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Security tightened outside Taj hotels in Mumbai after a call threatening 26/11 style attack

OpIndia Staff
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Security tightened outside Taj hotels in Mumbai after a call threatening 26/11 style attack

The Mumbai police have deployed additional forces outside the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel at Colaba and Taj Lands End at Bandra (West) in South Mumbai following a threat call from Karachi. The caller identified himself as an operative of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Reportedly, two separate calls were made to the hotels at the moment after four security personnel of Pakistan Stock exchange in Karachi was attacked by the BLA militants. The call was made around 12.30 am on Tuesday.

A Mumbai police official revealed that the hotel authorities received the threat calls and the security has been intensified at the respective locations. Quick Reaction Teams(QRT), counter-terrorism units have been deployed at the hotels.

The Police have stated that the first threat call was made at 12:30 am on Tuesday to the famous Taj Hotel at Colaba and was attended by an employee of the hotel. The caller threatened to blow up the hotel in ’26 November 2008 style’ in which 9 terrorists had attacked the Taj hotel and the struggle had gone on for over 60 hours.

Two separate threat calls were made

A similar call was made later to the Taj Lands End in Bandra west. Reportedly, both the calls were made from the single number which is being investigated by the cyber cell.

Meanwhile, both luxury hotels are observing a shut down due to novel coronavirus pandemic. A tight security cover has been provided to both hotels following the call, said the Mumbai police official.

Mumbai police have laid vigilance across the major spots of Mumbai and patrolling across the city to chase down any suspicious activity following the threat calls.

When Nehru curbed press freedom and freedom of expression to protect ‘moral standards’ of Indians and faced opposition by all his opponents

OpIndia Staff
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When Nehru curbed press freedom and freedom of expression to protect ‘moral standards’ of Indians and faced opposition by all his opponents

The First Amendment in the United States of America protects constitutionally the right to freedom of speech and expression of its citizens. Under no circumstances can governments in the United States prosecute an individual for an opinion. Ironically, the First Amendment in India had exactly the polar opposite effect. It was brought in to curb the free speech rights of its citizens.

The first Prime Minister of India, who is again ironically hailed as a beacon of liberalism, was insistent on curbing the freedom of the press. According to a report published by The New York Times on the 17th of May, 1951, Nehru was steadfast in his commitment towards curbing free speech.

Nehru claimed that the First Amendment was necessitated by the “vulgarity, indecency and falsehood” that the press was supposedly indulging in. In his view, it was, therefore, necessary to empower the State to crack down on newspapers to ensure that the “main purposes of the Constitution are not defeated”.

Source: The New York Times

Jawaharlal Nehru said, “It has become a matter of the deepest distress to me to see the way in which the less responsible news sheets are being conducted… not injuring me on this House much, but poisoning the minds of the younger generation and degrading their mental integrity and moral standards.”

“It is not for me a political problem but a moral problem,” Nehru said before opining that it had become “impossible to distinguish what is true and what is false.” Here we see the Indian Prime Minister anointing himself as the moral arbiter of the country. Of course, the problem for him was entirely political as he and his party were coming under intense criticism but since it would not be feasible to curb free speech rights of citizens on the basis of his personal predicament, he externalised the issue and presented it as a grave moral crisis.

It is known that at the time the Prime Minister himself and his coterie of ministers were facing intense criticism from the media as well as his political opponents in the form of both communists and the Hindu Mahasabha. Therefore, he decided to use the state machinery to crackdown on his political opponents in order to ensure that his power remains unchallenged.

Stalwarts such as Shyama Prasad Mookerjee said that nothing had occurred thus far that justified the curbing of the freedom of the press. But Jawaharlal Nehru would have none of it. He proceeded with his measures and ensured the enactment of the amendment of the First Amendment that would severely restrict the freedom of the press.

The Indian Government lists in its statement of object and reasons section regarding the enactment of the amendment, “The citizen’s right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by article 19(1)(a) has been held by some courts to be so comprehensive as not to render a person culpable even if he advocates murder and other crimes of violence. In other countries with written constitutions, freedom of speech and of the press is not regarded as debarring the State from punishing or preventing abuse of this freedom. The citizen’s right to practise any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business conferred by article 19(1)(g) is subject to reasonable restrictions which the laws of the State may impose “in the interests of general public”.”

Source: Indian Government

The First Amendment with regards to the freedom of speech and expression of an individual “imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.”

The enactment of the First Amendment, predictably, led to the persecution of those critical of Jawaharlal Nehru. Poet and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri was arrested and spent a year in prison for a poem that was critical of the first Prime Minister of India. He also allegedly got a Timjes of India column discontinued because it was too critical of him.

Since then, the Congress party has regularly curbed the freedom of speech and expression of citizens and the press in order to maintain its hegemonic control over India. The most notable of it was, of course, the Emergency of 1975 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, however, there have been numerous other occasion on which the party has arrested editors and journalists simply because they were too critical of the party.

The desire of the Congress party to control the the press is still very much alive to this day, even at a time when they have lost all relevance at the national level. For instance, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said recently that the press is not entitled to free speech rights and implored the Judiciary to regulate the media and social media. The reasons provided were the same that Nehru gave all those years ago, that they are apparently responsible for sowing the seeds of division within the country.

The Congress party in its election manifesto for the 2019 General Elections had also promised to regulate social media. It appears that they were promising the return of section 66A, an extremely unpopular move during the UPA regime. Like Nehru, the Congress party also claims that all of this is to preserve the ‘moral integrity’ of the country but in reality, it is only an attempt to shield themselves from criticism and preserve their power.

India’s NGO sector vying for urgent attention: Action Agenda for NITI Aayog

Ravi Pokharna
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India’s NGO sector vying for urgent attention: Action Agenda for NITI Aayog

There is no denying the fact that the doctors, medical staff, police, CISF personnel, armed forces, energy sector, oil and gas industry professionals and sanitation workers are the ones fighting at the frontline in the battle of Covid19 and are rightly acknowledged as being the ‘Corona Warriors’. At the same time, one must also acknowledge and applaud the role played by the civil society organisations, philanthropists and individual volunteers who worked round the clock and hand-in-hand with local governments, feeding crores of people and ensuring they don’t starve during the lockdown. As the social sector now gears itself up to play its role in the Atmanirbhar Bharat, it seeks urgent intervention of the government on some of its pressing challenges.  

I have already highlighted how problems of funding are now being rightly identified and acted upon by the government in one of my earlier articles. Also, some important work in this direction is already visible. A SEBI committee, which was entrusted to give a structure to the Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman’s vision on Social Sector Exchange (SSE), has already released the first draft of its report with elaborate recommendations. But the government’s well thought out and elaborately planned SSE initiative may also turn out to be inadequate or ineffective if few fundamental and urgent social sector issues are not addressed on priority. 

The following four issues along with suggestions can be considered by NITI Ayog to revitalize India’s NGOs Sector:

The Central Government and the NITI Aayog through the Darpan Portal are dealing with and have details of only 3% of the total NGOs present in the country

The first ever exercise conducted by CBI, at the behest of the Supreme Court of India, to assess and compile the number of NGOs working in the country, startled everyone when it came out that the number of NGOs present in the country are 31 Lac. Almost double the number of schools we have. Since the thought of counting the NGOs came in 2015 only, it is obvious and understood that the thought of formalization of the NGO sector never occurred to our lawmakers all these years.

In November 2016, the first step of formalization was taken by the Narendra Modi government by appealing to NGOs to register them on the Darpan portal hosted by NITI Aayog. Darpan registration was made mandatory for NGOs willing to get funds or projects from the government. A year later, the Home Ministry also issued a notification and made Darpan registration mandatory for NGOs willing to receive foreign funding under FCRA. 

While the government may have achieved its objective of a) ending funding duplication and b) tracking organizations receiving foreign funds; a wider objective of formalization was missed. The DARPAN-registration communication by NITI appealed to only those NGOs which wanted government funding.

A number of large grassroots NGOs which were not dependent on government or foreign funding didn’t apply. Many large and well-known NGOs with decades of experience may not be found on the Darpan list for the same reason. Today, four years after the Darpan portal was launched, it has less than 3% of the country’s total NGOs registered on it. In the last 42 months, only 10,000 new NGOs have been added. * 

The SEBI’s sector stock exchange report relies on the presence of ‘Information Repository(ies)’ of NGOs and it cites Darpan as one. A portal with 3% representation would never be able to become a credible base for a successful exchange. 

NITI Aayog (with the help of Ministry of Planning and Statistics) should re-undertake the exercise of collating the NGO numbers by reaching out to the registrar of societies, Trusts and MCA (for Section 8 company records). A campaign focused on this new database should then be launched to register NGOs in Darpan. There is an urgent need to make this Darpan list more inclusive by launching a fresh campaign appealing to NGOs to register while at the same time providing them with the requisite technical handholding and support. 

Financial Inclusion and Capacity Building

No doubt that the Jan Dhan- Aadhar- Mobile i.e. JAM trinity was an immensely successful scheme of the central government. But opening a bank account is only the first step towards financial inclusion. NGOs are often asked to produce the last three years of balance sheet and other documents like annual reports while applying for any project or funding. Due to the lack of proper documentation, not only NGOs fail to get project funding but many times they fail to comply with even the minimum legal and statutory requirements, inadvertently even ending up at the wrong side of the law, at times.

As per the 2015 CBI data, less than 10% of NGOs comply with the mandatory account filing with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) detailing their receipt and spending of funds. 

There is an urgent need to sensitize the NGOs about the importance of documentation, record-keeping and filing of accounts. It would not be possible without a concerted effort towards their capacity building in this space. 

Sensitizing NGOs towards their Localised SDG Goals

After the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) succeeded Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) as the new universal goals in 2015, they were readily adopted by the countries across the globe. These SDGs comprising 17 goals and 169 targets include and integrate economic, social as well as environmental dimensions. 

Out of this, for India, NITI Aayog has identified 16 priority Goals and has mapped them with 63 indicators. While the NITI takes it upon itself to work with the state governments for the localization of goals and to monitor its progress, in case of NGOs it has been left to them to adopt and contribute towards achieving these goals. 

If the NGO data available on Darpan portal is mapped SDG-wise & District-wise followed by a campaign sensitizing them towards their district-level SDG goals & indicators, then only we will be able to give NGOs their due as development partners. It will go a long way in aligning NGO efforts towards the national priorities.

Each country is expected to present its progress report in attaining SDGs annually at the United Nations during the High-Level Political Forum. NITI which does this for the country often doesn’t have collated contribution of NGOs to be able to cite it during HLPF. And hence such a large and thriving sector’s contribution is often left unmentioned. 

Convergence for Atmanirbhar Bharat

Once the NGOs are registered on Darpan, duly trained on documentation, basic accounting and about meeting statutory requirements, sensitized about their district-level SDG goals, they would be ready to work closely with the existing development partners. Several agencies like NABARD, Kisan Vigyan Kendra, Khadi and Village Industry Commission have district level officers who have a mandate to engage with NGOs and partner them in implementing government schemes.

If NITI’s Darpan could provide these officers, a district-level interface wherein they could search NGOs based on their field of work, it will be easier for them to engage them regularly and more closely. While NABARD and KVKs would want to engage with agriculture-based organizations, KVIC would look for NGOs working towards employment generation and entrepreneurship. A number of such government agencies could then structurally engage with the NGOs at the district level.

It would, of course, need developing Darpan further as a technologically robust and secure platform with the user-friendly interface but if that’s done it could pave way for integrating the sector truly as a development partner not just in words and speeches but on the ground, in action.

The success of initiatives like Swachha Bharat Abhiyaan or GiveItUp LPG subsidy campaign was secured through mindset and behavioural change in people. No amount of government expenditure can alone achieve that without the help and support of grassroots community organizations. NGOs have already readied themselves to spread the message of Vocal for Local to realize the dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat. By implementing the above suggestions, NITI could well unleash the first set of long-pending reforms to overhaul the sector. 

*As shared by the Union Minister of State for Planning Shri Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply to Lok Sabha, as on November 24 2016, a total of 81,353 NGOs had registered on the DARPAN portal. As of today (June 26,2020 12.19 AM) the number of NGOs on the Darpan portal is 93927. 

Tuticorin custodial death case: Tamil Nadu government transfers SP out of the district, puts him under ‘compulsory wait’

OpIndia Staff
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Tuticorin custodial death case: Tamil Nadu government transfers SP out of the district, puts him under ‘compulsory wait’

On Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu government has reportedly transferred the Superintendent of Police (Tuticorin) IPS Arun Balagopalan out of the district and put him under ‘compulsory wait’ at the office of the Director-General of Police, in light of the custodial death of P Jayaraj and his son J Benicks. Balagopalan has now been Villupuram SP S Jeyakumar as the Superintendent of Police of Tuticorin.

The district administration of Tuticorin on Tuesday has also directed deputed officials from the Revenue Department to assume charge of Sathankulam police station, following the directives issued by the Madras High Court. As per the report, a Tahsildar and a deputy Tahsildar has been charged to take control of the police station by the district collector, Sandeep Nanduri.

The Madras High Court has asked the deputed officials to preserve ‘clue materials’ in connection to the murder of the father-son duo. Moreover, a forensic team from Madurai was appointed to collect evidence from the station. Following a nationwide outrage over the incident, five policemen have been suspended including an inspector and two sub-inspectors.

Madras High Court summons three cops

The Madras High Court has summoned two police officers and a constable in Tamil Nadu in the Jayaraj and Benicks custodial death case. The court has also asked the state to transfer the three cops, Deputy Superintendent of Police C Prathapan, Additional Deputy Superintendent of Police D Kumar, and police constable Maharajan at Santhankulam in Tuticorin, in order to conduct a free and fair inquiry into the case. The development came after the Judicial Magistrate accused the cops of trying to obstruct him. According to the magistrate’s report to the court, the constable had allegedly told the magistrate that no one could harm them.

The Custodial death of Father-Son duo

The death of a father and son-duo in police custody in Tuticorin has generated a huge outrage in Tamil Nadu. P Jayaraj and his son J Benicks reportedly died after they were picked up by the Police for opening their mobile accessories shop open on June 19 when the lockdown was still in force in the state. It is alleged that they were tortured in custody, which led to their death. Chennai based news website The Federal has quoted eyewitnesses who claim that the duo were subjected to sexual torture while in jail. Benicks passed away at the Kovilpatti General Hospital on June 22 and his father passed in the morning the next day. 

Liberals accidentally reveal why Congress is soft on China: Loyalty

Jinit Jain
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Liberals accidentally reveal why Congress is soft on China: Loyalty

The Indian Government on Monday banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, over concerns that these apps were engaging in activities that threatened national security, defence of India, sovereignty and integrity of India.

Among the apps that were banned by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and IT are ByteDance’s TikTok- which considers India as its biggest market, Community and Video Call apps from Xiaomi- the top smartphone vendor in India, UC Browser and UC News from Alibaba Group, Shareit, CM Browser, Club Factory and several others.

However, the central government’s decision to place a ban on 59 Chinese apps under Section 69A of Information Technology Act for “engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order” did not sit well with a host of left-leaning liberals, who promptly expressed their outrage against the Centre for enforcing a ban on Chinese app TikTok which had recently donated Rs 30 crore to PM Cares Fund to assist the nation in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Liberals say we cannot ban TikTok, because it had donated Rs 30 crores

Scores of perturbed liberals, possibly distraught by the ban on Chinese apps in the country, took to Twitter to wonder if the government will return the donation of Rs 30 crores it received from TikTok in the PMCARES fund as if the government was obligated to return the sum it received by the company that operated and profited in India for outlawing its operations in the country on the grounds of impinging upon the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.

Rs 30 crores over national security?

There are three crucial aspects to the assertions made by the liberals in calling for the government to return the contribution made by TikTok India following its ban by the central government. Firstly, the Chinese apps are banned by the Centre because they were engaging in subversive activities that threatened the sovereignty and integrity of the country. Contrary to what liberals allude, the move to debar the apps from operating in India was not a part of the government’s revanchist policy to pressurise the Chinese PLA army along the border in Eastern Ladakh to retreat.

In fact, if the government heeds the calls made by the liberal intelligentsia of returning the donations made by the Chinese companies, China can easily term Indian government’s measure as ‘revenge’ and make a case for unfair trade practices against India. This could possibly wage a trade war against New Delhi. Since Indian liberals would rather see Indian economy take a dive, it is no wonder that they want matters to be escalated. Hence, they  are suggesting the Indian government to return Rs 30 crore to TikTok after placing a ban on it. This is what is called adding fuel to the metaphorical fire.

Secondly, by asking the government to remit the sum back to TikTok, are liberals suggesting that companies who donate money to the government’s funds can escape from adverse action initiated by the government against companies who infringe upon privacy rights and pose a threat to the national security? Does it mean that the government should overlook the grave violations committed by companies in future just because they had earlier made a charitable donation? Should the government keep reimbursing money to the organisations because they were found violating the norms?

For Indian ‘Liberals’ Aadhar is a privacy threat, but TikTok should never be banned

The answers to these questions, from a liberal point of view, are pretty straightforward, provided if one looks in the right direction. Liberals, who could not stop themselves from expressing their paranoia over the perceived privacy violations by Aadhaar, a technology indigenously built in India, are more concerned about the donations made by Chinese apps, notwithstanding their global reputation of indulging in surveillance activities. Millions of rupees were funded in building and implementing Aadhaar platform so that the robust database helps to remove corruption and middlemen in monetary schemes, but the liberals had no qualms in running a smear campaign against it, alleging it to be a tool employed by the central government to infringe upon people’s privacy.

The liberals were then actively seeking to sabotage the implementation of Aadhaar, which the apex court said did not violate the right to privacy, but they are now willing to barter the ban on TikTok by asking the government to pay Rs 30 crore it received from the organisation for battling the spread of coronavirus, a pandemic which incidentally had its roots in China. The liberals are afflicted with a pathological aversion to PM Modi and the BJP and it is because of this malady that they are prepared to overlook the security and privacy implications posed by the Chinese apps and are ready to trade the ban at a sum of Rs 30 crore.

A donation to charitable cause is not a ‘security deposit’

Furthermore, the funds received by the government from companies and organisations are not an amount meant as a security against any harsh action initiated by the government for the violations committed by those organisations. It does not offer the companies a free pass to act as per their will without facing the consequences for violating the law of the land.

Thirdly, liberals’ demand to return the donations made by the Chinese companies betrays their notion that money is always paid, even as donations, for striking a quid pro quo deal with the government. Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan reacted on the ban on TikTok by posting a tweet, alleging the government to be ungrateful towards TikTok which had donated Rs 30 crore. In fact, Bhushan refers to PM Cares Fund as “Chaiwala’s Fund”, ignoring the fact that it is not a private fund like Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

The donation made by TikTok was to a national fund, not to a private entity as alleged by Bhushan. Notwithstanding his jibes at PM Modi, it is profoundly disturbing that a Supreme Court lawyer such as Prashant Bhushan is alluding that the government should be “grateful” to the Chinese company TikTok because they made a humble contribution of Rs 30 crores to the PM Cares Fund.

Is this why the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation kept on taking money from the Chinese?

This brings us to the murky donations received by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation from the government of China. Sonia Gandhi headed Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had received close to Rs 1 crore in three years from the government of China during the UPA tenure. Congress and its supporters should first come clean on what were the modalities agreed between the political party and a foreign government to have received such donations.

Since the ‘liberals’ on Twitter are passionately arguing that there should be a sense of reciprocity, and ‘gratefulness’ even against the companies who are found to have violated the security and privacy norms, is this the reason why Congress has traditionally been soft on its approach against China? Is this why the Chinese government paid donations to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation for the Congress to comply with their furtive territorial advances? Did the Congress party trade loyalty towards India in lieu of generous contributions from the Chinese government?

Before asking the central government to return donations received from the Chinese companies, the liberals must ask these uncomfortable questions to their masters.

As India unlocks, PM Modi addresses nation, govt to provide ration to 80 crore people under Gareeb Kalyan Yojana till November end

OpIndia Staff
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As India unlocks, PM Modi addresses nation, govt to provide ration to 80 crore people under Gareeb Kalyan Yojana till November end

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation today said that the Prime Minister Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana will be extended up to November this year where as many as 80 crore Indians will get free ration. With this, the total amount set aside for the scheme will be over Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

In his address to the nation, PM Modi said that despite the number of rising coronavirus cases, India is still in a very stable situation due to timely interventions by the government. However, he also said that ever since Unlock 1.0 started in the country, negligence in personal and social behaviour has been increasing.

“Since Unlock 1.0, we have seen an increase in irresponsible behaviour. We used to be careful about wearing masks, washing hands, maintaining social distancing. But now when we need to be more careful, many are being irresponsible,” PM Modi said.

PM Modi urged the governments, local body entities, citizens of the country to show the same vigilance once again that they had displayed when the country was under the lockdown to tame the spread of coronavirus.

PM Modi asked the citizens to exercise extra caution to ward off the threat of coronavirus, given that the country is entering the season where cases of cold, cough, fever and other diseases register a sharp uptick.

Speaking about the government’s efforts to help the poor and the needy ones adversely affected by the coronavirus induced lockdown, PM Modi said that about 30 crore poor people with Jan Dhan Accounts have been given Rs 31 thousand crores in the last 3 months. He added more than 9 crore farmers have received Rs 18 thousand crores as financial aid from the central government. About 80 crore Indians got free ration, PM Modi said.

Furthermore, keeping in view the upcoming festivities, the government has decided to extend the PM Gareeb Kayan Anna Yojana till the end of November, said PM Modi adding that Rs 90,000 crore have been earmarked by the government to provide free ration to the poor. This is in addition to the amount already spent, taking total figure to Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

Uttar Pradesh: Tech giant Microsoft to set up technology hub in Greater Noida

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Tech giant Microsoft to set up technology hub in Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh government has signed an agreement with Microsoft on 29th June to set up a world-class technology hub in Greater Noida. Microsoft announced the new centre in February 2020. Following the coronavirus pandemic, the state government has been trying to increase investment in the state and create employment opportunities.

The agreement was signed between Rajiv Kumar, Managing Director, Microsoft India and Siddharth Nath Singh, Minister for investment, export promotion, and MSMEs of Uttar Pradesh. Rajiv Singh had announced Microsoft’s interest in setting up a tech hub in Noida in February. In a statement made at that time, he said, “We are excited to tap into the engineering talent available in this part of the country to create a truly pioneering organization that will build innovative solutions for global impact.”

Campus will accommodate 4,000 employees

UP Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said that the authorities have identified options for land for Microsoft in Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway and have invited them to visit the same. He said that in the next three-four years, the campus strength would reach its maximum potential of 4,000, making it the second-largest Tech Hub of Microsoft in India. The company already has two hubs in Hyderabad and Bengaluru with a strength of 5,000 and 2,000, respectively.

Singh further said that TCS is also putting up a campus in the area while another tech giant Wipro too has a campus there. “With Microsoft coming into the fold, Noida and Greater Noida will become a major destination for electronics and IT in the country,” he added.

The NCR center will play a critical role in Microsoft’s India expansion plans. Various core engineering teams, including Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Research Group, Cloud and Enterprise Group, and Experience & Devices Group, along with Core Services Engineering and Operations, will work at the center in coming future.

After fake licenses scandal of pilots, Pakistan International Airlines hit with a ticketing scam totalling 8 million

OpIndia Staff
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After fake licenses scandal of pilots, Pakistan International Airlines hit with a ticketing scam totalling 8 million

After the fake pilot license scam, a flight ticketing scandal running in millions has taken cash-strapped Pakistan by the storm. According to reports, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has lost PKR 8 million in the sale of tickets for special flights to Europe.

PIA officials accommodated old purchased tickets by charging extra

Dawn News quoted some sources as telling on Monday that some officials at the Sialkot PIA office, in order to make some quick buck, dubiously accommodated 50 passengers holding old tickets, issued prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, on special flights going to Italy and Paris. It is believed that this was in violation of PIA rules.

As per policy, the PIA has not been accommodating passengers having tickets issued prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, (since mid-March) for any destination, in fact, it was issuing new tickets for these special flights to Europe, the price of which are almost double of the fare charged for regular flights issued prior to the pandemic.

“The officials in question accommodated old purchased tickets by charging extra money from their holders (passengers) for their travel to Italy and Paris,” a source told Dawn news, adding the officials committed this fraud in collaboration with some travel agents.

“Through this fraud the officials also deprived the PIA of a huge sum of money,” the sources furthered also adding that the fraud had been detected and an inquiry had been launched against the accused.

It was reported how the people availing the repatriation flights to Pakistan had earlier raised concerns over inadequate ticketing arrangements, overpriced tickets and non-refundability in case of mishap.

Family of plane crash victim raised concern over “mafia” rule in the Civil Aviation Authority

As per reports, the family of one of the 97 victims of the PIA crash on May 22 has urged the Pakistani Supreme Court to take action against the “mafia” that it claimed has ruined the CivilAviation Authority (CAA) and the national airlines of Pakistan. The family had demanded early release of the insurance amount as per the carriage act law.

Fake pilot license scam

Prior to this, Pakistan’s Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar khan made a shocking revelation saying that more than 30 per cent of civilian pilots in Pakistan carry fake licences and so are not qualified to fly a plane.

While addressing Pakistan’s National assembly, the aviation minister said that some 262 pilots in the country paid someone to sit on their behalf in the exam to clear the examination. These findings were revealed after a probe into the PIA plane crash in Karachi last month. However, Khan did not mention whether the pilots on board the crashed plane were fake pilots or not.

Following the publication of the report into the crash, Pakistan International Airlines grounded 150 pilots suspected of having fake licenses.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane which crashed near the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi last month happened due to human error, a probe report revealed. The report had suggested that the pilots were discussing the coronavirus crisis during the landing.

The significance of India banning 59 Chinese apps and the window of opportunity it presents

Guest Author
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The significance of India banning 59 Chinese apps and the window of opportunity it presents

The decision of India to ban 59 Chinese apps has sent ripples across the world, with global media giants picking up the threads of a story that has just begun to develop. Even as things roll on the ground and questions continue to be raised on how this will go through, there are important signals to be read between the lines of the order on various levels.

Few countries so far have dared to take steps that have left the People’s Republic of China (PRC), particularly the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) clique dumbstruck to the point of seething with rage. As countries continue to suffer from various kinds of undermining efforts, be they cyberattacks on Australia, airspace violations for Taiwan or the wilful kidnapping of Canadian citizens to get senior Huawei executive released, CCP has left no stone unturned to flex its muscle and behave like a bully.

It takes a mentally tough person to stand up to a bully, and India has precisely done that. Repeatedly. Be it the terse rejection of the Dolam standoff, One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, the Galwan valley clash and now this step of banning of apps, India has taken the challenge to enemy territory. With this step, India has displayed an iron will to do whatever it takes and has sent out a strong message that cannot be ignored by the world at the very least. Targeting companies in particular that directly link back to the CCP government and military is essential, as it hits them where it hurts the most. 

Of course, there are critics as usual for every move that India will undertake against China, questioning its logic. Some have started to argue whether India is an important market for CCP ruled China – if 1.3 billion people do not constitute an important market for any country and its companies, what does? Companies like Tik Tok, with its ₹100 crore revenue target for India for the year 2020, and SHAREit, which earns 15-20% of its revenue from India, exemplify just how important a market India is for them. If indeed, as some critics still persist, it made no difference to the Chinese, why are so many op-eds and cartoons chiding ‘Indian nationalism’s harmful effects’ being published by CCP’s propaganda outlets? 

Some have suggested that this could hurt India more than it hurts China. This is fallacious. India only gains more space for some of its innovators to serve a huge market while Chinese companies lose a big market, possibly permanently. 

Then there are some people who ask if this is enough to deter the Chinese. Only those who think the ban on these apps is the first and the last such decision would think so. One must not take one link for the whole chain and misjudge. This is only the beginning.

Technology markets are fluid, with newer challengers always seeking to dethrone existing rulers. This Schumpeterian process of creative destruction is a welcome economic phenomenon that also creates jobs of its own, and so claims of jobs being lost are tenuous, given this fluidity. Also, this other bogey of investor sentiment makes little sense, considering how CCP ruled China has attracted so many investors despite refusing to open up its technology market. To put matters to rest, one must also remember a small instance of very recent origin – Reliance Jio has raised more than ₹1 lakh crore of funding from international investors, even as the tensions on the Ladakh front were existent.  

An important component of this message has been the sense of privilege China has smugly displayed in recent times about its economic strength. Such projects as the OBOR and the swamping of the world with Chinese goods and now technology based on state-sponsored technology theft, aggressively undercutting others on pricing, are not being viewed for what they are – a new form of colonialism and a challenge to the rules-based world order. CCP ruled China has thrown its hat in the ring with its own vision of a world order where China is at the centre, with the divine mandate of Tianxia.

In a rules-based world order, this sleight-based heft of the CCP must not be tolerated, and an example has been rightly put forth by India. It is now for the world to realize and join in to call out even more aggressively than it has to help contain this pseudo-terrorist organization and make it accountable for a global crisis that has been triggered by its irresponsible management of a pandemic. Instead of being controlled or apologizing for the mess that has been created, China has instead gone ahead and tried to leverage the prevailing resultant chaos to redraw the global order. CCP ruled China cannot be allowed to get away with this exploitation rooted in perfidy at any cost.

Having said that, it is also imperative to seize the golden opportunity that has been created with the disappearance of these software applications. It is somewhat criminal that India, with its so-called famous hi-tech capabilities of the software, has struggled to create similar products so far. One big impediment to that is the onslaught of the Chinese hi-tech companies in this space – when a UC browser with its 50 million users produces content in 15 Indian languages, one realizes the depth of its pockets and the kind of backing it has to enable such a step.

Of course, this is driven by an important factor hard to miss – the Chinese technology system is a closed-door world, where foreign competitors have been denied entry or given an unfair playing field. An opportunity has now emerged for the Indian technology developers to take a lead and fill the potential void left by the absence of such products.

(This article has been written by Rohit Pathania) 

Israel bans Christian missionary channel God TV’s Hebrew version, says it is trying to convert Jews

OpIndia Staff
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Israel bans Christian missionary channel God TV’s Hebrew version, says it is trying to convert Jews

Israeli authorities on Sunday ordered the US-based Christian missionary channel ‘God TV’ off the air citing that the channel hid its missionary agenda when it applied for the license.

Asher Biton, the chairman of the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council in Israel has stated that he has given a seven-day ultimatum to the channel God TV to stop its broadcasting.

Biton, as per reports, has stated that while the channel had cited in its application that it is targeted at the Christian population, it has been appealing to the Jews with its Christian evangelical content.

God TV was founded in 1995 in the United Kingdom. The channel rapidly spread through several countries claiming to reach 300 million households at this moment. The international broadcasting licenses are held by the Florida based Non-profit organization.

In Israel, God TV was broadcasting content through a Hebrew language channel named Shelanu.

Broadcaster says it will apply for license again

The official broadcaster of God TV, Shelanu Tv stated that it was stunned by the “unprofessional decision” of Biton. It stated that its existing license “stated equivocally” that the channel will broadcast its content in Hebrew while most Christians in the holy land speak Arabic. the channel stated that “Therefore it is not at all clear what was wrong beyond political considerations.”

Shelanu’s Israeli spokesperson said that the station may reapply for the license. He said that the management hopes that the council will approve the request “and thus avoid a severe diplomatic incident with hundreds of millions of pro-Israel evangelical Christians worldwide.”

Reportedly, when the Christian missionary channel reached its seven-year contract with Israel’s main cable provider earlier this year it represented itself as a content producer for Christians. In a recent video message, the CEO of God TV, Ward Simpson was seen saying that the channel aims to convince Jews to accept Jesus as their messiah. He said, “God has supernaturally opened the door for us to take the Gospel of Jesus into the homes and lives and hearts of his Jewish people.”

Later Simpson apologized for offensive remarks and clarified that the missionary channel would comply with all regulations.

Evangelical Christians usually do not target Jews

It is notable here that while a lot of Christians support the state of Israel and consider it as the fulfilment of a biblical prophecy, they usually do not attempt to ‘convert’ Jews. Many Jews consider the attempts to convert them to Christianity as deeply offensive, a reminiscent of the persecution and forced conversion their community has faced for centuries by Christian rulers.

Israeli law allows evangelisation, but attempts to convert minors, and conversions by economic coercion are illegal. Shelanu will be the first Christian channel to be banned in Israel. There are other Christian channels operational in the country. But Shelanu was the first Christian channel to broadcast in Hebrew.

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