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‘Congress leadership is incompetent, loyalty matters to them and not genuine feedback’: Elder brother writes open letter to Sanjay Jha

OpIndia Staff
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‘Congress leadership is incompetent, loyalty matters to them and not genuine feedback’: Elder brother writes open letter to Sanjay Jha

Former Congress national spokesperson Sanjay Jha, who is currently ostracized from the Congress party for his damning indictment of the party’s leadership and accusations against the lack of internal democracy in the party, has surprisingly received a piece of advice from his own brother Vibuthi Jha.

Vibuthi Jha, the elder brother of the Congress leader Sanjay Jha has written an open letter, not only advising the former Congress spokesperson on his further political coarse but also asking him to wake up.

In his advise to his younger brother, Vibuthi Jha pointed out how foolish and dangerous it was for Sanjay Jha to “permanently wed” to any ideology.

“While we can argue the merits of Gandhian philosophy and Nehru’s ideological utopian outlook, we all see their impact, (good, bad or ugly) in shaping the India we know today. Nehru despite all his contraptions of charisma and a built up personality is a clear definition of a failed leader,” said the elder Jha.

Better late than never to grasp the reality

Hailing Sanjay Jha for voicing his dissent against the Congress party, Vibuthi Jha said it was better late than never for Sanjay Jha for finally grasping the reality after six years. Vibuthi Jha said that the Congress party has proved its incompetence once again by letting Sanjay go, proving his point that for the party loyalty alone matters and not honest feedback.

“As the official spokesperson of Congress Party, you were the commentator for your party in the verbal duels with your mighty opposition, a job you did well enough to be applauded by your party people and suffered the scorn or hatred of those who didn’t approve of Congress party and it’s 60 years of Family Rule!”

“And that’s why precisely the Congress Party must dissolve itself into nothingness!” noted Vibuthi Jha.

Congress party has no leadership: Vibuthi Jha

Sharing his past interactions with his younger brother after the 2014 election debacle, Vibuthi Jha remembered how he had told Sanjay Jha then that the Congress party needed to look within itself to understand what went wrong.  

“You remarked that, living 7000 miles away in New York, I was not on the playing field to understand dynamics at play. I’ll repeat here what i said then: standing on the sidelines enables a coach to see patterns that players often cannot. And as a coach, I reiterate that losing a match is only a failure if you don’t learn from it,” Vibuthi Jha recalled.

Further noting about the lack of leadership within the Congress party, the senior Jha said, “You have drawn parallels between corporate governance and responsibility of a CEO and your party leadership in your new manifesto for your party. I agree that without any introspection and accountability from within, it seems like the Congress lacks any platform for internal debate meaning it also lacks the  internal democracy and meritocracy that is the need of the hour.”

The result is, according to Vibuthi Jha, that the Congress party never evolved into a well run corporation and was always meant to be a classic Family Limited Partnership where loyalty alone matters.

“Perhaps it’s time for the Congress to heed that example. Better still, Let the party die and come back in a new reincarnation! I will not be surprised if the loyalists, despite clandestinely seeking change, eventually end up doing same old return to the old pony trick,” said Vibuthi Jha in his open letter to Sanjay Jha.

Continuing to advise his younger brother, Vibuthi Jha said, he as an unabashed supporter of PM Modi and the current regime, he was personally very happy with Congress party’s current discombobulated state of affairs. 

“Every hero needs a villain and the challenges to overcome, and thus the Congress party might rise to the role instead of becoming a pantomime. This is where I offer another bit of advice. To be “permanently wed” to any ideology is foolish at best, and downright dangerous at worst,” said the senior Jha in his open letter.

Last week, Sanjay Jha was removed as Congress National Spokesperson after he wrote an article critical of the Congress’ current state of inertia. It is being speculated that Sanjay Jha’s recent comments against the party leadership might have gone against him.

PTI is doing itself no good by going rogue and it can lose crores of rupees it gets each year from Prasar Bharati

OpIndia Staff
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PTI is doing itself no good by going rogue and it can lose crores of rupees it gets each year from Prasar Bharati

The Prasar Bharati is deeply anguished by news agency PTI coverage in recent times and is considering withdrawing financial support to the latter over their recent coverage. OpIndia has learnt from reliable sources that Prasar Bharati is greatly displeased with what has been described as ‘anti-national’ reporting.

PTI has been receiving huge fees from the public broadcaster, the fees are said to be in crores and it has been going on since decades. Reportedly, Prasar Bharati pays PTI over RS. 9 crores annually, which is in addition to the amount paid by PIB. Now, sources tell us that PTI’s ‘anti-national’ reporting makes Prasar Bharati believe that it does not make it feasible to carry forward the said relationship.

It is interesting to note that PTI gets crores from the Prasar Bharati ever since its inception. Currently, Prasar Bharati pays PTI approximately 9.15 crores, OpIndia has leant.

Further, sources from Prasar Bharati have confirmed to OpIndia that since 2016-2017, Prasar Bharati is trying to rationalise the amount paid to PTI as it does not think that the service provided by PTI is worth more than Rs. 2.5 crores.

In 2017-18, Prasar Bharati had rationalised the amount paid to PTI and unilaterally reduced the amount paid to PTI by about 25%. However, sources confirm that it is just the tip of the iceberg and there is a long way to go before the fees are rationalised to Rs. 2.5 crores.

Another aspect that came to the fore was that despite paying crores to PTI by Prasad Bharati, the latter does not even have a seat at the board. Largely, PTI runs from public money, however, a look at their Board of Directors reveals how it mostly runs as a private news agency.

Following are the boards members of PTI:

Board members of PTI

For PTI to run largely on public money and have no representative of Prasar Bharati does seem out of sync with how such institutions should run and this has been a bone of contention between Prasar Bharati and PTI for long.

The Rs. 9.15 crore figure was arrived at in 2013-14, in the last year of UPA 2 government. Before that, PTI was being paid Rs. 8.44 crores by Prasar Bharati. In fact, just two years before, in 2010-2011, the amount paid to PTI was 7.04 crores. The feed paid to PTI has been an incremental increase and it is now the first time that Prasad Bharati has been trying to rationalise the amount since 2016-17.

The PTI, however, by going rogue is doing itself no favours. PTI had come under great criticism recently after an interview with Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong. During the interview, the Chinese ambassador blamed India for the clash between the two countries at Galwan Valley. Journalists of other agencies were outraged by the fact that the PTI did not bother to counter-question the Chinese ambassador on his dubious claims. People have also pointed out that the ‘interview’ came across as a press released by the Chinese Communist Party rather than a genuine interview.

By peddling the Chinese propaganda and going rogue as far as its content is concerned, PTI stands to lose the crores that it earns from the public broadcaster.

Prasar Bharati is India’s largest public broadcasting agency. It is a statutory autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament and comprises the Doordarshan Television Network and All India Radio, which were earlier media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

With Prasar Bharati being a public broadcaster, it is obvious that such blatant anti-India propaganda which goes against the government of India and its stand in sensitive issues like the China conflict will not sit well.

Entire Chandigarh can feed on langar, my sense of hunger comes from New York: Watch how casual racism of BBC was exposed by chef Vikas Khanna

OpIndia Staff
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Entire Chandigarh can feed on langar, my sense of hunger comes from New York: Watch how casual racism of BBC was exposed by chef Vikas Khanna

In an interview with the BBC, Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna sharply corrected the anchor who conjectured that the chef’s generosity of feeding homeless and destitute in India amidst coronavirus lockdown was triggered by his own sense of hunger while he grew up in India.

“You have been famous now. You have cooked for Obamas, you have been on Gordon Ramsay’s show. But, you were not always like this. You are not from a rich family so I dare say you understand how precarious it can be in India,” the BBC anchor said imperiously.

However, Khanna, with his cool demeanour, tersely dispelled the unfounded notions held by the BBC anchor. “My sense of hunger did not come from India so much because I was raised in Amritsar and we have a huge community kitchen where everyone gets fed. The entire city can be fed from the community kitchen,” Khanna said while referring to the pervasive langars in the city that provide food to people.

He further added that his sense of hunger came from the sprawling American city of New York during his struggling days. “My sense of hunger came from New York, when I was struggling and really at the bottom. It was difficult for a brown kid to rise through, someone who had a dream of winning the Michelin star,” he said.

“Therefore my sense of hunger came from New York when I was living in Grand Central and sleeping around. It came from the United States, not from India,” Khanna emphatically added.

Vikas Khanna helps migrant labourers and poor with cooked meals

The stark images of migrant labourers trudging on their foot empty stomach to their native places across the breadth of India moved the celebrity chef into launching an initiative for those who had been adversely affected by the coronavirus induced lockdown in the country.

Khanna wanted to express his solidarity with those who were going hungry during the lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. So he put out an appeal on social media for those who were in the need of food during the pandemic and within no time, he received a flurry of responses on social media requesting food for the needy.

As of June 3, Khanna had supported the distribution of sanitary napkins in Diamond Harbour, West Bengal and bankrolled 57 food stations within petrol pumps in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to offer cooked meals to migrant workers hoofing it towards their respective villages. Till June 3, he had approximately distributed 9 million meals in more than 125 cities with the assistance of the National Disaster Relief Force and several other collaborators.

Supreme Court stays investigation and coercive action against journalist Amish Devgan on multiple FIRs for his ‘Lootera Chisti’ remark

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court stays investigation and coercive action against journalist Amish Devgan on multiple FIRs for his ‘Lootera Chisti’ remark

In a relief to News 18 India journalist and anchor Amish Devgan, the Supreme court has stayed investigation and coercive action against the journalist till the next hearing on the multiple FIRs filed over his remarks on Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

The vacation bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and Sanjeev Khanna ruled this on a writ petition seeking to quash of the FIRs and implead all the complainants. The matter will be heard after July 8.

Devgan’s counsel Siddharth Luthra claimed that the anchor had made an “inadvertent error” during the show for which he issued an apology later. He submitted that filing an FIR against a journalist for a “slip of the tongue” is unjust and amounts to undue harassment.

Luthra said, “If this starts happening, where people are dealt with for slip of the tongue, what will happen? Errors people make. He has also profusely apologized.”

He said that multiple FIRs have been lodged against the journalist in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Telangana and it would cause grave prejudice to him if he is asked to appear in different places across the country in connection with the FIRs. Luthra said that Devgan’s family members are also being threatened and harassed.

The counsel appearing for the complainants for Maharashtra said that Amish Devgan used the term “lootera Chishti” more than once during the show.

Amish Devgan while hosting a debate on 15 June on PILs regarding the Places of Worship Special Provision Act on his show ‘Aar Paar’ he had allegedly made objectionable remarks against Sufi saint of Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Moinuddin Chishti, who is popularly known as Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz.

In the news debate, Devgan was seen referring to Chishti as an invader who had tortured and forcefully converted the Hindus of India. However, Devgan later apologized saying that he had mistakenly named Chishti in place of Allauddin Khilji.

Devgan had taken to Twitter to issue an apology. He wrote, “In one of my debates, I inadvertently referred to ‘Khilji’ as Chishti. I sincerely apologize for this grave error and the anguish it may have caused to followers of the Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti, whom I revere. I have in the past sought blessings at his dargah. I regret this error.”

After this, mulitiple FIRs were registered against Amish Devgan in multiple places. Controversial Islamic organisation Raza Academy, which is known for its involvement in the Azad Maidan riots, has also filed a complaint against Amish Devgan under section 295A, 153A, 34,120B,505(2) and Disaster management act for making insulting remarks against Moinuddin Chisti

Prasar Bharti writes to PTI, to review relationship after the news agency provides a platform for China to run its propaganda

OpIndia Staff
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Prasar Bharti writes to PTI, to review relationship after the news agency provides a platform for China to run its propaganda

The Prasar Bharti is deeply anguished by news agency PTI’s coverage in recent times and is considering withdrawing financial support to the latter over their recent coverage. OpIndia has learnt from reliable sources that Prasar Bharti is greatly displeased with what has been described as ‘anti-national’ reporting.

PTI has apparently been receiving huge fees from the public broadcaster, the fees are said to be in crores and it has been going on since decades. Reportedly, Prasar Bharti pays PTI over RS. 9 crores annually, which is in addition to the amount paid by PIB. Now, sources tell us that PTI’s ‘anti-national’ reporting makes Prasar Bharti believe that it does not make it feasible to carry forward the said relationship.

Sources also tell us that PTI has been averse towards a review of the same since 2016-17. But in light of PTI’s recent coverage, Prasar Bharti has initiated a review of the relationship between the two. We are told that PTI will be informed of the decision soon.

PTI had come under great criticism recently after an interview with Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong. During the interview, the Chinese ambassador blamed India for the clash between the two countries at Galwan Valley. Journalists of other agencies were outraged by the fact that the PTI did not bother to counter-question the Chinese ambassador on his dubious claims. People have also pointed out that the ‘interview’ came across as a press release by the Chinese Communist Party rather than a genuine interview.

The India-China tensions at LAC

Twenty Indian soldiers were martyred during a clash at the Line of Actual Control between India and China. China is believed to have lost significantly more men. The clash was a consequence of aggressive behaviour by China at the LAC, which is consistent with how it has behaved with other countries since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, since then, China has been blaming India for the clash and insists that the clash occurred as a consequence of Indian aggression. It has also claimed through its mouthpieces that US influence on India is to be blamed for it. However, in the interview with the Chinese ambassador, PTI allowed him to propagate his version of events without making an effort to highlight the actual reality of the events that transpired.

Past Incidents of Fake News by PTI

There have been numerous occasions in the past when the PTI has peddled fake news, on certain occasions, even on communally charged matters. Earlier in April, PTI had claimed that one Mehboob Ali was lynched on suspicions of being infected with the coronavirus. However, later it turned out that he was alive.

The PTI has spread fake news on matters of politics as well. Prior to the Delhi Elections in February, PTI had claimed that only 25% of AAP candidates had serious criminal cases against them. But in reality, the number was upwards of 50%.

Delhi Riots: Delhi Police charge-sheet says Dr Anwar, owner of a local hospital, organised riots that led to the killing of Dilbar Negi

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Riots: Delhi Police charge-sheet says Dr Anwar, owner of a local hospital, organised riots that led to the killing of Dilbar Negi

The owner of a hospital in North-East Delhi has been named by the Delhi Police in its charge-sheet as one of the masterminds of the anti-Hindu riots in Mustafabad, that led to the brutal killing of Hindu youth Dilbar Negi, reports Indian Express. In a major development in the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots case, the Delhi Police has named Dr MA Anwar, the owner of Al-Hind hospital in the riot-hit Mustafabad area, as one of the organisers of the protest. The controversial doctor has been named in the charge-sheet filed by Delhi Police in the murder of 20-year-old Hindu youth Dilbar Negi.

Most importantly, the hospital is just 1 km away from the sweet shop where Hindu youth Dilbar Negi had worked, who was burnt by a Muslim mob after his limbs being cut off with a sword during the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots in the national capital in February that killed 53 people and injured several others.

In a petition filed by documentary filmmaker Rahul Roy in the Delhi High Court on February 25, it was mentioned that some seriously injured patients were not allowed to be transported from Al-Hind to the better-equipped GTB hospital after rioters targetted the ambulances. In a midnight hearing, the High Court had directed Delhi Police to ensure the safe passage of injured victims to GTB or any other government facility.

Reportedly, the charge sheet, filed on June 4 before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Singh Rajawat at Karkardooma court, stated, “Since 15.01.2020, near the place of incident, at Farooqia Masjid, an anti-CAA/NRC protest was underway illegally in which several speakers, on several dates, had given instigating speeches. A false news was spread there that Muslims would not be given Indian citizenship due to NRC, and they would be sent to detention camps.”

The charge-sheet mentioned that those who participated in this protest, who were incited, on the night of February 23, also took part in the violence following which the FIR was registered at police station Dayalpur.

The organisers of the protest which took place at Farooqia Masjid are Arshad Pradhan, Dr Anwar, owner of Al-Hind hospital, the charge-sheet mentioned. It further read, “The above-mentioned persons could not be interrogated; they will be questioned later and we will accordingly investigate. The violence which took place on February 23-24 was not an isolated incident”.

Dr Anwar refutes allegations, claims he helped injured

Meanwhile, Anwar, owner of New Mustafabad’s Al-Hind hospital, claims that he had attended several patients with injuries, who had sustained during the February Anti-Hindu Delhi riots at his hospital.

Dr Anwar said, “I am aware that my name has been mentioned in the charge-sheet. Neither did I organise nor did I participate in the protest because I was always busy. In fact, a few times I told the local police that commuting in the area is a problem due to the protest and it should be cleared out. My name has been dragged in this simply because I treated people in the hospital during the riots. I am being dragged in this case because I showed basic humanity. I am being targeted. These are false allegations.”

Brutal murder of Dilbar Negi by Muslim mob

The 20-year-old Dilbar Negi, who hailed from Uttarakhand, was burnt by a Muslim mob, who had cut his hands and feet, threw the rest of his body into the burning fire during the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots in the national capital.

Negi, who worked at Anil Sweets shop in Shiv Vihar, was killed during the riots and his body was found on the afternoon of February 26 in a charred condition with lower limbs missing below the thigh.

The incident was first reported by OpIndia, when the relatives of Dalbir, the deceased, contacted us and reported the horrific accident. He came to Delhi just 6 months ago from  Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand. 

In the charge-sheet filed by the Delhi Police, it was revealed that Dilbar Singh Negi was burnt alive inside his sweets-shop when a Muslim mob targeted properties of Hindus during the communal riots.

The police have so far named 12 persons as accused in the chargesheet — all of them are in judicial custody. They have been identified as Mohd Shanawaj alias Shanu, Mohd Faizal, Azad, Asraf Ali, Rashid alias Monu, Sharukh, Mohd Shoaib, Parvez, Rashid alias Raja, Md Tahir, Salman and Sonu Saifi.

Rajiv Gandhi Foundation: Rahul Gandhi must explain why RGF has so much money but no impact via these 8 dud projects

S. Sudhir Kumar
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Rajiv Gandhi Foundation: Rahul Gandhi must explain why RGF has so much money but no impact via these 8 dud projects

Shocking revelations over the past couple of days have shown us that over the past many years, the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) had continuously received funds the Prime Ministers National Relief Fund (PMNRF); from various governments from around the world ranging from China to Ireland to Luxemburg; from various central ministries; from industries ranging from Reliance to TVS to GVK; from banks ranging from SBI to Standard Chartered; from private individuals; from private trusts; and what not!  

With such a humungous network and funding, I was very interested to check out the work that the RGF had done over all these years. Their website has a lot of verbose and little numbers. Since I don’t want you to go through the yawning verbose, allow me to walk you through their projects, timelines and numbers. 

Program 1: INTERACT Scholarships

The aim of the program is to provide scholarships for children affected by violent conflict in various part of our country. The claim is that since the year 1993, across 11 states and 2 UTs, a total of 2,115 children were provided scholarship at their school level & 134 of these pursued higher education and vocational courses. With all the donors at their disposal, the RGF thought it fit to support 80 students a year, starting in the year 1993! 

Program 2: Rajiv Gandhi Access to Opportunities Program

The aim of the program is to “Award specially designed vehicles” for the physically challenged young people. The claim is that since the year 1992, across 25 states and 5UTs, 2900 such vehicles were awarded. That’s about 100 per year. With all the donors at their disposal, the RGF thought it fit to award ~100 vehicles a year, starting in the year 1992!

Program 3: Rajiv Gandhi Cambridge Scholarship (ha!)

Through this program, they collaborated with another trust (oh the maze!) – Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. What did they do since 1994? The sponsored tickets (fancy name – “travelling scholarships”) to 140 students of UK universities to visit India! And then they funded 60 Indian students to pursue a 2nd degree in B.A (Honors). And since 2014: they provided full scholarships for 6 PhD students who got selected from India to Cambridge. You would think that’s awesome. The catch is that this cost is shared by three different trusts! There are no details available on how the cost has been split. 

Program 4: Natural Resource Management

According to their website, this was established in 2001. And then they immediately jump to what they did in the year 2011. So that should only mean that this program did nothing till 2011 (Yes, 10 full years! I wonder how the donors feel about that). They then decide to be 1 of the 3 donors of “Gram Gaurav Sansthan” NGO working on the Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh border. Their site claims that 1760 families have been impacted. But they give no clarity if this is the NGOs overall impact or just the families impacted by RGF’s funding alone.  

Program 5: Heritage – Archives & Gallery

The purpose is to maintain “Archives on Shri Rajiv Gandhi’s life and work.” All his photos, videos, speeches have been archived. No one has any problem if they did this on their own dime. Instead, they get government money to do what is essentially a family project!

Program 6: Schools program

Click on their link that reads “Schools program” and you get “Coming soon”!

Program 7: Wonderoom

This is a library-cum-activity centre in Jawahar Bhavan, Delhi. They claim that they have over 6000 books for children to read. Their FB page shows activities facilitated by this program and claim that over 400 children and parents attend these programs. The only meaningful statistic in this is the 6000 books in the library! 

Program 8: Relief and Rehabilitation

The confusion created in this page is mind-boggling. There is no proper timeline or details of relief efforts carried out. There are details of some disasters that have rocked India since 1991. After all this, we are told that 5000 families have received help. And that free medicines have been provided to 9000 patients. Oh, and 1200 blankets also. With all the donors at their disposal, the RGF couldn’t even give out 1 blanket a year? With all the donors and power at their disposal, RGF could not even support 200 families a year?

Who will answer for Rajiv Gandhi Foundation?

Take a look at their donor page of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation for just one year. With such a massive reach, not even 200 students per year benefited from RGF; not even 500 families per year benefited from the RGF. Many of us would have easily known smaller NGOs with lesser funding that have created a bigger impact. Their financial statements show us that crores are spent on these projects. Is this the impact one can see with crores of money at their disposal? Instead of doing juvenile videos, perhaps Rahul Gandhi must explain why RGF performs so disproportionately to the funds they receive! 

ACP Anuj Kumar who was hit on the head in the Delhi riots elevated to the post of Additional Deputy Commissioner

OpIndia Staff
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ACP Anuj Kumar who was hit on the head in the Delhi riots elevated to the post of Additional Deputy Commissioner

Anuj Kumar, former Assistant Commissioner of Police (Gokulpuri, North East Delhi), who suffered a grave head injury during the riots that killed 53 people, has reportedly been elevated to the post of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police. Kumar had been appointed as Additional DCP of the South District, Delhi Police.

At least 11 police personnel including DCP Shahdara Amit Sharma and Anuj Kumar, were injured during the violence on 24th February in North East Delhi.

When Sharma met Commissioner SN Srivastava, he narrated the incident and explained how he had rescued his colleagues including Shahdara DCP Amit Sharma on February 24 when they were attacked by violent Muslim mobs. Speaking to ANI, Sharma said the DCP fell unconscious after sustaining serious injuries and was rushed towards Yamuna Vihar side by them.

“On February 24, Shahdara DCP Amit Sharma got injured and fell unconscious beside the divider of Wazirabad Road in Chand Bagh where people had turned violent. Two other police personnel and I got him up and took him to the Yamuna Vihar side,” he said. This was done while stones were being pelted at us by the violent mob, he added. Anuj Sharma said that their team was trying to hold talks with the mob peacefully and asked them to stay confined to service road instead of the main road. But there was a rumour that some women and children got injured in police firing which acted as a catalyst and crowd got berserk.

“We had two companies accompanied by some local staff so we were approximately 250 personnel whereas the crowd was close to 25,000 to 30,000. We were steadily trying to persuade the ladies and the crowd but somebody started stone pelting and the situation got spiralled. As the distance between us and the mob was very less, tear gas was also not effective and the divider behind us was acted as a wall which created mayhem like situation,” he added while recalling the horrific turn of event.

Murder of constable Ratan Lal

Constable Ratan Lal was murdered on February 24 when he was shot at by rioters while patrolling along with his seniors. The police had alleged in the charge-sheet that a group of 45 people held a meeting in the basement of a house on February 22, where the conspiracy of the riot was conceived. On February 23, after the conspiracy was hatched, rioters asked senior citizens and children to stay indoors as they ran riot on the streets, indulging in vandalism. 

TikTok is secretly accessing your iPhone’s clipboard: Report raises massive security concern about Chinese app snooping on users

OpIndia Staff
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TikTok is secretly accessing your iPhone’s clipboard: Report raises massive security concern about Chinese app snooping on users

The Chinese social media video streaming app, TikTok, has been the subject of yet another controversy. According to a Forbes report, it has been found to be snooping on people by exploiting a bug in iOS 14 and accessing the clipboard secretly. While allegations surrounding security concerns of the said app are not new, a fresh set of concerns was raised by security experts Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk. 

Dismissing all allegations, Bytedance, the owner of TikTok reiterated that the problem was related to an outdated Google Advertising Software Development Kit (SDK). In its defence, the Chinese app said that access to clipboards on the phone was caused due to a ‘feature’ which is meant to identify spammy and repetitive behaviour. TikTok claimed that an updated version of the app was submitted to remove both the feature and the confusion. Forbes noted that while TikTok had vowed to put an end to this ‘invasive practice,’ but it continued unabated as late as April.

“TikTok is committed to protecting users’ privacy and being transparent about how our app works,” the Chinese app was quoted as saying. It further assured to invite outside experts to their Transparency Centre. As per the report, the company was initially willing to brush aside the vulnerabilities of their app and blamed obsolete third-party SDKs. A TikTok spokesperson said, “The clipboard access issues, showed up due to third-party SDKs, in our case an older version Google Ads SDK, so we do not get access to the information through this. We are in the processes of updating so that the third-party SDK will no longer have access.”

TikTok caught red-handed

As per the report, TikTok assured that the issue was fixed. “TikTok does not get access to the data, but we are updating regardless to resolve it”, the company informed over email correspondence. However, with the development of Apple’s new iOS 14, it was revealed that the Chinese app was still having access to the clipboard messages, contrary to the earlier claims. While it could not be ascertained whether the act was ‘deliberate or inadvertent’, but all such apps would have to change.

The Data Vulnerability of TikTok

Forbes reported that Apple had a universal clipboard functionality which implied that anything copied on the Macbook could also be read on the iPhone or iPad. In case TikTok is active on a phone that is used for work, then, the app can read financial information, passwords, sensitive data, documents, and so on. When the Chinese app was exposed in early 2020, there were questions about how the user data was put to use by the company. But, with the recent security update in Apple’s security features, the app is forced to make changes.

Apple indifferent to the data breach

As per the Forbes report, Apple initially refused to acknowledge the vulnerabilities in the Chinese app and came up with a solution, following media uproar. The report also urged TikTok users to update the app to the latest version and remember that the app has active access to one’s clipboard, prior to the release of the update. Researchers conceded that while iOS had a mechanism to counter security risks, it was not effective in safeguarding data privacy. “There was a tremendous public interaction with the topic—not only iOS users but also Android users demand more restriction and transparency about the apps that use the system-wide clipboard,” they emphasised.

Modi govt to draw list of countries to replace China in supplying critical components that cannot be manufactured locally

OpIndia Staff
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Modi govt to draw list of countries to replace China in supplying critical components that cannot be manufactured locally

In a bid to reduce the dependence on China for critical imports, the Modi government has coming up with a plan to look for alternatives that can replace China in supplying critical components to the country. According to the reports, the Union government has decided to draw a list of countries that can act as suppliers of critical components which are not manufactured in India currently.

The Department of Industry and Promotion of International Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce, is working to draw up a list to substitute the low-quality imports from China by importing from other countries or manufactured locally. India will reach out to the countries once the list is ready and plans to enable easier access to these products to the Indian market.

The Modi government has concluded that the dependence on cheap Chinese imports cannot be substituted in a short span of time and thus looking for alternative markets such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan for imports of certain products.

The Modi government is looking for a calibrated approach to replace Chinese imports with importing from other friendly countries from till India ramps up its own manufacturing capabilities.

Modi government scrutinizing FTAs

Reportedly, the fast-tracking of such critical decisions at the backdrop of Modi government scrutinising various Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with countries which have similar pacts with both India and China. The government has decided to relook at the trade pacts after China began to misuse these to access Indian markets and inversion of Indian duties.

The government is carefully re-looking at FTAs such as the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), ASEAN, bilateral pacts with Japan, Singapore, to check for loopholes that make it easier for Chinese imports to reach India without following the due duty structure. It is believed that China is routing its goods to the Indian markets by making use of these agreements.

The government is also reviewing the Asia Pacific Agreement (APA), which directly links India and China, South Korea, Bangladesh, Laos, and Sri Lanka. This move will allow India to ensure that cheap Chinese products are not allowed to flood Indian markets.

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