Amid rising tensions between the Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane visited the headquarters of the 14 Corps based in Leh in the Union Territory of Ladakh on Friday.
According to the reports, the Army chief General MM Naravane visited Ladakh for a security review of the sensitive sector as tensions between India and China along the disputed Line of Actual Control has grown since last week.
The Army chief was briefed by top military field Commanders in Leh, including Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General YK Joshi and 14 Corps Chief Lieutenant General Harinder Singh.
China eyeing strategic infrastructure in North and Eastern sector
The security review by the Army Chief in the sensitive region comes a day after there were reports that China had deployed excessive troops and set up temporary tents across the Galwan river in Ladakh after a face-off near Pangong Tso on May 5-6.
It is also believed that Chinese troops have also taken up positions along the Pangong Tso Lake and are also carrying out aggressive patrols with motorboats to intimidate Indian forces in the region. Reportedly, the Chinese troops have damaged some temporary structures put up in the finger area near Pangong Tso Lake.
Reportedly, the Chinese may be targetting Darbuk-Shyok-Daula Beg Oldi (DBO) Road that was constructed last year, which is a lifeline for Sub Sector North (SSN). However, Indian forces have successfully deterred the Chinese with aggressive mobilisation.
Apparently, China is unhappy over the construction of a road and bridge at the Galwan area that has recently been undertaken by India for patrolling and to help the local population.
Troops clashed in Eastern sector
The Galwan stand-off comes at the backdrop of a recent incident where troops of both India and China were involved in two face-offs in a span of a week in the Eastern Ladakh and near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector along the contentious border between the two countries.
In the first incident, the Chinese army personnel had clashed with Indian forces along the northern bank of the Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh on May 5. The face-off ended the next morning following dialogue between the two sides. A number of soldiers on both sides had sustained minor injuries
Just days before, in another incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel had engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector of the Sino-India border in which at least 10 soldiers sustained injuries.
Earlier, China’s foreign ministry has accused Indian troops of trespassing across LAC and stated that China had to take “necessary countermeasures” after the Indian army allegedly obstructed normal patrols by Chinese troops.
However, India has rejected Chinese allegation that the Indian troops crossed LAC in Ladakh and Sikkim sectors and initiated tensions. Meanwhile, India had also accused the Chinese army of hindering patrols on the Indian side.
Prominent left-leaning intellectuals who evidently endorsed the controversial “7-point action plan” as claimed by the Former AAP member and current Swaraj Party leader Yogendra Yadav, have now tied themselves in a knot as the glaring loopholes and flaws are discovered in the action plan that was supposed to provide an assistance to the government to fight the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
The contentious clause 7.1 which stated that all private property, which included bonds, gold, property etc ‘must be treated as a national resource’ to fight the pandemic. After one of the intellectuals, Ram Guha, distanced himself from the action plan, another liberal lodestar Professor Ashutosh Varshney, whom liberals quotes routinely to lend legitimacy to their harebrained suggestions, almost flip-flopped after endorsing the draconian expropriation of the private property mentioned in the clause.
At first, Prof Varshney endorses giving up private property to government
When one of the celebrated leftist trolls raised apprehensions about the use of “revenue” in the clause 7.1 that would provide unbridled powers to government, Varshney initially defended the tendentious clause by claiming “I understand the right to property, but what, according to you, are the rights of the migrant poor?”
Subsequently, the President of the Editors Guild of India, Shekhar Gupta, chimed in, expressing his shock over Professor Varshney’s stance and questioned him if he had read the clause carefully before endorsing it.
“Intriguing, @ProfVarshney….don’t think even Bernie Sanders & Jeremy Corbyn would go that far…Hand on your heart: did you read the statement carefully before endorsing it?” Gupta tweeted.
However, Gupta’s intervention served as a trigger for Professor Varshney to hedge his bets and remain non-committal after having endorsed the expropriation of private property by the government. Echoing Guha, Varshney, too, claimed that the clause which he signed was profoundly different than what it is now in the action plan proposed by Yogendra Yadav.
Prof Varshey washing his hands off the ‘letter’
“You know @ShekharGupta my economic philosophy. I don’t support Sanders and Corbin. The statement presented to me had no expropriation. It was only about higher revenue-raising in a time of crisis. Unclear what happened since I signed. It is 2am in Boston.Will check when I get up,” Varshney tweeted.
Ram Guha distanced himself from “7-point action plan”
Self-proclaimed intellectual Ram Guha was one of the earliest proponents of the juvenile action plan, also withdrew his endorsement after being mocked by the netizens for his support to the controversial clause of 7.1 that allowed the government to take hold of the private properties to raise revenue in its bid to lift the country out of coronavirus induced economic inertia.
Ramchandra Guha took to Twitter to announce that the clause that was presented to him during the discussion and the clause that was finally printed were vastly different, referring to clause 7.1.
The published version of the clause was ‘radically different’ according to Ramchandra Guha. The published version of Clause 7.1 says, “All the resources (cash, real estate, property, bonds, etc) with the citizens or within the nation must be treated as national resources available during this crisis.” Guha claimed that he had not endorsed this version.
Rajya Sabha MP and DMK’s organizing secretary RS Bharathi was arrested by the Chennai police from his residence in Alandur on Saturday morning. The DMK leader was arrested for his controversial remark on the appointment of Dalit high court judges. A complaint was filed against him by President of Adhi Tamilar Makkal Katchi on May 12. Following the complaint, the Teynampet police filed an FIR against the Rajya Sabha MP under section 3 of the Scheduled caste and Schedule tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act along with relevant sections of the IPC.
Soon after the arrest by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Greater Chennai Police, RS Bharathi was released as he managed to obtain bail. He was released after Egmore Metropolitan Magistrate Court granted him interim bail till June 1. The case is scheduled to come up for further hearing on Wednesday. The case was initially registered by the Teynampet police but later it was transferred to the CCB.
The DMK leader in a party event had said that the appointment of Dalit judges in Madras High Court is the result of the alms given to them by the Dravidian movement.
“Arrested for exposing AIADMK corruption”, DMK Leader says.
RS Bharathi has alleged that he is being arrested for exposing the corruption in the ruling AIADMK government. He said, “A video clip of my speech at the party event was circulated by a specific group on social media. I spoke about it the next day to you (media). Today, after 100 days, the action is being taken against me. The reason for the sudden arrest is because yesterday evening I lodged a complaint regarding the corruption by Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam with the Vigilance Commission. There is another complaint that is being prepared against the procurement of bleaching powder for coronavirus disinfection work in Coimbatore for around Rs 200 crore. Somehow they got a whiff of it and they have arrested me now. Even if I’m arrested, the complaint against Minister SP Velumani will be given.”
He alleged that police arrested hin despite being told that he’s of older age and under quarantine. He added, “I feel sorry for the policemen because they are being used to satisfy someone else. In the next few months, the same officers will come for our security and salute us. We have seen this many times and we are used to this.”
“Dalit Judges are appointed in High court are the result of the alms given by the Dravidian movement,” says RS Bharathi
In a party’s event on 15 February 2020, RS Bharathi had asserted that Dalits were appointed as High court judges because of the charity done by the Dravidian movement. He claimed that no Harijan has become a judge in High court in Madhya Pradesh. He added, “after Karunanidhi became CM of Tamilnadu, the first Dalit judge, A Vardarajan was appointed. Seven or eight others from the Adi Dravidar community went on to become judges after that. It is the alms given by the Dravidian movement.”
RS Bharathi later expressed regret for hurting sentiments of a marginalized community. He took to twitter and wrote, “I express regret for hurting the sentiments of the oppressed persons. My intention was not to hurt them, but to just highlight the good things Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) has done for them.”
It is said that real obsession needs an unconscious motivation behind it. Obsession, like every intense emotion, is all-consuming. It is an emotion where the world, the rest of the world, simply melts away almost become a haze. When one looks at the world, all but the object of obsession is visible. Obsession, it is said, has the foundational bases of either pure love or unadulterated hate and when it comes to Rajdeep Sardesai, one doesn’t really need to analyse too much to understand what the foundational emotion could possibly be for his mindless, passionate obsession with Modi and the Gujarat model.
Through the years, almost with surgical precision, Rajdeep Sardesai has obsessed over the ‘Gujarat model’ and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For any normal person, this sort of passionate obsession would stem from unbridled love. But for Rajdeep, it probably stems from chilling fear born out of passionate hate. While the world burns, Rajdeep, almost an evil avatar of Arjun in another, hateful universe, keeps his eye on the Modi shaped bullseye that he needs to hit with his poison laced arrow.
In January 2020, Rajdeep Sardesai wrote an article that spoke about the Gujarat model entering Delhi via JNU. Of course, he misses the larger point that if the VC of JNU can be called ‘Modi’s man’ then most other people who work in JNU can be called the cadre of the Maoist party.
Article by Rajdeep Sardesai in HT
Before 2020, the Gujarat Model had come to Delhi in 2018, per Rajdeep Sardesai. Same headline. Same logic. Different incident.
Rajdeep Sardesai’s article in 2018
The obsession did not stop there. Recently, even during the Coronavirus pandemic, Rajdeep Sardesai was obsessing over the Gujarat Model. He forgot to talk about the Tablighi Jamaat that spread the pandemic far and wide just as India was beginning to get a handle on the pandemic, or even Maharashtra, where the “best CM” Uddhav Thackeray let his state spiral out of control. Rajdeep was bothered about Gujarat. Not because he believes in the pursuit of truth, but because he is obsessed with his pursuit of PM Modi.
Rajdeep Sardesai’s article during the Coronavirus pandemic
He writes, in the very first paragraph, “The much-hyped Gujarat model is in a mess as the coronavirus pandemic progresses. Consider the following: One, not only does the state have among the highest number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the country, but more worryingly, it has a mortality rate of 5.9%, which is nearly twice the national average of 3.09%”.
Rajdeep, of course, forgets that by mid-April, Maharashtra had a death rate hovering around the 7% mark while he harps on the 5.9% mortality rate in Gujarat. And while this is not a competition and journalists should be more focussed on how to fight the pandemic, Rajdeep was seen obsessing over the ‘Gujarat model’ to bring PM Modi down.
The obsession of Rajdeep Sardesai with Modi and Gujarat Model has been rampant and far-reaching. Several tweets and articles over the years have been wasted trying to discredit the Gujarat Model and by extension, PM Modi.
There is a Gujarat model Mahesh ji and it’s done some solid work on physical infra, esp roads and power. But has abandoned Edu/health to private hands but worse, allowed panchayat system to decay. https://t.co/AcDJNiDLfM
Long before Delhi 2020 there was Gujarat 2002 (same numbers too!).. a page from my 2019 election book which is a reminder of the old adage: more things change, more they remain the same! Read carefully.. #DelhiViolencepic.twitter.com/8NTYN3JsNM
An obvious conclusion drawn by anyone who is not exactly in the know would be that Rajdeep Sardesai is speaking “truth to power”. However, for the ones who know Rajdeep, the realisation that the “truth” and “Rajdeep” stopped living in the same zip code a long time ago. For the uninitiated, Rajdeep perhaps fights against the corridors of power. However, for those who have followed Rajdeep, the famed interview of Sonia Gandhi proves that Rajdeep would dance with twinkle-toed shoes in the corridors of power if the corridors have name-plates that Rajdeep adores.
Perhaps in a Freudian slip, Rajdeep, in his 2018 article quoted above, exposes the real reason why he is so madly, deeply and passionately obsessed with the Gujarat Model – The fear that the Modi-Shah duo can repeat the run at the power they had in Gujarat, for over 2 decades, at the Central level. What if Modi were to repeat their political performance in Delhi, as they did in Gujarat.
In his 2018, in a Hindustan Times article written by him, Rajdeep Sardesai gives us a window into his charred, extremely terrified soul.
Rajdeep Sardesai’s article in 2018
The underlying fear that has forced Rajdeep to be obsessed with the Gujarat model is not the critique of governance, speaking truth to power or even his vulture-like love for violence post-2002, but his deep-seated hatred for PM Modi and Amit Shah and the fear that the duo could rule at the centre for the foreseeable future, just like they governed Gujarat and never lost an election. This fear is not just limited to Rajdeep Sardesai, however. For all those ‘liberals’ who have been close to the Congress, the fear of Modi and Shah ruling the country for the foreseeable future is almost unbearable. They have tried everything in their power to arrest the possibility. And that their attempts have failed is what frustrates them.
The career journalists breastfed by politicians are usually obsessed with the side that provides them with most nourishment. Just as hungry children who crave undivided attention, nourishment, and most importantly, crave the hold that they have over the parent, journalists of the cash-for-vote and Radiia variety crave a Congress government at the centre. A Congress at the centre is mostly a constant source of nourishment for those journalists who wish to buy expensive flats and farmhouses without doing an honest day’s work. Their access journalism works only with friendly governments and friendlier NACs.
And thus, the thought of Modi-Shah duo reigning supreme for the foreseeable future inspires these journalists to display with abandonment issues with much aplomb, veiled behind the seeming critique of governance.
Rajdeep Sardesai who admits, rather openly, that his journalism is that of a vulture, fluff interviews with one who shall not be called Antonia Maino, and his unbridled hate for Modi, is obsessed with the Gujarat model because if the Gujarat model comes to Delhi, his source of nourishment disappears for the foreseeable future too. Perhaps, instead of lashing out at the bellowing, hungry child, we must observe a moment of silence for the mortal remains of his career that await burial.
The novel Coronavirus, which originated from Wuhan, China has brought unmitigated disaster across the world. The disruptions it has caused to world order is unprecedented.
Consider this. Indian railways, since the first train rolled in 1853 from Mumbai (Then Bombay) to Thane, had stopped its regular service only twice in the history and that too for a day only. Once during WW II and the other one being on the day of Gandhi’s assassination. Today is the 61st day since Indian Railways stopped its passenger service countrywide. As the threat from the virus grew, India took some drastic and hard measures to stop the spread of the virus. On 24th March, India stopped all international and domestic operations of flights across India. As the lockdown is being eased gradually after 2 months, India is opening its skies again on 25th May for domestic operation to resume.
Never before in aviation history, such large fleet of aircrafts were out of service for 2 months before being brought into service again. It raises several eyebrows on safety of flight operations and airworthiness of the aircrafts. Of course, there are SOPs for airplanes returning to service after extended downtime, but it has never been carried out on such massive scale ever.
Inspection of aircraft for airworthiness
Aircrafts do go through scheduled maintenance and periodic inspections to certify the airworthiness. These are categorised as A, B, C and D check which are carried out as per time intervals or flying hours. While A, B and C can be carried out in the hangar itself, D check which is most extensive, is often carried out at a manufacturer’s facility. These checks often include
Visual inspection of aircraft parts
Hydraulic fluid levels
Lubrication of moving parts
Braking
Engine functions
RAT deployment
Landing Gear functions
Cabin pressurisation system
Hydraulic actuators
These checks are performed in regular time intervals. However, these are scheduled maintenance checks aimed at servicing parts that may suffer wear and tear during regular flying. Extended parking may cause deterioration of non moving objects, which are vital in flight operation and may not be included in the scheduled maintenance. This mostly includes the aircraft surface, various sensors exposed to weather, physical structure etc. Hence a SOP for getting planes back into service after extended downtime is essential. Boeing and Airbus manuals have specific extensive chapters dedicated to “Maintenance practices for extended parking”.
The parts that are most vulnerable to airplane inactivity are the ones exposed to weather. A bit on those before we proceed.
Pitot Tube – This is an instrument used to measure airspeed. Airspeed is the speed an aircraft achieves using engine power. Imagine a car moving at higher speed than the engine power applied when going downhill and lower speed when going uphill. Uphill is headwinds and downhill is tailwinds in aviation. Air speed +/- Wind speed is the ground speed or actual speed of the aircraft. The pitot tube probe is generally placed alongside the fuselage of the aircraft with 2 holes in it.
Pilot tube
Static Ports – This measures the ambient air pressure of the outside air. The output from this instrument is used by Altimeter, Cabin Pressurization system, Vertical Speed Indicator and Airspeed indicator. It works along with pitot tube and together it’s known as pitot-static system.
Static Ports on an Airbus A320
Angle of Attack (AoA) Sensor – As the name suggests, this tells the angle of oncoming air relative to aircraft’s wing (Or a reference line along the wings). Described in more detail in our article on the Boeing 737 MAX.
Angle Of Attack Sensor
All these sensors are exposed outside the fuselage and are prone to vagaries of weather. The 2 accidents involving aircrafts returning to service after extended parking involved blocked pitot tube probe and static port contamination.
We have already seen how a faulty AoA sensor had taken down 2 brand new Boeing 737 Max and the entire fleet across the world had to be grounded and continues to do so. The inputs from all the 3 are extremely vital to aircraft operations are they are fed to onboard flight computers who then take important decisions. A wrong input may have catastrophic consequences as we have seen in the past.
Hence, along with the schedule A, B or C check as applicable, the aircrafts do go through extra set of checks before returning to service. Apart from these, there are other parts which may have been affected during extended parking. Lubrications in moving parts, batteries getting discharged, fuel tank or fuel pipe contamination (due to insects or impurities getting stuck), tyres, hydraulics are some of the other parts that are included in SOP for aircraft returning to service. Engine, APUs and fire extinguisher systems are anyways regularly serviced to maintain the airworthiness.
The routine preflight checks are performed before taking to the sky includes a walk around, switches, circuit breakers, hydraulics, brakes, radios, transponders, fuel systems, trims, rudder function, flaps, slats among others. Airlines make the air worthiness of an aircraft absolutely sure before allowing it to take to the sky.
There are some apprehensions among passengers after the recent PIA A320 crash in Karachi yesterday. However, it is would be hasty to comment because we don’t know if the aircraft was parked for a long time or was it commencing regular service. Also, from the radio comms between the pilots and ATC, it’s clear that the pilots lost both engines. It’s premature but unlikely that this would have been caused due to prolonged parking. Let’s not speculate about the incident till an investigation report comes to fore.
The engineering staffs on the ground and the pilots along with the crew in the air will make sure we will have a safe flight as the aircrafts take to Indian skies after 2 months break. Let’s put our apprehensions to rest and look forward to the beautiful giant metal birds roaring into the Blue skies with all their glory.
On Saturday, Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government stoked a huge controversy by referring the North-east state Sikkim as an independent country.
The Delhi government has issued an advertisement to recruit ‘Civil Defence Volunteers’ in most of the daily newspapers. The Delhi government in its ad to recruit nearly 200 volunteers, however, referred the state of Sikkim to be a separate entity and placed alongside sovereign nations like Bhutan and Nepal.
In the below advertisement, it can be seen a note which states the eligibility criteria for people to apply for the posts. In the eligibility criteria stated below, the advertisement states that any citizen of Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan or a resident of Delhi are eligible for the post.
Delhi Govt ad on recruitment for civil defence
Sikkim, once a separate country, became an integral part of India in 1975. It merged completely with India to become the 22nd state of our country.
The ultra-left wing propaganda website – Newslaundry, which has a history of peddling fake news, hit a new low on Saturday after they allegedly forced a Zee news journalist, who has been infected by coronavirus epidemic, to do a hit job against Zee News chief Sudhir Chaudhary.
According to Zee News journalist Praveen Shrivastava, who is currently under quarantine after he was tested positive for coronavirus, he received a call and also a Whatsapp text from a journalist associated with Newslaundry named Basant Kumar, repeatedly asking him to plant negative news against Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary.
Praveen Shrivastava, exposing the sinister agenda of NewsLaundry, attacked them for stooping so low under the garb of ‘journalism’ and also revealed how insensitive of ‘journalist’ was Basant Kumar to call and force him to say negative things about a fellow journalist, especially at a time when he is infected with the deadly coronavirus.
“Please carry forward the agenda of your lies. If this is the journalism you practise, then it is the worst form,” said Shrivastava in response to Newslaundry’s dirty tricks.
The Zee News journalist also added that if Newslaundry was willing to know his side of truth, then they must publish his video. He added that the Newslaundry will not publish the video, as it will only expose their nefarious agenda.
This is not the first time NewsLaundry has used one of their journalists to use such tricks to get a story done. Earlier, Basant Kumar tried to preach about ethics of journalism to OpIndia Hindi Editor Ajeet Bharti, and never cared to even send a link of the story (let alone sending the recording of his statements which he had agreed to). Basant is notoriously known to twist statements and write what his bosses ask him to.
It is pertinent to note that journalist Sudhir Chaudhary is being continuously targetted by Islamists, ‘secular-liberal’ media ecosystem and intelligentsia for exposing the anti-India agenda. He was lately targetted for his sharp journalistic work exposing the Tablighi Jamaat episode and its attendees, who actively spread the coronavirus across the country.
An FIR has been filed against Zee News’ Editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary in Kerala after he had reported on various kinds of ‘Jihad’ and exposed its modus-operandi on a TV show.
The harassment to target Zee News, especially Sudhir Chaudhary is in line with the latest trend of the ‘liberal-secular’ ecosystem unleashing its might to silence media persons who often share a nationalistic discourse and stay away from toeing the line of the left-wing intelligentsia in the country.
Zee News media staff infected with coronavirus
Zee Media, one of the country’s biggest media houses, has also been affected by the Chinese epidemic with 29 of its employees have found to be infected with the coronavirus.
On behalf of the channel, its editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary issued a statement in which he informed viewers that 28 Zee News employees have tested positive for COVID-19 following the mass testing after one of its employees tested positive on last Friday.
RSS’s Jankalyan Samiti, Mumbai has been combating the difficult circumstances under the Covid-19 Lockdown by aiding needy individuals, senior citizens, stranded labourers and different strata of the society. RSS’s Seva activity knew no boundaries of age, language, castes and religion too for that matter. The selfless acts of the Swayamsevaks reinstate the ideals of Swami Vivekananda that, ‘Be grateful to the man you help, think of him as God.’
In the days where RSS has been demonized by certain sections of media for being communal, in the midst of that a selfless act of helping Bengali Muslims comes in as a tight slap on such negative propaganda. Terminologies like ‘Islamophobic Sangh’, ‘Anti-Muslim RSS’ etc. are falsely being associated with RSS. However, the chairman of Orchid Foundation of India, Sohel Rana Alam’s story completely demolishes such filthy narratives. While narrating the help received by the stranded Bengali Muslim workers, he writes, ‘I am not a BJP supporter, and there are also lots of agendas of RSS that I stand against. But I do not cower to call a spade a spade! ’
Due to the lockdown, 5-6 Bengali Muslim workers from Murshidabad were stranded in Dharavi and 7-8 workers from Bankura and other districts were stranded in the Ghatkopar area of Mumbai. Seeking for help, Sohel Rana Alam called the ACP of Ghatkopar at first, who gave him the number of the control room. Later he received the contact information of the local RSS leader Mahesh Kulkarni (from the control room) who is the head of relief operations in these areas. When the control room gave Sohel the contact number of Mahesh, he was told that it’s an NGO (not RSS) hence, he immediately dialled the number.
But when Mahesh Kulkarni said he is an RSS Swayaymsevak, Sohel Alam’s bias about RSS created some doubts in his mind and asked him, ‘I’m a Muslim & the needy are Muslims too, I have heard all wrong & bad about RSS, I am not sure whether to ask for help or not!’. Mahesh’s immediate reply, ‘We are humans first & rest later, RSS teaches us to serve humanity without any discrimination.’ left Sohel Alam spellbound. He had never experienced such a side of the RSS. The stranded Muslim workers in Dharavi received aid through the efforts of Mahesh Kulkarni. He was not just surprised with the swift help but was overwhelmed by the compassion of the swayamsevaks who risking their lives went to Dharavi & served the workers with necessary items.
For the aid of Bankura workers stranded in the Ghatkopar area, Sohel Rana Alam called upon Akbar Pathan, DCP Andheri, and Dharavi police station for innumerable times for help. However, each time he was met with refusal. Based on previous experience, Sohel again called upon Mahesh Kulkarni, and then Mr. Ganesh Pandi, the Dharavi Nagar Karavaha (secretary) came forward for help. Seeing such an efficient coordinated effort of both of the Swayamsevaks Sohel writes, ‘Here in this situation we got help from Mr. Ganesh Pandi. Kudos to him! It is unbelievable for me that I am writing this…me…who is a staunch dissenter of the ideology of RSS and BJP. I have never participated in politics. Even if I do… I will never be a member of BJP. But I will commend these two people for their selfless work… for not doing so would be ungrateful.
Mr. Pandi also said that as an Indian it is their duty to help everyone…whatever community may they belong to..he also said to ask him for any other help if the NGO needs it as we are also trying to help people.’ Sohel asked for help of ration of another 30 men and Mr. Pandi made sure that necessary items were provided. Overwhelmed by such an active response, Sohel writes, ‘No matter how much hatred is spread by some narrow-minded people, those who are innately good will always be good, irrespective of community, religion, or political affiliations.
‘Both Mr. Kulkarni and Mr. Pandi have our heartfelt regards and best wishes. They have proved that Humanity is above everything. I’ve posted this story on my Facebook Wall and more than 90% of the comments were positive. The people who practice and support yellow journalism for their own gain and divide and those who have installed hatred amongst Muslims against RSS; they should be ashamed of themselves,’ Sohel said.
RSS is the most misunderstood organization in the world & this incident once again exposes the same but it also instils the trust factor & bursts the myth that RSS is anti-anything or anybody. Also, Mahesh Kulkarni and Ganesh Pandi’s Seva work and the change in opinion of pre-opinionated biased Sohel Alam is a testimony to the Sarsanghchalak Mohan Ji Bhagwat’s appeal that ‘Understand RSS by experience & not by Media reports!’ Here was an incident amidst the biggest crisis manifesting the DNA of RSS that always has believed in सेवा परमो धर्म: सेवा धर्म सुखाव Service to mankind is the greatest Dharma & nothing better than Serving Humanity gives happiness & joy.
At a time when Kerala is seeing a rise in coronavirus positive cases yet again, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government has decided to ease restrictions in the state ahead of Eid ul- Fitr celebration in the state.
According to the reports, the Kerala government has decided to ease restrictions ahead of Eid and relaxations have been given to shops to stay open till 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Muslims in Kerala and Karnataka will celebrate Ed-ul-Fitr on Sunday after completing 30 days of Ramzan ‘Roza’ fasting.
As Muslims could not sight the moon on Friday and the 30-day Ramadan ending on Saturday, Eid-ul-Fitr in Kerala will be celebrated on Sunday.
However, Eid-gahs or prayer gatherings will not be held anywhere in the state in view of the lockdown. Muslims account for 88.73 lakh of the 3.34 crore population in Kerala.
The ease of restrictions, especially ahead of the Islamic festival of Eid, comes at a time when the state has seen a rise in coronavirus cases again. Earlier, the state of Kerala had seen large recoveries of infected persons, however, since last week, there has been an increasing number of positive cases in the state.
On Friday alone, forty-two persons have tested positive for coronavirus in Kerala, increasing the number of active cases in the state to 216. Five people in Kerala have lost their lives due to the Chinese epidemic, according to the Health Ministry data.
The total tally of coronavirus cases in Kerala stand at 733. Nearly 512 positive patients have recovered in the state.
Former AAP leader and current Swarajya Party leader tweeted a “7-point action plan” that was evidently endorsed by “leading economists and intellectuals”. The 7-point plan aimed to lay-out of a path that was meant to help the country fight the current Coronavirus pandemic. However, the 7-point plan, as OpIndia termed it, was one that could be written by a 14-year-old and had several problematic clauses. One of the clauses was 7.1 which stated that all private property, which included bonds, gold, property etc ‘must be treated as a national resource’ to fight the pandemic. One of the intellectuals who endorsed this juvenile ‘action plan’ was Ramchandra Guha. However, after much mockery and hue and cry, Guha has taken a u-turn and distanced himself from the action plan.
Ramchandra Guha took to Twitter to announce that the clause that was presented to him during the discussion and the clause that was finally printed were vastly different, referring to clause 7.1.
The published version had a radically different clause 7.1: “All the resources (cash, real estate, property, bonds, etc) with the citizens or within the nation must be treated as national resources available during this crisis.” I have not and do not endorse this. (2/3)
Ramchandra Guha said that when he had approved the mission statement, clause 7.1 read, “All resources within the nation are national resources, available for this mission.” However, the printed version is vastly different.
The published version of the clause was ‘radically different’ according to Ramchandra Guha. The published version of Clause 7.1 says, “All the resources (cash, real estate, property, bonds, etc) with the citizens or within the nation must be treated as national resources available during this crisis.” Guha claimed that he had not endorsed this version.
This clause, that has become deeply tendentious with the major changes made without the consent of some signatories, has taken attention away from the many sensible suggestions made in the Statement. (3/3).
Guha further said that this version did not have the approval of many signatories and has a “taken the attention away from the many sensible suggestions made in the Statement”.
It must be mentioned that though Ram Guha has tacitly said that the clause is not sensible, he has refrained from distancing himself completely from the 7 point action plan. He still endorses the rest of the suggestions made in the statement. Some other suggestions made in the statement are ‘jobs for everyone’, ‘income for everyone’, and ‘no interest till economy revives’. The utopian, socialist measures suggested by the so-called leading “intellectuals” are unimplementable and almost seem like the intellectuals, many of whom were in Sonia Gandhi’s NAC are laying the groundwork to ensure that the state benefits from private resources to fill its own coffers.
