In yet another case of suspected Love Jihad, one Pooja Patel, a resident of Varanasi married to Mohammad Aftab Siddiqui of Lucknow, committed suicide by hanging herself in her house. The incident happened under the limits of Bhelupur police station, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on late Friday evening, reports Hindi daily Jagran. While the girl’s family has pinned the blame of their daughter’s death on her husband Aftab and his family, the police said that prima facie investigation reveals that the cause of the incident was a dispute between husband and wife. Meanwhile, locals suspect that the girl was murdered by the husband’s family, which was pressurising her to adopt Islam.
Bhelupur Police station in-charge, Ajay Shrotriya, who reached the spot after receiving the information took Aftab into custody for questioning and Pooja’s body was sent for post mortem.
Pooja pressurised to adopt and abide by the beliefs and practices in Islam
The girl’s family confirmed that Pooja was aspiring to be a model and had been to Mumbai before the lockdown to peruse her dreams. They alleged that Aftab’s family were opposed to Pooja’s outgoing nature and use to pressurise her to adopt their way of living and abide by the beliefs and practices in Islam. Pooja, on the other hand, refused to be cowed by her in-law’s veiled threats. Owing to this, tensions between the husband and wife rose, pushing Pooja to take her life.
Pooja’s mother Kiran alleged that the problems started when Mohammad Aftab’s mother came to live with them in Varanasi. She started exerting pressure on Pooja to practice only Islam inwardly. She insisted that Pooja reads Namaz 5 times in a day. Moreover, Pooja’s in-laws pressurised her to quit modelling and acting as they thought it to be un-Islamic.
Pooja, meanwhile, stuck to her guns. She was not averse to following her husband’s custom but at the same time, Pooja refused to give up her beliefs. On one hand, she celebrated Hindu festivals like Karva Chauth, while on the other, she visited her in-laws during Eid. In fact, when her son was born she gave him a Hindu name-Naksh. She was also persistent in following her passion.
Pooja left Varanasi to make a career in acting
Pooja’s family confirmed that she had gone to Mumbai to make a career in acting. However, she came back to her husband during the lockdown. The problems began when after a few days, Pooja started insisting on going back to Mumbai. Aftab who along with his family did not want Pooja to pursue her career in acting started regularly picking up fights with her. He mostly came back home drunk and beat up Pooja. The girl’s mother recollects how she had also tried to convince Aftab’s family by showing Pooja’s modelling assignment pictures, but they remained undeterred. Aftab’s family started harassing her. Pooja, who started feeling stifled, started contemplating seeking a divorce from Aftab. She had also conveyed this to her family and her husband. Pooja who was upset, after all, this eventually embraced death.
Pooja’s neighbour’s testimony
Meanwhile, Aftab’s neighbours confirmed that the duo frequently fought. That day too, both had fought and went into separate rooms to sleep. According to the neighbour’s, at about 12 in the night, the husband started banging the door of Pooja’s room. Hearing the noise, when all the neighbours collected outside Aftab’s house, they saw Pooja hanging from the ceiling fan of her room. The door was broken in a hurry. The neighbours rushed Pooja to a private hospital from where she was taken to the Divisional Hospital in Kabirchaura where doctors declared her dead.
Pooja’s family who also lives in Varanasi allege Aftab’s family pressure prompted Pooja to commit suicide
Pooja Patel’s father Shivkumar confirmed that the duo fell in love five years ago. For almost two years, Pooja lived with Aftab in a rented house near Fatman in Sigra, Varanasi. After that, for the next three years, they lived in a rented house belonging to one Ishwar Chandra in Badi Gabi, Varanasi. Pooja’s mother Kiran Patel, confirmed that a Maulvi had read the duo’s Nikah in this rented house.
Pooja’s parents told that for the last three years, the duo was living happily until Aftab’s mother came to live with them after three years. She did not like Pooja and wanted to her to be out of her son’s life. It was on her instructions that Aftab started harassing her. He started coming back home drunk and beat Pooja. Even on the night of the incident, Pooja’s family alleged that Aftab had beaten her up. Fed up of these quarrels and torture, Pooja committed suicide, said Kiran Patel.
Aftab’s version
Meanwhile, Aftab, Pooja’s husband, told Jagran that Pooja wanted to become a model and had gone to Mumbai before the lockdown to pursue her dreams. He said that when she wanted to go back to Mumbai, he tried explaining to her that their child was young and he needed his mother’s attention and care. Aftab said that he told Pooja that it would be difficult for him to raise the child alone. The argument over this increased on the night of the incident and Aftab went to sleep in another room. After a while, when Aftab knocked on the door of Pooja’s room when he heard no sound of the cooler or the fan from her room. Aftab said that he got suspicious when he did not get the sound of her mobile because Pooja was addicted to PUBG and she often played the game on her mobile. “When no sound came from the room, then I looked through the window and saw Pooja hanging from the fan”, said Aftab to the Hindi Daily Jagran.
India is on its path to become a five trillion-dollar economy. For a country with so much to look forward to, it is essential to intensify the research and development of sources of clean energy. Since 2014, India has worked extensively in increasing energy production using cleaner sources such as solar power and wind power. However, experts are now showing concerns that in the future, the e-waste produced because of solar panels will be a menace as currently, there is very little scope to recycle it. On the other hand, there is one energy source that is cleaner and has a lot of potentials, and that is Nuclear fusion energy.
It is a matter of pride for India that it is an active partner of a project dedicated to developing fusion technology. A group of 35 nations, including India, came together in 2004 to build the world’s largest magnetic fusion device, TOKAMAK. The aim is to develop technology that can produce energy using fusion technology on a large scale. As it will be a carbon-free energy source, it will have a substantial positive impact on the environment. For India, the technology may mean getting rid of the highly polluting thermal power plants that are burning coal in the next few decades. It has to be noted that India produced 729.10 Million Tonnes of coal in the financial year 2019-2020.
The ITER project
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor or ITER is an ambitious project to develop sustainable and affordable fusion technology to produce clean energy. 35 nations are currently working together in southern France to build the world’s largest magnetic fusion device known as TOKAMAK. The main aim is to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy. It can be compared to developing a small scale Sun right here on earth. The production of energy is based on the same principles that Sun and other stars use to produce energy.
Thousands of engineers and scientists have contributed so far to ITER’s design since its idea first emerged in the scientific community back in 1985. The European Union, India, Japan, Russia, the United States, Korea, and China engaged in a 35-year collaboration to build and operate the ITER experimental device.
What will ITER do?
European TOKAMAK JET (1997) holds the world record of fusion power. It produced 16 MW of fusion power from a total input heating power of 24 MW. The amount of fusion energy TOKAMAK can produce directly proportional to the number of fusion reactions that can take place at its core.
The project aims to develop a large-scale experimental device capable of producing 500 MW of fusion power using 50 MW of input heating power. It has to be kept in mind that the experiment aims to produce net energy gain. It will not capture the energy as electricity but will pave the path for the technology that can do so. The ITER TOKAMAK will be the first fusion device that will produce more energy than it consumes.
The scientists working on the project are confident that the deuterium-tritium plasmas in ITER will produce much more fusion energy than current capabilities, and it will remain stable for a longer duration. In the later stages, scientists will try to demonstrate the feasibility of producing tritium within the vacuum vessel as currently, the world supply of tritium that is used with deuterium to fuel the fusion reaction is not sufficient to cover the future needs. Another aspect of the project is to develop the technology in a way that has a negligible impact on the environment.
The first Plasma at ITER is scheduled for December 2025. The machine will be powered up for the first time. The central TOKAMAK building was handed over to the TIER Organization in March 2020 to start the machine assemble. In July 2020, India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Heavy Engineering Ltd sent a 3800-tonne cryostat, which is a giant vacuum chamber for the machine. As per the July data, 70.5 percent of the project execution to First Plasma is complete.
India’s contribution to ITER
When India joined the project formally in 2005, 9.1 percent of the construction costs fell on India’s shoulders. The total cost of the project is 24 billion US dollars. All members working on the project are contributing in-kind and in cash. India is contributing 2.2 billion US dollars or 20,000 crore rupees that includes both monetary support and components.
Apart from monetary support, several key components including cryostat (manufactured by L&T and delivered in June 2020), cryo lines and cryo distribution system, in-wall shielding, cooling system and heat rejection system, ICRF source system, power supplies for DNB, ICRF and other systems, gyrotron support and diagnostics support are being provided by India.
Trained and qualified nuclear scientists from India are working on the project. Currently, there are around 25 scientists lodged at ITER from India, gaining important knowledge about the project. Recently, ITER appointed Nalinish Nagaich as head of corporate. He oversees human resources, finance, procurement and contracts, information technology, and project control. Before joining ITER, he has worked on top ranks at Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).
Problems from Indian side and what India can do
Though India’s in-kind contributions have been on time and Bernard Bigot, the director-general of ITER, has praised India’s contribution calling India’s work on the cryostat “an unprecedented engineering challenge and achievement,” there are several issues where India has to step up.
Lack of manpower
The first problem is with manpower. As per the regulations, India can deploy scientists in sync with the contribution it is making. As India’s contribution stands at 9.1 percent, there can be as many as 95 Indian nuclear scientists gaining knowledge at the ITER. However, the data suggests that the number of scientists India has sent since 2016 stands at a maximum of 4.8%instead of 9.1%. At present, only 25 scientists are working in the project instead of 95 allowed for India. The lack of manpower is resulting in the loss of crucial knowledge and expertise that India can gain from the project.
Bigot, during an interview, mentioned that the Department of Atomic Energy or DAE has hundreds of bright scientists working on various projects. He said that he fails to understand why India is not sending more scientists to work on the ITER. They will gain unmatchable experience while working with colleagues from 35 other countries.
The major problem with the said policy in the context of ITER is that such projects run for multiple decades. Due to the strict policy in place, the Indian scientists who had worked for five years have to leave the opportunity of gaining more knowledge and experience on the project.
There is a policy in India that scientists can join projects like ITER for only for five years. Korea, too had such policy in the past, but to improve its contributions, they have amended the policy. What India can do to improve its stand in the ITER is to increase the number of applicants for different positions in ITER and relax the policy so that qualified scientists can work for long term on such projects.
Lack of financial support
The other problem that ITER has brought up is in-cash contributions. Bigot said that India has majorly defaulted in terms of the in-cash contributions. Since 2017, India has been unable to fulfill its promise. He added that the other member states are ‘very unhappy’ with India. The outstanding amount now touches Rs.1,000 crore. Though India has fulfilled in-kind contributions by sending supplies, the in-cash contribution helps to defray the labor cost.
Bigot said, “This year is very crucial, and India should pay its money as soon as possible.” Bigot adds, “I am very sorry to see India facing difficulty in arranging the in-cash component.” Bigot, normally a mild-mannered atomic diplomat, says, ‘if the [Indian] cash does not arrive, ITER will be in danger.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drN4RQ958bM
At this time, the Indian government must speed up clearing dues in terms of in-cash contributions for ITER. Bigot said that there is no doubt that India has played its role very well in supplying the components for the project but to assemble the components at the site, manpower is required. The experts hired for the project need to be paid, and without adequate in-cash contributions, ITER can’t continue.
India’s history with fusion technology and how ITER can help in Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaar
India is not new to fusion technology. ADITYA TOKAMAK, the first TOKAMAK designed and fabricated in India by the Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, was commissioned in 1989. BHEL, L&T, and several other companies and organizations have worked together and gained knowledge and experience from the project.
India has been working on SST-1 (or Steady State Superconducting Tokamak) since 1995. Its second part, SST-2 dubbed as DEMO, has already been commissioned with an aim to develop a full-fledged nuclear fusion reactor to produce electricity. Equipped with several new features including D-T plasma, Test Blanket Module, Biological shielding and an improved diverter, SST-2 will be deployed in the state of Gujarat. As India is moving ahead with Atmanirbhar Abhiyaan, in-house nuclear fusion technology can help to solve major environmental issues like pollution and climate change that arise as an unwanted by-product of industrialization by reducing carbon footprint and nuclear waste.
With ample contributions in terms of financed and manpower to the ITER project, India’s in-house fusion reactor can become a reality quicker than anticipated. There is no doubt that India has decades of experience in nuclear fusion technology. However, ITER TOKAMAK can provide crucial knowledge about the technology to develop a fusion reactor that can produce more energy than it consumes.
How nuclear fusion is better than nuclear fission
In Fission, a neutron slams into a larger atom. The collision forces the atom to excite and split into two smaller atoms. Additional neutrons are released in this process that can initiate a chain reaction. At the time when an atom splits, it releases a tremendous amount of energy. Most commonly, Uranium and Plutonium are used in nuclear fission reactors as they are easy to initiate and control.
On the other hand, in Fusion, two atoms slam together to form a heavier atom. For example, when two hydrogen atoms fuse, they form one helium atom. It is the same process that is happening in the Sun. It creates enormous amounts of energy in the process, multiple times more than nuclear fission. Also, there are no highly radioactive fission products. As the by-product of fusion is helium, an inert gas that has a negligible impact on the environment, it is safer to use.
The issue here is that the nuclear fusion reaction is much harder than it may sound. The scientists are working for decades to develop a sustainable nuclear fusion reactor that can produce more energy than it consumes. Fusion is difficult to sustain for a longer duration, and ITER TOKAMAK is an ambitious project to attain a sustainable fusion reaction that can last longer and produce more energy than it consumes. If India steps up in time and does its part in terms of manpower and monetary support, the future of fusion technology in India can be much better.
India’s recent statement on ITER
In a joint statement, India and EU said at the 15th India-EU Summit on 15th July that they will continue to work together on the fusion research cooperation within the ITER project. On 28th July, when the assembly of the ITER TOKAMAK started, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the ITER organization for their hard work and success. He mentioned the Indian philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” as the entire world is working together for the betterment of mankind. He said that India is proud of its fair share of contributions in developing the technology. India has shown its interest in the development of the technology and has contributed to par the requirement in-kind.
Importance of Indian scientists staying for a longer span at ITER
The construction of the project will be completed in 2025, with a timeline of 18 years. After the construction completes, the operation phase will be of 20 years. As per the policy, Indian scientists of the Department of Atomic Energy can only stay at ITER for five years. No scientist can gain the full experience of the design, construction, and operation. The decreasing number of Indian IO staff is problematic as it reduces our capacity to achieve the required know-how. It is also impacting the position of India in the decision making process at several levels within the organization.
On the other hand, China has maintained Chinese IO staff at 10% that is helping it to gain the required knowledge. After returning from ITER, scientists do not actively participate in the development of fusion technology and shift to their previous role in the organization, making their role at ITER obsolete for India’s ambition in nuclear fusion technology. The government of India has to intervene and amend the current policies regarding the tenure of the stay of Indian IO staff. To ensure India gets the required knowledge of design, construction, commissioning, and operation of the large-scale fusion reactor, the government needs to improve its position in the eyes of the ITER organization.
Swami Agnivesh, a controversial political figure is saffron garb, passed away on Friday after prolonged illness due to liver cirrhosis. Agnivesh was unique in that even though he donned the saffron garb, he received passionate condolences from only the liberal end of the political spectrum while others preferred to ignore his passing entirely.
Social media was overflowing with condolences when news of his death broke out. Weirdly, however, all the messages came from only one end of the political spectrum. Controversial actress Swara Bhasker deemed Swami Agnivesh to be the true embodiment of ‘Hindu Dharm’.
Umar Khalid, the JNU scholar who is under the scanner for his alleged role in the Delhi Riots in February, mourned his loss and claimed that “The people’s movements have lost a dear friend.”
It was an honour having known you, Swami Agnivesh ji. The people’s movements have lost a dear friend. But we will take forward your fight against inequality, bigotry, superstition and ignorace. That will be the real tribute to you! pic.twitter.com/vkHpQhEh4p
Javed Akhtar took the opportunity to bid a final farewell to the controversial activist.
This world has lost one more noble human being Swami Agnivesh . His resilience against the bonded labour had given a new life to lakhs of men women and children . Good bye Swami ji .
Communists paid tributes to him as well. “A lifelong crusader against social slavery and bigotry,” they called him.
Swami Agnivesh is no more. A lifelong crusader against social slavery and bigotry, Agnivesh continued to fight against hate crimes till his last breath. His courage, tenacity and fighting spirit will continue to inspire India’s battle against communal fascism. Salute Swamiji! pic.twitter.com/moaX8NUblZ
On the other side of the spectrum, there was either sheer indifference or an expression of joy or relief. “Good riddance” is how certain people described the passing away of Swami Agnivesh. Thus, quite clearly, the man in saffron evoked sharply contrasting sentiments among people of diverse political factions.
The reason for that can perhaps be found in the manner Swami Agnivesh has conducted himself over the years. He might have worn saffron robes, but his politics was anything but. On every matter under the Sun, he invariably ended up taking a stance that ran contrary to the kind of politics usually practised by men in saffron robes.
His history of raking up controversies goes far back. In 2007, Swami Agnivesh had managed to anger Hindus when he suggested that non-Hindus should be permitted entry into the Puri Jagannath Temple. “We will warn Agnivesh not to make any inflammatory remarks that will hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. His remarks have created resentment among priests. We will send him a letter of warning,” then Puri collector and the deputy chief administrator of the Temple, Rashmi Ranjan Pattnaik, had said.
Four years later. Swami Agnivesh called the Amarnath Yatra a ‘religious deception’. Consequently, there were widespread protests against him. “Swami Agnivesh has passed derogatory remarks about the Amarnath shrine. He called the sacred ice stalagmite, representing Lord Shiva as just another block of ice. We consider this as an insult of our lord. Hence, we are carrying out this demonstration demanding strict action to be taken against him,” Swami Narayandass Puri, head priest of Sangla Shivala Mandir, had stated on the matter.
The matter had subsequently reached the Courts and the Supreme Court had slammed the controversial activist for the remarks that he had made. He was advised to think through his words “many a time before uttering them lest it hurts the sentiments of the people”. In 2015, again, Swami Agnivesh claimed that the Amarnath Yatra was responsible for floods in Kashmir.
“Nobody will dare to tell you this, but I am telling you and you must admit this fact that the Amarnath Yatra whose duration was stretched in a planned way is the source of catastrophe for the people of Kashmir,” he stated. He proceeded to add, “Amarnath yatra is a cocktail. It is the combination of religion and tourism and both the Hindu zealot groups and tourism department want to reap maximum benefits out of it.” He went on to claim, “The increased human traffic is threatening the environment in this fragile ecosystem, a major source of water for the Indus River. Scientists are now grappling with how to protect the headwaters of Kashmir Valley.”
Apart from such antics, he has demanded “peace talks” as the path forward to resolve Maoist terrorist while addressing former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He has also been spotted leading a protest march in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir with terrorist Yasin Malik. At the same time, he has also supported a 30-hour hunger strike against the resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley, who were forced out of their homes by Jihadists.
Swami Agnivesh was also seen in a video calling for a disruption of Anna Hazare’s movement against corruption where he was discussing a plan to end the movement with then UPA Minister Kapil Sibal. Under such circumstances, it is no surprise that he is being hailed by liberals on social media. Using saffron robes as a ruse, he sought to further every radical liberal agenda, albeit unsuccessfully. He helped liberals pretend that they are not ‘anti-Hindu’.
In 2018, he was assaulted by people during his visit to Pakur, Jharkhand. As soon as he came out of the hotel, he was kicked and punched and black flags and slogans were raised against him. Even though he was expelled from the Arya Samaj, people continued to associate Swami Agnivesh with the organisation.
A woman CPI(M) activist was found dead on Thursday night at a one-room building in Udiyankulangara owned by the party in rural Thiruvananthapuram, according to the police probing the case.
The woman, Asha, 41-year-old, had allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling. Asha was an ASHA worker and according to her family was also a member of the CPI(M) party. A suicide note, purportedly written by her, was found from the spot, in which she had named two partymen—local committee member Kottaman Rajan and Branch Secretary Anatharavilakam Joy—for mentally torturing her and accused the party of not paying heed to her complaint.
“Initial investigation indicates this to be suicide. A case has been registered and a probe is underway,” a police official privy to the matter said.
Asha is survived by her husband and two sons. Her brother B Unnikrishnan believes that there could be more to the case than meets the eyes.
CPIM says Asha was just a party sympathiser, not a member
Asha had reportedly attended a committee meeting of the party a few days ago. But, the party had denied that she was a member. Investigations are underway in the suicide case of Asha, and the police will also be ascertaining if she was indeed a member of the party or just a supporter.
While news reports state that the suicide note received from Asha had mentioned only the names of the CPI members, a report published by ‘The News Minute’ says that the suicide note also included financial dealings Asha had unearthed as a Kudumbashree worker.
CPI(M) Thiruvananthapuram district secretary Anavoor Nagappan said that the district committee had not received any complaint raised by the deceased woman and maintained that the woman was just a party sympathiser. He also added that the party would look into the incident, claiming that a probe has been launched because of the names of party members coming up in the alleged suicide note.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh today talked to Indian Navy veteran Madan Sharma who was brutally beaten up by Shiv Sena goons in Maharashtra for sharing a cartoon on CM Uddhav Thackeray.
Spoke to retired naval officer, Shri Madan Sharma who was attacked by hooligans in Mumbai and enquired about his health. Such attacks on Ex-Servicemen is completely unacceptable and deplorable. I wish Madanji a speedy recovery.
Singh tweeted about this from his official Twitter handle. He inquired about Sharma’s health and wished him speedy recovery. He said that such attacks on ex-servicemen were completely unacceptable and deplorable.
Madan Sharma confirmed to Times Now that the Rakshya Mantri had called him and inquired about his health. Rajnath Singh also asked how the incident happened, and he explained everything about the attack by Shiv Sena goons in detail. Sharma also told the defence minister that he is not happy with the way Maharashtra govt is acting recently. He expressed his concern about the state of affairs in the state for the last 3-4 months, and asked the defence minister to do something about it.
#Exclusive | Defence Minister asked if I was doing fine, wished me a speedy recovery: Madan Sharma, assaulted veteran tells TIMES NOW.
When asked, Madan Sharma said that no Shiv Sena leader or minister has contacted him or apologized to him for the brutal attack. He also said that the party leaders may not want to say sorry for him for the act of their party workers as it will hurt their ego. He expressed concern that he and his family may come under attack again after he is recovered from his injuries.
Sharma, who is a 65-year old retired Navy officer, was brutally thrashed by some Shiv Sena goons yesterday after he shared a WhatsApp forward taking a dig at CM Uddhav Thackeray. The six goons who had attacked Sharma were arrested by the Mumbai Police after an FIR was registered by Sharma at Samta Nagar Police Station. However, soon after being arrested they managed to secure bail.
It has almost become a norm in the Shiv Sena coalition ruled Maharashtra that anyone speaking against or criticising the Chief Minister, his son or the state government is slapped with a court case. Navy Veteran Sharma is the latest victim of this censorial of the Maharashtra government. Yesterday, a man from Kolkata was arrested by the Mumbai police for allegedly threatening Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut over. The Mumbai police had traveled all the way to Kolkata especially to nab the man.
The West Bengal Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Friday has filed a chargesheet in the unnatural death of BJP MLA from Hemtabad, Debendranath Roy. The investigative agency has submitted the chargesheet before the Raiganj court.
The West Bengal police had recovered a ‘suicide note‘ that categorically mentioned the names of two individuals, Niloy Sinha and Mabud Ali. The CID had arrested the accused, post which the charge sheet was filed. While the investigative agency did not file a murder case against the duo, they had been booked for harassment and abetment of suicide.
While the autopsy report ruled out any foul play in his death, the family alleged it to be a case of suicide. They have expressed their lack of faith in the CID as it had failed to show them ‘convincing’ evidence. It is pertinent to mention that the hands of Debendranath Roy were tied when his body was discovered hanging from the roof of a closed tea shop.
CID probes the death of Debendranath Roy, contrary to family’s wishes
Although the family members had demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter, the State government instead decided to hand over the case to the CID. The wife of the deceased politician, Chandni Roy, had also approached the Calcutta High Court. However, the Court too disposed of the petition and instead directed CBI to continue with the investigation.
Arrest of Mabud Ali and Niloy Sinha
The West Bengal police had arrested Niloy Singha on July 15 from Mokdumpur in Malda district. Mabud Ali was apprehended in early August while he was planning to evade arrest by changing his location. Earlier, the investigators had informed that the accused had borrowed ₹1 Crore from the BJP leader.
Officer-in-charge of Mothabari police station, Bitul Pal, informed, “Soon after receiving the note from the CID, we explored all our sources. Thus, we came to know that Ali was being sheltered by one of his relatives at Babla village. He was changing his hideout every night to evade the arrest. We arrested him on Friday afternoon when he reached Kashimbazar on a two-wheeler.”
The Death of Debendranath Roy
On July 13, the West Bengal police had recovered the dead body of Debendra Nath Roy, a BJP MLA from Hematabad, in a closed tea shop in the village of Balia in Bindol Panchayat in Rajiganj. Roy was found hanging from the roof of the shop. He had been missing from the previous night.
The shop, from where the corpse of the BJP leader was retrieved, is located about 1.5km from his house. After he went missing on Sunday night, the local area was searched overnight but it was in vain. The family of the BJP MLA has alleged that it is a case of murder. Reportedly, the cops rushed to the crime scene after they received information about the incident.
The Congress party, which has been dealing with an existential crisis in the state of West Bengal, decided to use accused Rhea Chakraborty as a tool to score political brownie points. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of Congress workers hit the streets of West Bengal’s Kolkata on Saturday seeking justice for the actor, calling her ‘daughter of Bengal’. Rhea is currently lodged in Byculla jail after the Narcotics Control Bureau found credible evidence of her involvement in the drug cartel.
The rally was taken out from the Congress office allegedly on the instructions of the Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is also the current president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee. Though he himself was not present during the rally it is being reported that he was the one who had given a call to the party workers to take out the rally.
Kolkata- Congress took out a rally in support of "Bengali Brahmin" Rhea Chakraborty. ?pic.twitter.com/a5ncnRpqjb
The Congress workers chanted slogans in support of Rhea Chakraborty in the rally. They also carried banners and placards claiming that the arrest of Rhea was a part of political conspiracy.
Congress invoke the ‘religion card’ to score political points
It is pertinent to note here, that Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury after taking over as PCC president in Kolkata had described Rhea Chakraborty as a ‘Bengali Brahmin lady’ and called her arrest over drug charges “ludicrous”.
Probably in his desperate attempt to woo the state electorate ahead of the upcoming 2021 West Bengal state elections, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was seen skillfully invoking his party’s one of the oldest and most peddled ‘religion and caste-based’ narrative. Quickly clinching on to the part Bengali lineage of Sushant’s girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, the Congress MP on Wednesday Tweeted: “Rhea’s father is a former military officer who served the nation. Rhea is a Bengali Brahmin lady; justice to actor Sushant Singh Rajput should not be interpreted as justice to a Bihari. The father of Rhea is also entitled to demand justice for his kids, trial by media is an ominous portent for our judicial system. Justice for all is one of the basic tenets of our Constitution.”
Rhea Chakraborty to remain in Byculla jail after her bail plea gets rejected
Meanwhile, Rhea Chakraborty, arrested over drugs charges linked to the Sushant Singh Rajput case, was denied bail today by a Mumbai court. The bail requests of her brother Showik Chakraborty and four other accused were also rejected.
Rhea Chakraborty, in judicial custody till September 22, will stay in Byculla jail at least Tuesday, the earliest she can appeal to the High Court after the written order is released on Monday.
In August 2020, Smt Kanimozhi, daughter of the DMK Patriarch Shri Karunanidhi, and the sitting MP for Thoothukudi, alleged that she was asked if she was an Indian when she refused to respond to a CISF official in Hindi at the airport.
In the wake of this, certain elements in the Tamil movie industry started a campaign of circulating their pictures on social media with the caption ‘I am a Tamil Speaking Indian’ or ‘Hindi Theiyadhu Poda’ – ‘I don’t know Hindi, man!’.
Some sections of Tamil social media celebrities questioned this premise, pointing out that
All DMK MPs have availed of the MP quota to admit children from their constituency into Kendriya Vidyalayas.
Many individuals that are part of the Dravidian movement or related to AIADMK and DMK party functionaries run CBSE schools, that implement the 3-language policy in teaching.
It was at this point that Tamil vLogger Maridhass, who has been in the cross-hairs of the DMK ecosystem for some time now, released a YouTube video on September 11th, 2020. In this video, he alleges that DMK MPs have been using caste considerations and also accepting donations for admitting children using their quota in Kendriya Vidyalayas.
Kendriya Vidyalayas
The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghathan is the single largest chain of CBSE schools in India, for the purpose of providing quality education to children of Central Government employees at nominal cost and to ensure that childrens’ education is not compromised in transfers. The cost of setting up and operating these schools is borne by the Union Ministry of HRD and the premises are constructed on land that is part of premises belonging to Central Government enterprise.
As of 2020, there are 13 lakh students enrolled in 1247 Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country. Kendriya Vidyalaya follows the CBSE’s 3-language policy and teaches some subjects in Hindi. There are 59,000 students enrolled in 50 Kendriya Vidyalayas in Tamil Nadu alone. While the vast majority are children of Central Government employees, there is a smaller quota for children from the local population. Each MP can also recommend up to 10 children from his/her constituency per year to be admitted in the Kendriya Vidyalayas.
Incidentally, none of the MPs from Tamil Nadu has been ever known to give up this privilege on account of their opposition to Hindi imposition. Mr Ma Venkatesan, a prominent young intellectual of Tamil Nadu, tweeted a list of children admitted to Kendriya Vidyalayas in the academic year 2019-2020 in the quota to be availed by Smt Kanimozhi.
சென்ற வருடம் இந்தி எதிர்ப்புப் போராளி திருமதி.கனிமொழி அவர்கள் எட்டுபேரை கட்டாயம் இந்தி படிக்க கேந்திரிய வித்யாலயாவிற்கு பரிந்துரை செய்துள்ளார். இதுதான் திமுக. pic.twitter.com/6PDkwD6bkQ
திமுக MPகள் KV பள்ளிகளுக்கு தன் ஜாதிகாரர்களை மட்டும் அதிகம் பரிந்துரை செய்வர், திமுக MPகள் உதவி செய்ய ஒன்னு காசு கொடுக்கனும் இல்லை ஜாதி பின்புலம் வேண்டும்? இது நியாயமா?
Between their avowed anti-Hindi stance and the habit of using their position as MPs to get children enrolled into Hindi-teaching Kendriya Vidyalayas, the Dravidian MPs from Tamil Nadu have shown quite a disconnect between beliefs and practice.
This seems to cut across party lines. In August 4, 2018, Smt V Sathyabhama, then AIADMK MP for Tiruppur, tweeted that she met Union HRD Minister Shri Javadekar and placed a demand for opening Kendriya Vidyalayas in her district.
Notably, her party has always opposed setting up Navodaya Vidyalayas in Tamil Nadu, which are of the same nature as Kendriya Vidyalayas, except that they are geared towards admitting rural children rather than children of Union Government employees.
Leaving that aside, let us now look at two categories of schools that are CBSE affiliated and apply the 3-language formula, to which all Dravidian parties have expressed opposition – the Navodaya Vidyalayas and private CBSE schools.
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas
The National Policy on Education – 1986 envisaged the set up of centrally funded Middle and High Schools to be set up in rural areas, to provide high quality education to families that have been historically not had access to education due to geographical and socio-economic reasons.
As of 31-03-2019, 661 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are operating in 638 districts of India at a budget of Rs 3213 Crores per annum. The education system, recruitment is similar to the other Central Government run school system – the Kendriya Vidyalayas. These residential schools start from Class VI on a residential basis. The entire cost of education, including boarding, lodging and personal expenses of students are met by the Government. Children are selected from rural backgrounds on the basis of an entrance test. There are reservations for SC/ST/OBC and for girl children.
20% of Navodaya Vidyalaya students that have appeared for IIT JEE have cleared the JEE Advanced paper and 80% of JNV students that appeared for NEET 2019 qualified.
The student body is 2.65 lakh strong – of which 75% are rural, 40% female, 25% SC and 20% ST. While miniscule in comparison to the large population of underprivileged children in the country, it is still a laudable experiment in making good quality education available to them.
The only requirement from the State Government is that 30 acres of land must be made available for each school and premises provided for operation of schools until such time as construction is completed. All information drawn from https://navodaya.gov.in/
However, for decades, all Tamil Dravidian leaders have opposed setting up JNV in Tamil Nadu, on the grounds of Hindi imposition.
Private CBSE schools
According to the CBSE official site in 2020, there were 1171 schools affiliated to the CBSE in Tamil Nadu. This is more than 4-fold growth from 2010 when there were only 250 CBSE schools in the State.
This roughly 10% of all private unaided schools in the State, according to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. We can assume that roughly 13 lakh students, or 10% of the 1.3 crore school student population of Tamil Nadu are enrolled in private CBSE schools. All CBSE schools follow the 3-language formula. As a result, a good number of Tamil Nadu’s children are now learning Hindi.
Since private CBSE schools charge anywhere from 60,000 to 1.5 lakhs or above per year per student, these are students from privileged upper middle-class backgrounds. Of note is the fact that many of these schools are run by party members or relatives from the DMK or AIADMK, both of which have been opposing the Navodaya Vidyalayas.
Crunching the numbers
If we assume that 40 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Schools could have been set up in Tamil Nadu and allowed to operate for 20 years, here are some projections for what could have been possible.
The student body of a JNV, on average is composed of 400 children, of which 50 would be in each graduating class of Std XII. If the standard percentages are applied, 40 of these would be rural, 20 girls, 12 SC and 10 ST.
Over 20 years, this would imply 32000 rural students, 16000 girls, 9600 SC and 8000 ST students would have benefited.
All of this at the mere cost to the Tamil Nadu State Government of identifying and allocating some 1200 acres of poromboke land to the school. While this seems like a large sum, we must keep in mind that 37,000 Government run schools operate in the State, which represent more than 75000 acres of land that are already being utilized for the purpose of education. Another 1200 acres wuld hardly make a difference to the land bank under the control of the TN Government.
How much does the Government of Tamil Nadu Spend?
The Government of Tamil Nadu spend Rs 31,000 crores per year on school education. There are 6500 private aided schools in Tamil Nadu. Roughly 13-15% of the budget would be spent on teacher salaries or Rs 4000 crores. Even if we take a very conservative estimate of 50% of these schools being privately owned, the Government of Tamil Nadu spends Rs 2000 crores per year in subsidizing minority educational institutions.
There are 280 Urdu Medium schools in Tamil Nadu, of which 66 are Government-run. Even among the other 214 privately run Urdu medium schools, there could be a good number that is aided by the Government of Tamil Nadu. We could not find conclusive figures on the list of private aided Urdu medium schools online.
Even if the amount spent on JNVs were simply transferred to the Government of Tamil Nadu, it would be Rs 135 crores per year, or 0.4% of the annual school education budget. One wonders how this would make any material difference to the working of the School Education Department.
Why this resistance?
As we saw from the numbers, even if Navodaya Vidyalayas were allowed, the student body would be miniscule. They would not make a dent in the growth of private CBSE schools, since the target demographic for these two sectors are vastly different. They would not affect enrolment in schools that are run by Tamil Government (54 lakh students in 37,000 schools) or private aided schools (28 Lakh students in 8400 schools).
What they affect are several narratives
That learning Hindi in schools would affect the growth of Tamil
That central entrance examinations are biased against Tamils and specifically rural children from under-privileged backgrounds.
When people from rural, underprivileged backgrounds can see children from similar backgrounds take up CBSE education and succeed, they will begin to question the dominant narrative of the Dravidian movement.
And that will destroy one of the primary tricks of the Dravidian delusion among the rural under-privileged masses that have been the driving thrust of their movement.
A notice has been issued by Delhi High Court to ‘journalist’ Barkha Dutt in a plea seeking transfer of the criminal complaint filed by her against Congress MP Kapil Sibal to special PMLA court from Patiala House Court.The notice was issued by a single-judge Bench of Justice Anup J Bhambhani to Barkha as no one appeared for her in the court. The next hearing of the matter is scheduled on November 2.
Dutt had filed a complaint against Kapil Sibal, his wife Promila Sibal and their TV network company called Analog Media last year for allegedly committing a offence under section 420 of the IPC read with section 120B of the IPC. Barkha Dutt had accused Kapil Sibal and his wife, who were the promoters of the Tiranga TV, of firing the journalists working at Tiranaga TV without prior notice.
She had demanded damages worth Rs 74 lakhs along with interest from Sibal for allegedly terminating her contract early. It was alleged by Dutt that the senior employees of the channel including herself were not paid salaries by the channel for a year. She has compared Kapil Sibal with fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya for not paying the salaries of the chanel’s employees. The channel had shut down in July last year.
Dutt had also accused Promila Sibal of using derogatory language for the female journalists of the channel for which she had filed a complaint in the National Commission of Women (NCW). Kapil Sibal had denied the allegations leveled by Dutt claiming that the ‘journalist’ was already fired from the channel on disciplinary grounds before it was shut down.
A video has been recently doing the rounds on the Internet in which demonstrators are seen protesting against the Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
Opposition politicians and several social media users have shared the video, alleging that the Union Minister for Railways, Piyush Goyal, barely managed to escape the wrath of angry protesters staging a demonstration against him in Lucknow.
The video was shared by the National Spokesperson of Samajwadi Party, I.P. Singh, who said in a tweet that Railway Minister Piyush Goyal somehow managed to escape the beating after policemen somehow escorted him to safety. He also ominously added that in the coming times, BJP ministers across the country will be beaten by public.
रेल मंत्री पीयूष गोयल लखनऊ में पीटते-पीटते बचे पुलिस वाले किसी तरह से उन्हें बचाकर लेकर भागे,आगे देशभर में भाजपा मंत्रियों और ऊपर वालों की भी जनता पिटाई करेगी। pic.twitter.com/gq7BtiKHEh
Another politician, Piyush Mishra, In-charge of the National Information and Technology & National Spokesperson of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, also tweeted the same video, claiming Railway Minister Piyush Goyal ran away from Lucknow after hearing negative slogans against him.
Similarly, social media users have also shared the video, ostensibly a video clip from Zee News report which says that protesters had mounted a demonstration against the Railway Minister.
रेल मंत्री प्यूष गोयल की बात रेलवे कर्मचारियों ने नहीं सुनी।जय कर नारे लगाए रेल मंत्री मुरादाबाद। pic.twitter.com/O2cIbwS3mf
However, the video that has been shared by political functionaries and various social media users to allege that demonstrators are up in arms against the Railway Minister at Lucknow, is actually from November 2018. The video is from a Zee News report from two years ago showing protests launched by Railway employees against minister Piyush Goyal.
In fact, the propagandists who have tried to pass off the protests as a recent one did not even bother to check the video as it carried the date of the news broadcast. In the bottom left of the video that is going viral on the Internet, one can observe the date of the report which says November 17, 2018.
Even the official Twitter account of Police Commissionerate Lucknow has responded to the tweet by I.P. Singh, saying that the video shared by him is from 2018.
In addition to this, the official Twitter account of Piyush Goyal’s office had already issued a clarification in November 2018, refuting the allegations of protesters attacking Railway Minister in Lucknow. Categorically denying the misleading reports, the tweet said that there was no attack against Piyush Goyal or his car and nobody was injured.
Certain incorrect news reports have appeared regarding Railway Minister’s speech at today’s event of Northern Railway Men’s Union in Lucknow. It is to clarify that there was no attack on Shri Piyush Goyal or his car and nobody was injured.
Opposition indulged in peddling motivated social media campaign against the Modi government
However, it appears that propagandists have decided to run a string of motivated social media campaigns against the central government. Recently, old videos of protests and out-of-context images were circulated on the Internet to attack the central government on its decision to continue with the JEE and NEET examinations.
A large number of inflammatory social media posts had come up in the aftermath of the government’s decision going ahead with the revised schedule. The social media posts, mostly made by recently created Twitter and Facebook accounts, and based out of India, demanded the deferment of the competitive exams that were scheduled to happen in September. Through these posts, the rabble-rousers attempted to whip up anti-government sentiments, piggybacking on the discontent surrounding the government’s denial to adjourn the exams further.
Continuing with this chicanery, the social media propagandists and opposition politicians have resorted to sharing an old video, that was already called out by the Railway Minister as “incorrect”, to falsely project that there is growing dissatisfaction among the people against the BJP government.
