor. Anand had told the court that as being an advocate, he watched various TV channels and particularly the channel known as ‘R Bharat’.
He came across with statements made by the anchor that Sushant Singh Rajput has been murdered only because of the murder of his former manager Disha Salian.
Last month, a Mumbai civil court had restrained Vibhor Anand and some other from dragging the name of actor Arbaaz Khan in the Sushant Singh Rajput case. This was done after the actor had filed a defamation suit for dragging his name in the case. Along with that, he had also sought to restrain them from posting or publishing any comment against him in this regard.
As the final phase of Bihar elections will be held on Saturday, the political parties are pushing hard to influence voters in all ways it can to garner their votes to emerge victorious in the prestigious battle of Bihar.
With a lot of stakes invested in this Bihar election, especially for the opposition parties, they are leaving no opportunity to mobilise opinion on social media, at least. The opposition parties, especially the Congress and the RJD, have been a beneficiary of the massive media support, who are forefront at carrying out large scale positive media narratives ahead of the elections in Bihar.
In fact, the ‘liberal-secular’ media have been more than happy to provide their space for these ‘secular’ political parties to up their prospects in the ongoing Bihar polls, where they are battling against the ‘communal’ NDA. The media’s proxy campaigns in favour of the opposition parties got displayed once again on Saturday after ‘neutral’ India Today group did a full-fledged PR campaign on behalf of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav informing people about the ‘young’ RJD leader did an unexpected by getting himself a ‘haircut’.
The India Today group, carrying out its ‘Gold Standard of Journalism’, did an ‘investigative’ report to inform the voters of Bihar about how ‘young and fiery’ RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav surprised everybody by getting a hairdo ahead of the Bihar elections.
Image Source: India Today
“Tejashwi called his regular hairdresser in the morning to 10, Circular Road residence. The Yadav residence was abuzz as jubilant supporters thronged the location, for the Jharkhand High Court was to hear party supremo Lalu Yadav’s bail plea,” read the India Today report.
Ironically, India Today’s ‘Gold Standard’ PR campaign for Tejashwi Yadav came just hours after India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai had indirectly questioned the country’s media for not asking ‘tough questions’ to politicians.
Rajdeep Sardesai questions Indian media, indirectly calls for boycott of the Modi government
Rajdeep Sardesai, fondly known as the ‘Michelangelo of Indian journalism’ for his creativity to create fake propaganda out of thin air, took to Twitter on Friday to express his tributes to American media outlets such as ABC, CBS and NBC, who blacked-out President Donald Trump’s address from the White House recently alleging that he had made an ‘unfounded accusation’ that the presidential election was being stolen from him.
These ‘neutral’ media outlets had denied President Trump a space to express his ‘Freedom of Speech’ by banning the telecast after he had raised doubts about the integrity of US elections by making sensational rigging allegations against Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden.
It is more of a common knowledge today that most of the media outlets have nurtured a hatred for Trump ever since he won the 2016 Presidential elections and were indirectly campaigning against Trump in his race against Joe Biden. Essentially, the powerful media in the US does not want to listen to Donald Trump’s opinion and would go to great lengths to ensure that people do not hear what he has to say. Not just the established media, even tech-giants like Twitter and Facebook were seen censoring Donald Trump.
Continuing, back in India, taking inspiration from the ‘left-liberal’ media ecosystem, Rajdeep Sardesai displayed his hypocrisy by saluting the ‘neutral’ American media despite them denying the US President him his right to express his opinion. Hailing the American media for boycotting an address by the US President on the pretext of him making ‘unfounded accusation’, Rajdeep Sardesai indirectly questioned the Indian media on continuing to provide space for country’s ruling dispensation.
Sardesai, known for his proximity to the Congress party, also subtly hinted to ‘liberal-secular’ media coterie of the country to follow their American counterparts by boycotting their official interactions with the Modi government. The free speech warrior and the epitome of liberal values – Rajdeep Sardesai perhaps wants Indian media to deny media space to Modi government to put out its views on the lines of a similar ‘boycott’ by the left-wing US media majors against Donald Trump administration.
Rajdeep Sardesai ‘saluting’ the American media outlets also essentially meant that he was taking a dig at country’s media, suggesting that they were all close to the current ruling establishment and would never boycott Prime Minister Modi. Rajdeep Sardesai’s attempt to point fingers at the country’s media was nothing but an indication that Indian media should boycott Modi government on the pretext that the Modi government was misleading the country.
Interestingly, Rajdeep was doing all of this while his own channel, India Today, was bending over backwards to please RJD by writing fluff pieces about Tejashwi Yadav’s haircut.
The left-liberal media – the propaganda arm of the opposition ecosystem
In reality, the left-liberal media ecosystem in the country, have been extremely unfair to the Modi government and ever since the BJP took the reins of the country in 2014, these ‘liberal-secular’ media have been overly critical of them. Six years down the line, the ‘liberal-secular’ media, which claims to be ‘neutral’ have done everything to put out wrong narratives to show Modi government in the poor light.
In fact, several times in the past, these ‘neutral’ media has gone to extent of concocting false evidence to fight their political and ideological battles against the supposedly non-left Modi government. Many left-wing media outlets, who share an ideological affinity towards the Congress party, have put out misleading facts to fight the Modi government.
Contrary to their act of holding truth to power, these so-called ‘neutral’ media of the country have not only remained blind to the blatant lies put out by the opposition parties, especially the Congress party, on a day-to-day basis but also shockingly provided a platform to them to peddle their lies. The ‘left-liberal’ have time-and-again joined hands with these opposition groups to stitch up false narratives against the ruling establishment to further their political parties.
It was evident not only during the Rafale controversy that erupted ahead of the 2019 elections but also even after BJP re-elected in the subsequent general elections. The false narratives peddled by these media outlets aftermath of the passage of Citizenship Amendment Act and during the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots explains how these media pushes blatant lies against the ruling establishment on the pretext of expressing their freedom of expression.
Not just that, Rahul Gandhi, who has been forefront at spreading lies almost every day, has been never questioned by the so-called neutral media of the country. The media has virtually has given unfettered access to the Gandhi-scion to spread his lies and propaganda without even holding him accountable for spreading such lies on an industrial scale.
Strangely, the ‘left-liberal’ media in the country have turned out to be the propaganda arm of political parties and are waging a disinformation war against the ruling government, who are effectively doing it under the garb of ‘freedom of the press’.
It is also extremely perplexing to know why would these free speech warriors, especially in the left want media to boycott someone in the first place. It is strange of these left-liberals, who often cry over others being intolerant to their views, have been displaying their extreme intolerance towards others by disallowing them an opportunity to put their views.
Ironically, the likes of Rajdeep Sardesai, whose own media networks carry out PR articles to inform people about Tejaswi Yadav’s new ‘hairdo’ have no shame in calling for a boycott against the ruling government, which has successfully bypassed these traditional Congress-era news portals by interacting directly with the people of the country.
On Friday, Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa announced that he was imposing a blanket ban on firecrackers ahead of the auspicious Hindu festival of Diwali. “We have discussed this issue and have decided to ban fireworks this Deepavali. An order is being issued. This is on account of Covid-19,” Yediyurappa had said.
We have taken a decision not to allow bursting of firecrackers in the state, in wake of #COVID19 pandemic. The order will be released soon: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa pic.twitter.com/MTFyLrZwy3
However, after rampant disenchantment with the decision, the Karnataka CM has decided to partially roll-back his decision.
The Chief Minister’s office of Karnataka released another statement just 8 hours after imposing the blanket ban on firecrackers during Diwali. It said, “We received many suggestions after we proposed a ban on firecrackers this #Diwali. People should celebrate in a simple manner considering the safety of their children & themselves. I request people to burst only green crackers & celebrate the festival in simple way”.
We received many suggestions after we proposed a ban on firecrackers this #Diwali. People should celebrate in a simple manner considering the safety of their children & themselves. I request people to burst only green crackers & celebrate the festival in simple way: Karnataka CMO https://t.co/M3ILOkLEID
Several states have imposed a blanket ban on firecrackers this year ahead of Diwali. This includes the Punjab government that has been unsuccessful in managing the stubble-burning problem that is the real reason of increasing pollution in the Delhi-NCR-Punjab area.
The Punjab government had even boasted recently that they had launched a ‘crackdown’ against firecrackers and its sale even as the stubble-burning issue was at a 4 year peak in the state.
Other states where Hindus can be arrested for celebrating Diwali with firecrackers, like they have been doing for centuries is – Odisha, Delhi, West Bengal, Sikkim and Rajasthan.
Karnataka, though had imposed a blanket ban earlier, it has now said that people can burst green-crackers and celebrate Diwali if they choose to do so. So far, Karnataka is the only government that has paid heed to public sentiment and rolled back its decision of imposing a blanket ban on firecrackers during Diwali.
In a major crackdown, the Income Tax Department had raided the premises of Believers Eastern Church in Thiruvalla in central Kerala. The Church is led by evangelist KP Yohannan and is accused of diverting funds collected for charity for religious proselytisation.
As per reports, the I-T Department had unearthed a major financial scam and recovered a whopping ₹8 crores in cash. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier cancelled the FCRA licence of Believers Eastern Church for carrying out evangelic activities using charity funds. This was despite the fact that the Church had received the donations through proper channels.
According to Times Now, Believers Eastern Church received over ₹7,000 crores in the past 7 years, according to TimesNow, through other trusts. The Church had also used their funds in real estate dealings and construction of institutions. In fact, the Believers Church reportedly continued to get funds from various trusts even after their license was cancelled.
#Breaking | I-T Dept unearths a financial scam under the Believers’ Church. Almost Rs 4.5 crore has been seized. Raids are still underway.
According to Times Now, the Believers Eastern Church also funds several political parties. According to Indian Express, the IT department is looking into the transactions of over 10 years.
“The Church had got the foreign contributions through the proper channels. But they had diverted the charity funds for religious purposes. Even after the cancellation of the FCRA account, the Church tried to get funds through other trusts”, said an official according to Indian Express.
While speaking on the development, an IT official informed, “The raid began Thursday and is still on in Kerala and elsewhere in the country. So far, we have recovered Rs 8 crore in cash from various premises. Our action is still going on… We, prima facie, assume that the Church had invested around Rs 1,000 crore in real estate development. The funds for charity have been used for running churches, which is a religious purpose. As the raids are still on, we cannot come to any conclusion about the magnitude of the violations.’’
Government crackdown on evangelical organisations
Earlier, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had suspended the Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) licences of 13 NGOs after allegations were raised against them for indulging in forced religious conversions of tribals to Christianity in tribal-dominated areas. The MHA has also frozen the bank accounts of these NGOs after intelligence inputs pointed out their conversion-related activities targeting the tribal areas of several states, including Jharkhand.
Ministry of Home Affairs had given the 13 NGOs six months to respond to suspension notice. The centre has recently suspended the FCRA licence of four Christian evangelical organizations, namely the Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church, Ecreosoculis North Western Gossner Evangelical, New Life Fellowship Association, and Evangelical Churches Association.
On Thursday, the India Today Media Network faced yet another embarrassing situation after the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) issued a notice to its Hindi news channel Aaj Tak news channel for violating Allahabad High Court’s order on maintaining the confidentiality of the investigation in the Hathras murder case.
According to reports, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had asked the authority to take appropriate action against the channel after receiving a complaint filed by Congress party supporter Saket Gokhale.
Congress supporter Gokhale had written a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary of the UP Government accusing Aaj Tak of broadcasting a news report about the ongoing CBI investigation despite there was a clear direction from the High Court to maintain confidentiality with regard to the investigation of the case.
“In this report, news channel Aaj Tak purportedly claimed to report on the investigation of the CBI in the Hathras case and about questions asked by the CBI team to the victim’s family during the investigation. May it be noted that this is a brazen violation of the orders of the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court,” the letter noted.
Following the complaint, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has now asked NBSA to take appropriate action against Aaj Tak within 15 days for violating HC order in Hathras Case. ‘
Image Source: Live Law
On 14th September, a 19-year-old woman was strangulated, who succumbed to injuries on 29th September. The Hathras case has become the ground for political drama and media propaganda.
NBSA orders Aaj Tak to apologise live, pay fine for spreading fake news
The India Today group has been facing the wrath of country’s news regulators and was recently penalised by NSBA for airing fake news relating to actor late Sushant Singh Rajput.
The Hindi news outlet of India Today group – Aaj Tak had peddled several fake news relating to Sushant Singh Rajput. It had published an elaborate piece on late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s “last tweets” on June 16, two days after the actor was found dead in his house in Mumbai. However, the media network had telecast fake tweets attributing to late actor Sushant Singh Rajput and had passed off them as his last tweets.
Following that, the NBSA asked Aaj Tak to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh and had asked the broadcaster to air an apology admitting on national television that it did not conduct the due diligence required prior to telecasting the tweets. The NBSA had found Aaj Tak guilty of violating guidelines, had ordered Aaj Tak to submit the proof of compliance of the telecast of the apology to the association within 7 days of telecast.
