Home Blog Page 5180

Ayush Ministry grants approval for Patanjali’s ‘Coronil’ kit, to be sold as an immunity booster and not as a cure for coronavirus

The AYUSH Ministry on Tuesday approved the sales of Patanjali’s Coronil as an ‘immunity booster’ and granted them the license to produce three medicines and also allowed clinical trial under the rules. 

According to the reports, the AYUSH Ministry, while granting the approval for the sale of Patanjali’s Coronil kit, said that they will not be able to market the medicine as a ‘cure’ for coronavirus. The Ministry also said the Patanjali cannot display COVID-19 on its Coronil packaging.

“It may be ensured that on the package and label displayed on the medicines (Divya Coronil Tablet and Divya Shwashari Vati), no claim for the cure of Covid-19 should be mentioned,” said the notification according to News18 report.

The approval for Patanjali Ayurved comes after the company had launched a drug called Coronil last week, claiming that it will cure coronavirus within a week. It also claimed that they took part in a trial conducted at the privately-run National Institute of Medical Sciences in Jaipur.

We never claimed it can cure coronavirus infections: Acharya Balakrishna

The firm’s Chief Executive Officer Acharya Balkrishna also clarified on Tuesday that the firm never claimed it can cure coronavirus with its medicines, Coronil and Swasari tablets. The firm’s Chief Executive Officer Acharya Balkrishna added that it just shared the favourable outcome of clinical trials on patients. 

The Centre had stopped the firm from advertising their products after it had said that the facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to them yet. In the notification, AYUSH Ministry had also asked Patanjali to submit details of the medicine such as name and composition, research study details, Institutional Ethics Committee clearance, CTRI registration and result data.

Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali launches Coronavirus treatment kit, claims 100% cure within a week

As the coronavirus outbreak rampaged through the country, Patanjali Ayurved, which is run by renowned Yoga guru Ramdev had launched an Ayurvedic medicine combination which claimed to cure the Wuhan originated Coronavirus disease within 3-7 days.

The Ayurveda based pharmaceutical company launched a kit containing ‘Coronil’ tablets, Swasri tablet and Anu oil, claiming that these ayurvedic medicines have shown up to 100 per cent favourable results during the clinical trials.

Fact-check: Was Wikipedia updated with time of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death even before he had died

Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has become a topic of discussion for many. While a group of fans is trying to get ‘justice’ for him, those who ‘rule’ the film industry have taken a step back and completely stopped talking about him or problems with the industry. Amidst all this, various social media users have come up with another conspiracy theory revolving around Sushant’s death. They claimed that the actor’s Wikipedia page was edited, and someone added the information of his suicide much before he committed suicide.

As per the police, the postmortem report suggests that he committed suicide at around 10:30 AM. Social media users claim that the Wikipedia page was edited at 8:59 AM, where the editor added the info of his death and claimed that he committed suicide. The fan also shared screenshots of the edit.

Other twitter users also jumped in and supported the theory that there is a bigger conspiracy behind Sushant’s death. The claim made its way to some entertainment websites as well.

Fact Check

Before we jump to any conclusion, we must understand how things work on Wikipedia. It is an open-source encyclopedia where anyone can make changes in the information provided. The editors check and confirm the changes, and if they find any problem with it, they reverse the difference and, in some cases, ban the user. Because Wikipedia is an open-source website, it is not considered to be an authentic source of information by academia. In the past, Wikipedia showed its biased attitude based on political ideology as well.

Here the issue is with not the information per se but with the time zone. According to the “View History” section of Wikipedia, someone started editing Sushant’s page at around 8:55 AM on 14th June 2020. Before that, the last change was made on 8th June 2020. At 8:59 AM, the Wikipedia user added the information that he has committed suicide.

Edit history of Sushant’s Wikipedia page

The IP location of the editor is 139.5.242.88 that can be traced to New Delhi. That means someone from India edited it.

IP location of the editor who added the information about Sushant’s suicide

Though the time shows 8:59 AM, it is not according to Indian Standard Time. Wikipedia uses Coordinated Universal Time or UTC that is 5:30 hours behind IST. Anyone who changed the article on Wikipedia on Sushant Singh Rajput did it at 8:59 AM UTC that converts to 2:29 PM IST.

UTC to IST

The claim that the fan made about someone being aware of Sushant’s death before he committed suicide is false.

ED attaches assets of Aijaz Hussain Khawaja, a National award-winning artisan cum LeT terrorist and hawala operator. Read details

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday attached assets of Aijaz Hussain Khawaja, a national award-winning artisan and also a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist for his involvement in a terror funding case of 2006.

According to the reports, the Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 7.32 lakh of Aijaz Hussain Khawaja, who is a convicted Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist. In 2003, Khawaja was one of the 44 winners of the President’s National Awards for artisans and handicrafts.

In 2006, the special cell of Delhi police had arrested Aijaz Hussain Khawaja with one bag containing 2.05 Kg RDX and Rs 49 lakh in cash. He was later convicted with a sentence of imprisonment for a period of seven years under section 5(b) of Explosive Substances Act, 1908 along with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. 

Aijaz Hussain Khawaja’s business was a hawala front

The Delhi Police investigations had revealed that Khawaja’s business was just a front, and he was an active hawala operator for a terrorist network. The Delhi Police had claimed that he laundered approximately Rs 3 crore to terror modules active in Kashmir valley. 

Following the Delhi Police’s FIR and charge-sheet, the ED had conducted an investigation pertaining to the charges of money-laundering. “As a hawala operator, he was in touch with Muktiar Ahmed Bhatt, a Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who was in touch with the Inter-Services Intelligence. Khawaja used to undertake hawala transactions for separatists and militant activities,” said the ED in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The ED accused Khawaja of taking a commission for his hawala activities and generate income from the crime worth Rs 8.50 lakhs. In 2012, the Delhi High Court had upheld the conviction of trial court but Khawaja was set free on the claim that he had already served five years and five months of imprisonment.

China wrote to Doordarshan protesting Taiwan coverage, DD aired programs on Tibet too

In January this year, the public broadcaster Doordarshan aired a special broadcast on reelection of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

Tsai Ing-wen also firmly rejected China’s ‘One country, two systems’ model and reiterated her opposition in her victory speech, as per Doordarshan. In its 13th January program, Doordarshan had also invited Taiwan’s representative in India Tien Chung-kwang who also asserted and talked about Taiwan’s independence and rejected China’s ‘One country, two systems’ model. “This election shows that ‘One country, two system’ will never be accepted by the people of Taiwan,” he had said.

Upset with this, the Chinese embassy in India wrote to Doordarshan and expressed dissatisfaction over airing of the above episode. According to sources, the Chinese embassy in India in an email dated 16th January 2020 claimed that by providing platform to Taiwanese independence, Doordarshan violated the ‘One China’ policy. Chinese embassy claimed that there is only ‘one China’ in the world and that both mainland China as well as Taiwan both belong to China.

China took control over Taiwan after the World War II ended in 1945. And while Taiwanese resisted the Chinese rule, China continues to hold control over the island country.

Unperturbed, Doordarshan continued the coverage of Taiwan. In February, Doordarshan aired a program on the lantern festival of Taiwan.

However, soon after in March, Doordarshan ran another special program, this time on Tibetans in exile in India.

The program focussed on the life of Tibetans in India and other political implications. China also governs the western and central part of Tibet, known as Tibet Autonomous Region.

US telecom regulator designates Chinese firms Huawei, ZTE as national security threats

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. as national security threats, in a move to drive out the Chinese manufacturers from the US market.

According to the reports, the declaration by the FCC will now stop US firms from tapping into an $8.3 billion government fund to purchase equipment from these companies.

The US telecommunications regulator issued the declaration and proposed requiring rural carriers to remove and replace equipment from the two Chinese companies from existing US networks.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai said that the “weight of evidence” supported the decision. He added that the federal agencies and lawmakers have long claimed that because the tech giants are subject to Chinese law, they could be obligated to “cooperate with the country’s intelligence services,” Pai said.

“We cannot and will not allow the Chinese Communist Party to exploit network vulnerabilities and compromise our critical communications infrastructure,” the Republican-majority FCC said in a separate statement.

Image Source: Bharti Jain on Twitter

US says equipment from Huawei an ZTE can be used for spying

The FCC had kept an eye on the Chinese tech companies while the tensions mounted between China and the US over trade, the coronavirus pandemic and security issues. The FCC is considering banning these two Chinese telephone companies along with China Mobile Ltd, which was banned last year from entering the US market.

The United States contends that Huawei’s equipment could be used by China for spying. However, the company has repeatedly rejected that it poses any security risk and insists that it is independent of the Beijing government.

In November of last year, the FCC had announced that companies deemed a national security threat would be ineligible to receive any money from the Universal Service Fund. Huawei and ZTE were already “initially designated” as security threats at the time, but the formal process of assigning them that status has now been completed and the current declaration was made.

US administration had cut Huawei off from global chip suppliers

Earlier in May, the US administration had issued an order barring Huawei and its suppliers from using American technology and software.

The US administration had decided to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei Technologies from major global chipmakers. The US Commerce Department had stated it was amending an export rule to “strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain US software and technology.”

Social media account of an opera singer being censored due to his resemblance with Chinese President Xi Jinping

A well-known opera singer living in Berlin who bears a striking resemblance to the President of China Xi Jinping is repeatedly being censored on social media. As per reports, the account of Liu Keqing, 63, on the Chinese Tik-Tok like Douyin was locked by the Chinese authorities for allegedly violating the ‘leader’s looks’.

Liu Keqing posted a video on May 10 claiming that his social media handles are being censored due to profile picture violations. Liu Keqing used to share singing tutorials on his 41,000 follower Douyin account since 2019.

Reportedly, he wrote, “Dear friends, my Douyin account has been reported and banned because of my profile picture’s violation. I have provided my identification materials again, and I am currently waiting for approval. This is the third time that my account has been banned because of ‘image violation.”

In a conversation with New York times, Liu Keqing said that he had opened another Douyin account before but it was suddenly deleted by the authorities because the profile picture had resemblance with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

However, Liu Keqing is still active on his social media platforms but many comments on his videos appear to remain blocked.

Other Dopplegangers of Xi Jinping

In fact, Mr. Liu is not the only doppelganger of Xi Jinping, last year a food vendor in China became an internet sensation because he looked much like the Chinese President. Videos emerged in December showing a Chinese man serving pork buns and smiling and waves at the camera was highly resembling with President Xi Jinping.

China is accused of over-protecting the image of President Xi Jinping after it banned Winnie-The Pooh because some netizens compared President Xi with the cartoon character in 2017.

‘We give better quality rice than the Centre,’ says Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee while announcing free ration for people

While announcing that the state would provide free ration to the needy for another 12 months, till June 2021, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee claimed that her government was providing better quality rice than the Modi led government at the Centre.

Insinuating that the ration being provided by the central government was benefiting merely 60 per cent of the people in Bengal, the CM said: “We give better quality rice than the Centre. Only 6.01 crore people or around 60% of the people in Bengal have been benefited from the Centre free ration scheme. We are providing to 10 crore people,” she added.

Mamata Banerjee’s announcement to give free ration for another 12 months, till June 2021, had come minutes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of free food grains for poor till November, given the surging coronavirus situation in the country.

“For the first three months of the lockdown we gave each family five kilos of rice. Over the next three months, till September, we would provide five kilos of rice along with an equal amount of flour to each family. We will provide free ration till June 2021,” said Banerjee while speaking to media persons at the state secretariat.

Locals in WB complain of improper distribution of ration and other relief material during coronavirus lockdown

It is pertinent to note here, that the Mamata Government has previously received flak over the ration distribution during the coronavirus lockdown. On April 22, it was reported how distressed locals had clashed with cops in Baduria, 24 North Paraganas in West Bengal over the distribution of ration amid the Coronavirus lockdown. The clash took place after the locals complained of improper distribution of ration and other relief material.

A large number of protestors had alleged that they have not received any help from the govt over the last month during the lockdown, they also alleged that the fair price shops are also not giving food items properly.

Mamata Banerjee govt accused of misusing the funds provided by the central government against the COVID-19

Mamata Banerjee government is also under scanner for corruption in Public Distribution System scheme. West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had alleged that the ruling party has hijacked the PDS and the scam is getting bigger by the days. He also alleged that the TMC government is misusing the funds provided by the central government against the COVID-19. 

PM Modi announces free ration to poor till November 2020

Earlier today, PM Modi, in his address to the nation, announced that the centre’s key central scheme—PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) will be extended till the end of November in which free ration will be provided to the poor. The scheme is set to cost Rs 90,000 crore to the government, PM Modi said.

While highlighting the work done by the central government to alleviate the concerns of poor adversely affected by the coronavirus induced lockdown, PM Modi said that the scheme to provide free ration to the poor will continue for an additional five months, adding that 80 crore people will get the benefit from the scheme.

‘Why didn’t you rectify 1962’s mistake when you were Defence Minister?’: Congress leader Nitin Raut slams Sharad Pawar after the NCP supremo criticised Rahul Gandhi

The long-suppressed fissures in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra have come out in open as an unusual bout of mutual recriminations seems to have erupted between the long-time allies NCP and Congress after the NCP supremo Sharad Pawar stridently criticised the Congress party for politicising the Indo-Sino border dispute.

Following Sharad Pawar’s remarks that he can’t forget what happened in 1962 when China captured India’s 45,000 sq km of land, Congress leader Nitin Raut responded to the comment passed by Pawar saying he should have rectified the mistakes of 1962 when he was Defence Minister of the country.

“When China captured our territory in 1962, situation was different. Sharad Pawar should have rectified mistakes when he was Def Min under Cong rule.Instead of commenting on Rahul Gandhi’s remark he should’ve advised PM to speak on issue,” Maharashtra minister and Congress leader Nitin Raut said.

The trenchant counter-remarks from a Congress leader comes on the heels of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s sharp disapproval of the former Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s attempts to politicise the border dispute between India and China.

Pawar was responding to Rahul Gandhi’s comments that PM Modi had “surrendered” to China after violent clashes broke out between the two sides in Galwan Valley that resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian troopers and an undisclosed yet comparable number of fatalities on the Chinese side.

When asked about Rahul Gandhi’s remarks against PM Modi, Sharad Pawar said,”We can’t forget what happened in 1962 when China occupied 45,000 sq km of our territory. At present,I don’t know if they occupied any land,but while discussing this we need to remember past. National security matters shouldn’t be politicised.”

Rahul Gandhi twists PM Modi’s statements on Ladakh standoff

Rahul Gandhi had gone into a tizzy after Prime Minister Modi’s recent statement about the Galwan Valley stand-off. He claimed that the Prime Minister had ‘surrendered Indian territory to China’. Factually, his claims made no sense, of course. However, that did not stop him from furthering this platitude. The Chinese troops entered Galwan Valley earlier and were pushed back by Indian Army in early May.

The Chinese Army then came back and while being pushed back, the present clashes took place. PM Modi’s statement simply meant that the PLA has no presence on our side of the LAC after they were pushed behind.

Using a screenshot where Prime Minister Modi had assured Indians that the Chinese have not managed to intrude in our territory and grab any land, Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Modi of ‘surrendering Indian territory to Chinese aggression’.

He then said that if the land was Chinese, why were our soldiers killed and where were they killed. He thereby cast aspersions that Galwan Valley, which is part of Indian territory and where Indian soldiers were martyred fighting the PLA, is now ‘surrendered to Chinese aggression’. Rahul Gandhi, thereby, suggested that the Galwan Valley territory in Ladakh is now grabbed by the Chinese.

Kejriwal tries to take credit for Center’s free ration scheme, exposed by Meenakshi Lekhi

Aam Aadmi Party has faced criticism many times for spending a lot on advertising. Their method of taking credit for schemes by the Central government has raised many eyebrows in the past. Now, BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi has shared a screenshot of an e-coupon Delhi government has issued for free ration under Chief Minister Corona Relief Free Ration Scheme.

Meenakshi Lekhi alleged that on the coupon, there is a photograph of the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal depicting that it is a state government’s scheme. However, there is no mention of the fact that the Delhi government got the ration from the center under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. In May, BJP Leader Manoj Tiwari alleged that out of 36,367 tonnes of food grain allocated to Delhi by the Center, Delhi government had distributed only 1% food grains.

Mismanagement in grain distribution, alleges Meenakshi Lekhi

Meenakshi Lekhi also shared a video in which a man was denied ration at the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidalyalay ration distribution center. She alleged in the post that while Delhi got approx 37,000 tonnes grains from center, Kejriwal government failed to provide the same to the needy. In May, Delhi High Court rapped Delhi government for its inability to fulfil the promise of food security for the needy.

AAP’s habit of earning PR brownies

This is not the first time the Aam Aadmi Party has used sensitive issues to gain PR brownie points. During the initial days of the Covid-19 pandemic, AAP’s MLAs, including Manish Sisodia and Raghav Chaddha, posted photos of themselves leading the disinfection drive. The party also tried to take credit for the recently established coronavirus facility at Radha Soami center in Delhi, the work for which was actually carried out by the Central Government.

Killer TikTok: How teens used the app to post suicide videos, film killer stunts and glorify antisocial behaviour

The Indian government has red-flagged the usage of 59 China-linked apps, including TikTok, as being a threat to national security and privacy of people. Out of all the banned apps, the TikTok app, which had more than 10 crore monthly active users in India, was turning out to become the biggest threat, especially amongst teenagers.

Apart from being extensively used to objectify women and glorify attacks on them, promoting rape, animal cruelty, domestic violence etc., the Chinese app has been linked to several deaths, as users had been using the app to post videos of suicide and even murders.

Several murders and suicides in the recent past have been associated with the Chinese social media app. The glorification of pervasive issues and the app’s toxicity has compelled the government to issue a blanket ban on the Chinese app.

TikTok user turns murderer

Recently it was reported how a woman was brutally stabbed to her death by her ‘stalker’ on Wednesday evening (17 June). The stalker, a 21-year-old youth named, Sherkhan Choudhary, was an influential social media user with over 4 lakh followers on TikTok. It was reported that the woman, Naina Kaur, who was around 20, was returning home with her parents when three men, Sherkhan, Asif and Aamir Chaudhary arrived on a bike.

One of them, who was wearing a mask, pulled Naina’s hands and beat her up, and also slapped her mother so she fell unconscious. Sherkhan then stabbed Naina with a knife several times on her neck and abdomen. Shekhan Choudhary, with over 4 lakh followers on TikTok, was seen glorifying violence and ‘badmaashi’ in many video of his.

Advocating rape and acid attacks

A First Information Report (FIR) was filed with the Uttar Pradesh police by Advocate Abhishek Rajpoot against a controversial TikTok video creator named Faizal Siddiqui for promoting acid attack as a means to avenge lost love by jilted lovers. Faisal had 13.4 million followers on the Chinese video-sharing app.

TikTok user Mujibur Rehman was seen promoting rape in another viral video. The boy, along with his friends, attempts to button up his shirt and zip his pants to suggest that they have raped the girl in the contentious video.

In another video posted on the Chinese app in May this year, a user named Tanjeem Khan displayed pervasive behaviour and objectified a woman by enacting suggestively to the tune of a song that says, “Only I have a right over your body.” The video also depicts a girl crying and adjusting her dishevelled clothes, symbolising an act of rape.

Violence and hatred against Hindus

A TikTok user, Saifi Khan, had uploaded a video wherein young children can be seen parroting the lines of a song that advocates genocide against non-Muslims. The song in the background goes as, “The area was shaking with the chants of “Naara-e-Takbeer.” Within a short time, the playground was full of the dead bodies of Kaffirs (infidels)”.

In another anti-Hindu video, a Muslim man, wearing a skull cap, is seen wielding a sword at a Hindu priest. In an act of bigotry and sheer hatred, the Muslim man then enacts attacking the priest with the sword, ‘cutting’ his neck and leaving him bleeding.

TikTok used to advocate anti-national sentiments

In order to get quick fame, delinquent teenagers go overboard and make offensive and violent videos on the Chinese social media app, TikTok. In one such incident, four youths in Bazarkhala area of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh allegedly burnt the Indian national flag and raised anti-national slogans on June 22 to make a TikTok video go viral.

An FIR, under stringent IPC sections 124 (A), 153 (A), 504, 505 (1) (B) (2), 352, 325, 506 and Rashtriya Gaurav Insult Prevention Act 2, has been registered in Bazarkhala police station, against the accused. During interrogation, the minor admitted of burning the India flag and raising anti-national slogans. He said that they were doing so to make the video go viral on the popular Chinese social media app.

Death while shooting killer stunts on TikTok

In January, a teen named Karim Sheikh suffocated to death while shooting a video. The 17-year-old boy from the Pirganj area of Kolkata’s Malda district passed away while attempting to record a music video that involved risky stunts. Karim was tied to an electric pole with a plastic bag covering his face, where a video of him trying to escape from the same was being recorded by his friends.

When he started having trouble breathing, his friends apparently concluded that he was performing for the video and continued shooting the incident. When the teenager failed to respond after a couple of minutes, the other boys realized what had happened and rushed to rescue him. But Karim had already died of asphyxiation. 

In another incident, a youth named Ammar Haider was killed in Sialkot in the city of Punjab in Pakistan while making a TikTok video. Reportedly two friends Ammar Haider and Zohaib were making a TikTok video when Ammar fired a loaded pistol at his stomach, which caused his death.

Moreover, last year, a 16-year-old boy named Mohammad Noor Ansari was run over by a train while recording a video for TikTok by standing on railways tracks at Kating near Purulia station, West Bengal.

His friend had informed that Mohammad Noor Ansari, a school dropout was crazy about making funny videos and uploading the same on TikTok and other social networking sites. He had made several videos on tracks earlier but this one turned fatel.

Users post suicide videos on TikTok

Last year, in a shocking incident, a woman committed suicide by consuming toxin after her husband scolded her for spending too much time on Tik Tok app. The woman named Anitha killed herself at her residence in Perambalur, Tamil Nadu and video recorded the whole act. She also recorded a statement before committing suicide asking her husband to take care of their kids.

In fact, according to Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint, the Delhi riot shooter Shahrukh was also a TikTok buff. ThePrint spoke about how Shahrukh aspired to be on the cover page of a fashion magazine before becoming the face of Delhi anti-Hindu riots.