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PETA’s Eid campaign: Pontificates on every Hindu festival, but still cannot dare to ask Muslims to stop slaughtering animals

OpIndia Staff
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PETA’s Eid campaign: Pontificates on every Hindu festival, but still cannot dare to ask Muslims to stop slaughtering animals

In what came across as a shoddy counter-balancing move, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has once again taken to Twitter to urge states to stop ‘illegal transport and slaughtering of animals’ ahead of the celebration of Eid al-Adha, 2020.

Screenshot of PETA India’s tweet

As per a PETA India blog, the organisation has sent out a round of letters to directors-general of police of all state governments and Union Territories, urging them to take precautionary measures to stop illegal transport and killing of animals leading up to Bakri Eid or Eid al-Adha. The letters have also highlighted two points regarding the sacrifice of animals.

This move surely comes in as an afterthought to re-build the credibility it lost after pulling down an anti-goat slaughter poster to please the Islamists and selectively target Hindu traditions, by launched a Rakshbandhan campaign in Ahmedabad featuring a cow urging people to ‘give up leather’ for Rakhi.

However, PETA still does not seem to have mustered the courage to directly urge Muslims to give up meat. Instead, it keeps telling Hindus how to celebrate their festivals. Even in their current campaign, they are asking for stopping ‘illegal’ transport and slaughter, which are already, well, illegal and often attract punishment by the authorities.

PETA’s inability to direct its campaign towards Muslims and asking the community to stop killing animals has been pointed out by many.

Replies to PETA

Author Shefali Vaidya, against whom PETA had recently launched an ad hominem trolling campaign after she openly called out their hypocrisy and fraud, reminded PETA that they are yet to develop courage to truly stand up for animal rights.

Shefali Vaidya’s tweet challenging PETA, daring them to ask the Muslim community to be kind to animals

PETA India slammed for its double-standards

Recently, PETA India received a lot of flak for removing hoardings in Lucknow, after Maulanas said anti-goat slaughter hoardings ‘hurt their religious sentiments’. Peta India in a bid to rebuild its tainted image, had, at the beginning of this month, put up ‘Turn vegan’ anti-goat slaughter poster with a picture of a goat, in Lucknow.

The poster predictably riled up a set of influential Islamic clerics who expressed their vehement protest over the banner and asked for its removal. The Islamic clerics asserted that the banner showing a goat was deliberately put up in Lucknow ahead of the Muslim festival of Bakrid to target the minority community. The thought of displeasing a certain section of people was so daunting that Peta India had promptly pulled down the hoarding.

PETA India’s selective activism against Hindu festivals

The fact is that PETA India has always been partial towards a particular community, It has long been known to have selectively target Hindu traditions and customs while giving other religions a free pass. 

PETA India’s hypocrisy was further exposed when columnist Shefali Vaidya on Monday took to Twitter to share screenshots from PETA India’s website, which spuriously spoke about encouraging ‘kindness in animals’ amongst Muslims while sharing guidelines on how to slaughter them ‘effectively’. By, advocating veganism to the entire world, and diversely tutoring on how to execute an ‘effective’ slaughter, PETA India has reached completely new levels of double-standards.

Well, however, hard it tries to clean its image, it is a well-established fact that PETA is one such company which has been hypocritical to such an extent that they look more amusing than concerned in their approach towards stopping atrocities on animals in India.

Recently, the NGO had faced the ire of Netizens for its selective and biased campaigning. Soon after removing ‘Turn Vegan’ posters, since it had hurt the ‘religious sentiments’ of Muslim clerics, PETA India had launched a Rakshbandhan campaign in Ahmedabad featuring a cow urging people to give up leather for Rakhi. This had irked the social media users who went all out to then expose the animal rights advocacy group. The needless pontification directed at a Hindu festival that in no way harms any animal had irritated a lot of people on social media.

Earlier, the world’s largest animal rights organisation had on the occasion of Janamashtami, which is a widely celebrated Hindu festival in India, appealed to the people to use ‘vegan ghee’ in place of the ghee made from cow’s milk. According to PETA, cows are harmed while they are milked, while goats are not when they are slaughtered ‘effectively’.

The fact is that PETA India has always been partial towards a particular community. The organisation which otherwise like to maintain a stoic silence during festivals which are celebrated with large-scale animal slaughtering, becomes suddenly vocal when it comes to Hindus and their beliefs.

Mumbai police bust racket of fake social media accounts, may question celebrities including Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai police bust racket of fake social media accounts, may question celebrities including Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone

Celebrities often brag about their social media presence and number of followers. Their engagement on social media platforms improves the chances of grabbing endorsements and projects. The Mumbai Police Crime Branch has recently busted a racket in which they unearthed more than 50 companies that were involved in selling social media followers, likes and comments. It is alleged that many high-profile celebrities, including Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, have taken services from them. Police have summoned ten high profile personalities to question them. Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police Vinay Kumar Chaubey said, “We have investigated and found as many as 54 firms involved in this racket. SIT comprising Crime Branch along with Cyber Cell has been formed which will help in investigating this case.”

What is the Fake social media account case?

Mumbai Police Crime Branch has received two separate complaints, one by singer Bhoomi Trivedi and other by actor Koena Mitra, about fake social media accounts made on their names. Trivedi alleged that someone was bragging about talking to Bhoomi to get her account verified. The conversation was with a fake profile of Bhoomi Trivedi. During the investigation, police found out that the account was created by a man who runs a company to provide fake followers, likes, comments and other social media related services.

Investigators found out that a large number of such companies in operating in India as well as in the international market. Police have shortlisted 54 such companies in India that are involved in providing “fake” services. On 14th July, Central Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the crime branch arrested one Abhishek Davade who provide such services. The 21-year-old service provider was using bots or fake profiles to increase engagement of his clients. To provide such services, Davade was using more than 170 accounts in which he allegedly added more than five lakh followers to make them look genuine.

After interrogating Davade, police found out that he has provided services to no less than 18 celebrities in the past one year. Police also found out that he had made transactions worth Rs. 9 lakh in the last six months. Eighteen celebrities have been so far listed by the police who may get a notice for questioning. As of now, ten of them, including two high profile actresses, will be questioned. Media reports are suggesting that these two actresses are Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone.

Police have also arrested one Kashif Mansoor who was running even bigger racket under his website AVMSMM. He had allegedly sold more than 2.33 crore followers in the past few months. He was arrested from his house in Jogeshwari. Police said that he would be produced in court for further police custody so that they can question him. This is the second arrest in the case. Police have recorded the statement of several customers via video conferencing in the past few days.

How fake engagement works on social media?

Social media is a fascinating world. It does not matter who you are. What matters is how many followers you have and how frequent are you with the engagement on your social media profiles. The more active you are and the more engagement you get from the followers, the better are the chances that you will get endorsements. Those who get such endorsements from brands are known as influencers.

There are different levels of influencers. Micro-influencers are those who have 10,000 to 15,000 followers. Mid-range influencers are those who have somewhere close to 50,000 and five lakh followers. High-profile influencers will have more than 5 lakh followers. Most of these influencers are from film or sports industry. Brands, considering their number of followers and frequency at which they update the profile, approach them for endorsements. Anyone, who has more than 10,000 followers on social media platforms, can be a good source of leads. Bigger brands go for high profile celebrities, and new brands often approach micro or mid-range influencers.

Because of the possible income, the trend of buying followers, likes and other types of engagement has increased in the past few years. According to a report, India ranks third in terms of fake profiles. Analytics firm HypeAuditor said fake engagement is quite popular in the US, Brazil and India. Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook often delete fake profiles or bot accounts from their respective platforms to ensure fair practice. However, the sheer number of companies indulging in this on the international level makes it almost impossible for these companies to put an end to this fake engagement business.

As per the regulations of the social media platforms, it is not permitted to create fake profiles or impersonate someone else. However, because there is no law in most of the countries against online fake accounts, the culprits are away from the range of law enforcement agencies. In most of the cases, the social media platforms simply remove the accounts and close the case.

Fake profiles or “fan accounts” of celebrities is quite a nascence on social media platforms. They not only impersonate as the celebrities in many cases but also cause major distress in the lives of the celebrities by leaking their personal information, pictures and videos. Such accounts often indulge in cyber crimes and dupe people out of money.

How to detect a fake profile on social media?

There are several websites and tools available which you can use to detect fake accounts or fake engagement. These tools, also known as Social Media Auditors, are often used by marketing companies to see if the influencer is worth approaching or not. However, most of the brands do not bother to check the profiles of the influencers deeper than just checking the number of followers. It can be considered as a fraud on influencers’ part if they are not able to provide the engagement they have promised to project based on the number of followers. However, in the lack of law and lack of knowledge on the brands’ end, so-called influencers often dodge the bullet.

The simplest way to detect fake followers and engagement without using any tool is by checking their engagement. On average, celebrities get five to ten per cent engagement rate based on the number of followers. That means, if the user has one lakh followers, on an average he/she will get 5000 to 10,000 likes on the posts. If the celebrity is active, the engagement rate would be higher. Hypeauditor said in one of their reports that abnormal growth in the number of followers, likes and engagement is also one of the signs of fake engagement.

Now, there is a possibility to buy engagement too. In such cases scrolling through the comments will give you an idea of the engagement is genuine or not. Most of the real users like to post more than “what a picture” or “that’s amazing” type of replies. Also, if you find the same replies from a lot of accounts in comments, there is a possibility that these are fake replies. It also works perfectly on Twitter. OpIndia recently reported about a company that sells RTs, followers and more on Twitter. Political parties often take such services to improve hashtags’ ranking and put them in the trending list.

How much users pay for such engagement?

In general, the price may vary from Rs.100 to Rs.1000 per 1000 followers. It depends on the quality of the accounts that will be following you. To avoid detection, these companies maintain some of the social media accounts to project them as real. The clients who decide to pay more get engagement from such accounts. For likes, the price may vary from Rs.5 to Rs.50,000 depending on how many likes one wants. Some companies even offer comments where you can input a set of comments to post, and their bots post the comments from fake profiles. Is buying followers illegal?

It is an issue for debate. Though no law is stopping from buying or selling followers, if it is used to cheat someone, then under the law, the victim can file a case of forgery, cheating and others. In most of the cases, such services are harmless and used by people to satisfy their own ego. But if someone is creating fake profiles of celebrities to promote their own services, it is not only unethical but goes against the law.

Keeping in mind the vastness of the case, the crime branch has decided to expand their investigation. In the next few weeks, the main concentration may revolve around understanding the racket and interrogating owners and clients of such companies.

Congress, Samajwadi Party leaders want mosques opened for Bakri Eid even as coronavirus cases surge

OpIndia Staff
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Congress, Samajwadi Party leaders want mosques opened for Bakri Eid even as coronavirus cases surge

Even as the coronavirus cases continue to rise in India, Islamic clerics, leaders from the opposition parties, including members of Samajwadi Party and Congress have demanded the opening of Idgahs and mosques ahead of the festival of Eid al-Adha.

According to the reports, Islamic clerics from Darul Uloom Deoband has written a letter to the Yogi Adityanath government making five demands ahead of the Eid festival.

In a letter, Darul Uloom spokesman Mufti Ashraf Usmani had demanded that Muslims should be allowed to offer namaaz in mosques with proper social distancing on Bakrid. The imposition of ‘five persons in a mosque’ rule should be lifted, demanded Usmani.

The Islamic cleric also called for arrangements for the slaughter of animals and lifting of the ban on the sale of goats. The Darul Uloom spokesman also asked the government to allow markets and shopping malls to be open ahead of the festival.

The cleric said that the festival will fall on either July 31 or August 1, while demanding that the government should shift the weekly lockdown to Tuesday and Wednesday.

Samajwadi Party MP asks govt to open mosques, Idgahs on Eid al-Adha

Despite rising coronavirus cases, Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal, Shafiqur Rehman Barq, has also demanded that Muslims be allowed to offer community prayers in mosques on Bakrid. Shafiqur Barq submitted a memorandum to Sambhal district magistrate Avinash Krishan and said that offering individual prayers at homes is not enough.

“Only limited people are allowed to offer prayers in mosques. This won’t be sufficient. Authorities must allow all Muslims to offer namaaz in order to get rid of COVID-19 pandemic and save the world,” he said.

Barq also said that markets should be organised like last years for Bakrid so that Muslims can make their purchases for carrying out the holy sacrifice.

“When Muslims pray together and seek forgiveness from Allah, especially on this day, it never goes in vain. I request authorities to grant permission to offer community namaaz on the day and let people pray together to make the world free from this pandemic. We will ensure that all precautionary measures are taken and COVID-19 protocols are adhered to,” added the Samajwadi Party MP.

Congress leaders writes to Karnataka CM to allow mass prayers

Senior Congress leader and Karnataka MLC CM Ibrahim has written a letter to Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa requesting the government to allow Muslims to worship at mosques on the occasion of Eid. The senior Congress leader also said that they would follow all the social distancing norms during the festival.

CM Ibrahim also asked the fellow members from the community to avoid slaughtering animals near their residential premises and urged them to perform all the slaughtering activities at nearby abattoirs. The former Union Minister also directed the Muslims to stay away from activities that hurts the sentiments of other communities.

Criticism of Muslim rulers trigger liberals and Islamists, as they come together to attack IAS officer on Twitter

OpIndia Staff
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Criticism of Muslim rulers trigger liberals and Islamists, as they come together to attack IAS officer on Twitter

IAS officer Somesh Upadhyay on Tuesday ruffled quite a few feathers by criticising the Islamic invaders who ruled India for centuries.

Upadhyay pointed out that Oxford University was built around same time as the Sultans were busy building their own tombs in India. The ‘liberals’ and Islamists were not able to digest the truth and attacked him on Twitter.

One Twitter user ‘Mahir Abbas’ claimed that the Sultans and Mughals developed many madarsas in India which gave India ‘brightest mind of that time’. Abbas forgot to mention that the same Sultans destroyed Indian centres for learning like Nalanda, which was founded way back in 5th century. Moreover, now the same madarsas in India are breeding ground for Islamic terrorists.

Subconsciously Rizvi proved Upadhyay’s point that Sultans were busy building tombs (Taj Mahal) in India. One Islamist unknowingly even ended up referring to the Congress as ‘Sultans’.

Liberals also joined in an attacked Upadhyay and cast aspersions that his tweet criticising the Islamic invaders will assure him a promotion under the BJP-led NDA government.

And like clockwork, went after his employment.

He was also attacked for his ‘Brahmin privilege’.

Self proclaimed ‘historians’ thought of giving a lesson or two in history to Upadhyay.

India may not have had the Islamic invaders ruling India at the time Oxford was established, but they were busy looting India. Mahmood Ghazni invaded India and looted the Somnath temple for the first time in 1024 AD. Five years after Oxford University was established. In 1175 AD, Mahmood Ghori invaded India in 1175 AD.

Further, she talks about the ‘madarsa’ at Qutub Complex. Well, UNESCO World Heritage list mentions that the two temples were built using ‘reused material from 20 Brahman temples’. By the way, that is just a politically correct and watered down way of saying built after destroying Hindu temples. As per the British Library, the Qutub Minar complex in southern Delhi was initiated by Qutub-ud-din Aibak, the first Sultan of Delhi and the founder of the Slave Dynasty. “It was built on the site of Rai Piathora’s Hindu temple using the remains from 27 other Hindu and Jain temples. Carved Hindu motifs on salvaged and recyled masonry are found throughout the mosque in combination with later Islamic arabesque patterns and Quranic inscriptions.”

Later, Upadhyay took to Twitter to point out how he was attacked relentlessly by the so-called liberals who call themselves champions of freedom of speech, for exercising the very right.

Hypocrisy much?

Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani becomes the world’s fifth-richest man according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list

OpIndia Staff
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Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani becomes the world’s fifth-richest man according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list

Reliance Industries chairperson Mukesh Ambani has become the fifth richest man in the world with a net worth of Rs 5.702 lakh crore ($76.2 billion), according to Forbes. The 63-year-old Indian business tycoon secured the fifth position in the list, surpassing Berkshire Hathaway CEO and legendary investor Warren Buffett, and Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

With the shares of the oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries hit an all-time high of Rs 2,010 per share on July 22 (Wednesday), billionaire Mukesh Ambani added $2.9 billion to his net worth in a single day.

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani grabs the 5th position in the Forbes list

Ambani’s net worth increased by $2.3 billion on July 23 (Thursday), according to Forbes, marking a jump of 3.11 per cent. Ambani is only next to Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose wealth is pegged at approximately $88 billion.

The billionaire list according to Forbes

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos tops the list, followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. French billionaire Bernard Arnault and the family is in the third position, who owns the luxury goods company Louis Vuitton.

The chairman of Reliance Industries had recently declared that his company had become a net debt-free company. “I have fulfilled my promise to the shareholders by making Reliance net debt-free much before our original schedule of 31st March 2021,” he said, as his group reached the milestone.

Tech-giant Google to invest 4.5 billion USD in Reliance Jio

Reliance had recently sold a nearly 33 per cent stake in its digital services arm, Jio Platforms, to prominent investors including internet giants Facebook and Google. Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance India chairman had confirmed that Google will invest over Rs 33,737 crore, or USD 4.5 billion for a 7.7 per cent stake in Jio Platforms taking the string of investments well over Rs 1,52,000 crore.

The sale of stakes in Jio along with its partnership with global oil major BP and a rights issue worth Rs 53,000 crore helped Reliance Industries become net debt-free.

Afghan and Rohingya Muslims start converting to Christianity to get Indian citizenship under CAA: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Afghan and Rohingya Muslims start converting to Christianity to get Indian citizenship under CAA: Report

Since the Citizenship Amendment Act has come into effect, there has been a sudden spike in the number of Afghan Muslims and Rohingya Muslims, who are illegal immigrants in India, wanting to convert to Christianity so as to become eligible for Indian citizenship.

According to a report by The Economic Times, the central agencies, aware of this development, have apprised the government that almost 25 such cases of Afghan Muslims converting to Christianity has come to the fore.

Adib Ahmed Maxwell, who heads an Afghan church in south Delhi, told ET: “Post CAA, there has been a spurt in the number of Afghan Muslims wanting to convert to Christianity.

CAA does not provide to accept Rohingya Muslims as India citizens

It is pertinent to note here, that the historic Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which came into force from January 10, 2020, seeks to provide Indian Citizenship to the persecuted minorities belonging to six non-Muslim communities, namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Since Rohingyas are illegal immigrants who have unduly entered the Indian soil through Bangladesh, the Indian government has refused to accept them and give them Indian citizenship. As such, India is not bound even by international norms to accept Rohingyas. 

During the Citizenship Amendment Bill (now an act) debate in December last year, Home Minister Amit Shah had categorically refused to accept Rohingyas in the country. He had clearly pointed out that India has not ratified any international convention on refugees and as such, international laws on refugees were not binding upon India as a sovereign country.

India not bound to accept Rohingya Muslims

India is not a party to the 1951 Convention on Refugees and neither the 1967 Protocol. Therefore, no international convention is binding on India. Even if we take into account the international conventions, the Rohingyas are clearly bypassing a safe haven in the form of Bangladesh to reach India for the purpose of gaining material benefits. Thus, quite clearly, it makes them economic migrants when they enter India and not persecuted minorities.

Afghan Muslims and Rohingyas continue to illegally live in India

Since these illegal immigrants are aware that they will not be granted Indian citizenship, they are now deviously adopting Christianity. According to official data, there are 150,000-160,000 Afghan Muslims living in Delhi. Besides, official estimates suggest there are nearly 40,000 Rohingya Muslims illegally living across India, with the highest number in Jammu and Kashmir. A large number of these migrants have been residing in India prior to 2012 and are now claiming to be from Bangladesh while taking up Christianity.

Jharkhand: Youths molest woman going to Shiv temple, attack her for protesting; FIR filed against Saddam, Riaz, Shahil, Kaif and eight others

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand: Youths molest woman going to Shiv temple, attack her for protesting; FIR filed against Saddam, Riaz, Shahil, Kaif and eight others

A few days ago, an incident came into light in which a woman was molested outside Shiv Temple in Jialgora, Jodapokhar of Dhanbad in Jharkhand. As per the reports, the incident took place on 20th July 2020. A few men of the particular community eve teased the woman who was going to the Shiv Temple. When the woman objected, they started beating her.

The woman got severely injured in the incident. The area got tense as the victim and attackers were from different communities. The locals and family members of the woman informed Jodapokhar police about the incident. A heavy police force was immediately deployed in the area to control the situation. DSP A.K. Sinha also reached the location to learn more about the incident.

FIR registered against eight molesters

Based on news agency reports, police have filed a case against Saddam Ansari, Riyaz, Naseeruddin, Mintu Ansari, Shahadat, Shahil, Kaif, SHehbat and son of Moinuddin. So far, police have apprehended four of them. When OpIndia contacted Jodapokhar police station, they informed that eight people had been named as accused in the case. They only have Saddam in custody, and police teams are raiding different locations to find rest of them. Saddam was sent to jail yesterday.

Dainik Jagran reported that Satyam Kumar, station in-charge reached the location and found the injured woman. He sent her to the Chasnala hospital for treatment. People from both communities started hurling stones and lathis at each other. Several people got injured, and the area got tense.

Counter case by mother of one of the molesters

Anu Parveen, the mother of Saddam, has filed a counter-case in the police station. She said in her complaint that her son was playing PUBG with his friends outside the temple when some men started harassing them. When her son and his friends asked them to stop, they threatened the boys with knives. They also threatened to burn them alive. She named Rajkumar Sao, Raju Sao, Amarjeet Sao, Sunil Sao and others. However, when OpIndia contacted the police about the counter case, they refused to have any knowledge about it.

Police have also recorded the statement of victim Geeta Devi in the case. There is a considerable difference between the narration given by Geeta Devi and Saddam’s mother about the incident. The victim said that she was going to Shiv Temple for pooja on Monday evening. A group of young men from a particular community were sitting under a Peepal tree. On noticing her, they started making sexist slurs and tried to molest her. When she protested, they started beating her with sticks. Doctors said that she has severe injuries on her head and back. She is currently admitted in PMCH for treatment.

Chhattisgarh: Unemployed youth who set himself on fire complaining about food dies, BJP blames Congress govt’s misrule

OpIndia Staff
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Chhattisgarh: Unemployed youth who set himself on fire complaining about food dies, BJP blames Congress govt’s misrule

The 27-year-old unemployed man in Chhattisgarh, who had attempted to self-immolate in front of the official residence of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on 29th June, succumbed to his injuries on the night of Tuesday. The youth had incurred 50 per cent burn injuries and was being treated in a private hospital in Raipur.

Chhattisgarh youth went to CM seeking help

Hardev Sinha, a native of Dhamtari district, fed up of his poverty and unemployment, had wanted to meet the CM to seek help, but the security personnel prevented him from entering without an appointment. Taking everyone by a surprise, he had set himself on fire. The father of the youth had said that he had been feeding his son’s wife and his children for a very long time. He added, “He didn’t have any food yesterday night, nor today morning.” He had left the house on Monday morning and the family had no information about him until noon.

After the news of his death came in, BJP national vice-president and three-term Chhattisgarh CM, Raman Singh, slammed the Bhupesh Baghel led Congress Government in the state.

Highlighting the helpless and desperation amongst the youths in the Congress-ruled state, the BJP leader Tweeted: ” कांग्रेस की कुनीति, कुशासन और कुप्रबंधन ने आज प्रदेश के एक युवक की हत्या कर दी। आत्मदाह करने वाले प्रदेश के युवक को @bhupeshbaghel सरकार ‘मानसिक’ बीमार कहकर जख्मों पर नमक छिड़कती रही।” roughly translated as, “the misrule, mismanagement and the poor policy of the Congress have murdered the youth of the state … Bhupesh Baghel government continued to sprinkle salt on the wounds by calling the youth mentally-ill.” He sought a reply from Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi, asking who should be held accountable for Hardev Sinha’s death.

Congress government declared the youth “mentally unstable”

It is pertinent to note that after the incident, the Congress Government in Chhattisgarh was quick to declare the youth mentally unstable, a claim which his wife had vehemently refuted.

On June 29, the day the youth had set himself ablaze, the state public relations department had claimed that he was mentally unstable for the past two years. The department had said that the youth possessed two acres of land and a job card under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, scheme. They furthered that Hardev Sinha had worked for 11 days under the scheme and then left saying that he wanted to make a youtube video.

Hardev Sinha’s wife strongly opposed the Congress government’s claims. “We are suffering from an acute financial crisis due to which my husband was very worried. He is not mentally unstable,” she had told local media persons in Dhamtari on June 29. The youth, according to his father, was unemployed and living with his family without any food at home.

The state government has ordered a magisterial probe into the case.

Former RBI governor Urjit Patel blames UPA govt for banking mess, says RBI too fell short on several counts

OpIndia Staff
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Former RBI governor Urjit Patel blames UPA govt for banking mess, says RBI too fell short on several counts

Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel in his book ‘Overdraft – Saving The Indian Saver’ which releases on July 24, has launched a scathing on the UPA government for the non-performing assets crisis at public sector banks (PSBs) stating that they failed to create risk controls or ensuring adequate management.

In his new book the former RBI Governor Urjit Patel writes, “The government is responsible for ensuring adequate capital for banks that are under its ambit on a durable/sustainable basis. The dominant owner pre-2014 didn’t question risk controls in government banks even as it received significant dividends. A number of government banks did not have senior management in place, and governance suffered”.

The former RBI governor in his yet-to-be-released book writes that several government banks did not have senior management in place, and governance suffered. This is a perennial shortcoming on account of bureaucratic inertia and political meddling, he noted.

Urjit Patel, who was appointed as the RBI governor in 2016, had faced with a tremendous challenge of rising NPAs in the banking system, especially in the Public sector banks. The gross NPAs stood at 3.8 per cent in FY14 before rising every year to peak at 10.5 per cent in FY18.

Urjit Patel also questions RBI

In the book, Patel has also questioned the RBI’s failure in identifying bad loans before 2014. “The RBI failed to challenge assumptions through, for example, more rigorous stress-test scenarios at the bank level, as well as sensitivity analysis on (demand) assumptions, and sector (policy) risks,” Patel writes in the book.

The book reads, “The regulator fell short on several counts in the period leading up to 2014. It failed to challenge assumptions through, for example, more rigorous stress-test scenarios at bank level, as well as sensitivity analysis on (demand) assumptions, and sector (policy) risks. The scale of exposure – or risk build-up – was not appreciated enough and contested by the regulator to effectively slow down or tighten the lending norms, say, by increasing sector risk weights to ensure protection by increasing capital requirements.”

He writes, “Had the central bank identified the build-up of risks, it could have tightened lending norms by, for instance, increasing risk weights allotted to various sectors.”

In his new book, Patel writes about the ‘9R’ strategy which would have saved public savings, rescued the banks and protected them from unscrupulous racketeers. The note on the publisher’s website also says “Urjit Patel would have cleared the NPA mess if he hadn’t been prevented” but does not elaborate.

Patel quit on December 11, 2018, midway as the RBI Governor, citing personal reasons. He was recently appointed as Chairman of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).

Video of activist-devotee of Padmanabhaswamy temple circulated as Travancore royal family member and ‘richest person in the world’

OpIndia Staff
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Video of activist-devotee of Padmanabhaswamy temple circulated as Travancore royal family member and ‘richest person in the world’

Recently, in a significant decision, the Supreme Court of India had reverted a Kerala High Court decision and upheld the rights of the Travancore royal family as the guardians of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Following the historic verdict, the temple has been in the headline, partially due to the fact that the Kerala government’s attempts to take over the temple have been thwarted, and secondly, because the temple has the distinction of being the world’s richest temple and usually it’s ‘hidden treasures’ are the centre of much speculations and social media gossip.

Shilpa Nair’s photo circulated as ‘owner of Padmanabhaswamy temple’

Shilpa Nair, the president of ‘People for Dharma’, a Hindu organisation that has been involved in creating awareness and seeking legal remedies for the protection of temples from state interference and political exploitation, had shared some screenshots where a video of her has been circulated claiming that she is the ‘owner’ of the Padmanabhaswamy temple.

The WhatsApp forwards also claimed that the woman in the video, (Shilpa Nair), has become the world’s richest person following the SC verdict.

In the WhatsApp forwards, a video that Shilpa herself had shared after the verdict was used and the claim was made that she is the ‘owner’ of the temple who is now the ‘world’s richest person’.

In her tweet, Shilpa Nair objected to the claims made and clarified that she is not what the forwards claim. She added that she is the president of ‘People For Dharma’, the organisation that was a part of the legal battle for the Padnabhswamy temple and the restoration of the Travancore royal family’s rightful control over the temple management.

She said that she is just a devotee of Lord Padmanabhaswamy.

The original video

The original video where Shilpa is seen welcoming the verdict and thanking their lawyers J Saideepak and Suvidutt Sundaram for their efforts in the long legal battle for the rights of one of the most important Hindu shrines in India.

Thanking the SC judges, Nair had hailed the verdict as a victory for Dharma.

It is notable here that Shilpa Nair is a Dubai-based entrepreneur and artist who is the president of the People For Dharma initiative. The organisation had also fought to uphold the traditional practices in the Sabarimala Temple last year. She is not a member of the Travancore royal family, who are the traditional custodians of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

Travancore royal family and Padmanabhaswamy Temple

In its verdict on 13 July, the Supreme Court overturned the 2011 judgment of Kerala High Court that granted the power to the state government to take control of the temple, its management and assets. The SC also stated that all members of the temple management committee will be Hindus.

The historic temple is managed by the Travancore Royal family that had ruled Southern Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu. Lord Padmanabha (Vishnu) is the family deity of the Royal family. The Lord Padmanabha is also hailed as the ruler of the Travancore kingdom and the royal family is considered as his royal servants.

Even after India’s independence, they managed the temple under a trust. On 31st January 2011, Kerala High Court had ruled that the state government will control the temple administration. The court had asked the state government to form a trust and take control of the temple within three months. The temple is home to vast amounts of treasure, ancient jewellery and artefacts, donated by the royal family, ancient Chera, Pandya, Chola kings and crores of Hindu devotees over the centuries.

The Royal family had challenged the 2011 High Court orders in the Supreme Court. In September 2011, the Supreme Court had asked the government of Kerala not to open the Kellaras(vaults) till they pass final judgment.

With the recent verdict, the traditional rights of the Travancore royal family over their temple have been restored, keeping the temple and its treasures away from the grasp of Kerala’s communist government.

It is also notable here that the Travancore royal family has been the traditional custodians of the temple. They have been managing the temple administration through a trust and the court verdict by no way means that the temple, or its treasure become the private properties of the royal family.

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