Home Blog Page 5393

Islamists celebrate the untimely demise of actor Irrfan Khan, calls it ultimate punishment in Ramzan for his progressive views

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Islamists celebrate the untimely demise of actor Irrfan Khan, calls it ultimate punishment in Ramzan for his progressive views

Actor Irrfan Khan died on Wednesday in Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, where he was being treated for a colon infection. The versatile actor, one of Indian cinema’s most respected thespians, battled a tumour for several months and had returned to Mumbai some months ago after being treated in London. 

Khan will not only be remembered for his magnificent acting career but also for his progressive ideas. Khan’s criticism of the practice of killing goats for ‘Qurbani’ and belief that faith is about introspection had earned him a lot of admonishment by the hardliners. This is probably the reason why at a grievous time like this, when the untimely demise of the quintessential middle-class hero is being mourned by one and all, there are a few Islamists who have taken to social media to shamelessly celebrate the Bollywood actor’s death.

‘Journalist’ Ali Sohrab who is infamous for sharing objectionable and bigoted content on his Twitter page, has his timeline filled with spiteful messages against actor Irrfan Khan who breathed his last today in Mumbai.

Ali Sohrab, in one of his tweet, says that it is Allah’s ultimate punishment that the actor who had once insulted the ritual of fasting during the month of Ramzan, died during the month of Ramzan.

This tweet is followed by a serious of tweet where Ali Sohrab has shared Irrfan Khan’s 2016 statement, where he had expressed his ideas on Islam and his own way of practising his faith and mocked the actor’s statement.

Sohrab, who has on several occasions indulged in sharing fake and inciteful posts on his social media pages and is known for his Hinduphobic ideology, wrote that the Quran specifies that there is nothing wrong in discussing the sins and offenses a person has committed even after his death.

Apart from these, there are various other tweets on Ali Sohrab’s timeline as he can be seen obsessing over actor Irrfan Khan’s death today.

Apart from Sohrab, there are many other radical Islamists who have been mocking and celebrating the actor’s death. A Twitter user going by the handle @pokershah has shared screenshots of many such spiteful tweets by Islamists who have been jubilating the actors death.

Many other Islamists also chose this day to scorn the departed soul for his progressive ideologies.

Irrfan Khan condemned the ritual of fasting during Ramzan and ‘Qurbani’

In 2016, during an event in Jaipur, Irrfan Khan had stated that in today’s practises, the actual meaning of Qurbani (sacrifice) has been lost. He had added that purchasing a goat from the market and killing it after two days is not ‘Qurbani’. He had added that the essence of the Islamic festival is about giving up, sacrificing something that is important to oneself.

He had also condemned the ritual of fasting during the month of Ramzan. “Rather than fasting during Ramzan, people should self-introspect. Animals are being slaughtered on in the name of Qurbani during Muharram. We, Muslims, have made a mockery of Muharram. It is meant for mourning and what we do? Take out (tajiya) processions,” Irrfan had said in 2016. Khan had faced widespread criticism from Islamic clerics and even the AIMPLB for his remarks.

Irrfan died at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai on April 29. He was hospitalised due to a colon infection on Tuesday. The actor was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumour in 2018 and underwent treatment in the United Kingdom for a year. He returned to India in February last year and had resumed work.

Irrfan is celebrated for his work in films such as Maqbool, Life in a… Metro, The Namesake, Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi, The Lunchbox, Blackmail and others. He was last seen in Angrezi Medium, which is streaming online after its theatrical release took a hit due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Irrfan is survived by his wife Sutapa Sikder, and sons Babil and Ayan.

Kolkata: Coronavirus patient discharged saying he has tested negative, called back saying he is positive, dies in hospital, son calls it a “murder”

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Kolkata: Coronavirus patient discharged saying he has tested negative, called back saying he is positive, dies in hospital, son calls it a “murder”

A shocking case from West Bengal’s Kolkata has surfaced which highlights the pathetic situation West Bengal is currently in and the government’s complete incompetence in handling the Coronavirus pandemic. A 68-year-old Coronavirus patient who recently died in Kolkata, West Bengal, was discharged from MR Bangur Hospitals in Tollygunge in West Bengal, saying he had tested negative. But the next day his family he received a call from the health authorities saying that he was positive. After that the man was again admitted in the hospital, but he succumbed to the infection on Tuesday morning. The infected man spent a day with his family due to such flip-flop by hospital and health department, which now has created the risk of the entire family getting the infection.

The deceased’s family has alleged serious lapses on the part of the hospital administration. “This is negligence. My father has been murdered. We want answers from Bangur Hospitals and the highest officials at the Health Ministry on why this happened. We want them to come here and give us answers. Our family should be compensated,” said Om Prakash Gupta’s son, Raj Gupta.

On Monday, Raj Gupta used his cellphone to film his father leaving their house for hospital for the second time. Om Prakash never returned. Within 12 hours of being readmitted to the hospital, the coronavirus patient died.

Kolkata’s MR Bangur Hospitals negligence

“My father was admitted to Bangur (Hospital). They said he has tested positive and asked us to be under home quarantine. The next day, we got a call from Bangur Hospital, saying my father has tested negative and that he can leave. The discharge certificate clearly has ‘COVID-19 negative’ written on it. We then got a call from the Health Department saying that my father has tested positive again,” Raj Gupta said.

Last week, Om Prakash complained of symptoms like fever and cough and was admitted to the state-run MR Bangur Hospital on April 22. Raj Gupta says that on April 25, the Health Department phoned him to say his father had tested positive. The next evening, however, the hospital phoned Raj Gupta to say his father had tested negative and should be taken home.

When Raj Gupta pointed out that he was being given two diametrically opposite results, hospital officials curtly said that they wouldn’t have discharged him if they weren’t sure.

Merely after 12 hours of him returning home, the family got a call from the Swathya Bhavan on April 27, informing that Om Prakash Gupta was positive and said there was a mistake from the hospital’s side. They informed that an ambulance was on its way to pick up Om Prakash. In the morning of April 28, the hospital informed the 68-year-old patient’s family that he had succumbed to the infection.

“How can a person who walked on his own die? This is negligence. My father has been murdered”, exclaimed Raj Gupta.

“What kind of mismanagement and lack of coordination is this? My mother is 63-year-old, I have two small kids and my wife. In addition to mourning my father’s death, we are also worried as we might have also got the infection. My only request to the state government to make arrangement’s for our testing and proper treatment if any of us our found infected”, said the bereaved son.

Om Prakash’s wife, their son and daughter-in-law and two grandchildren will be tested for COVID-19 next week on May 3.

Kolkata’s MR Bangur Hospitals keeps suspected Coronavirus patients near dead bodies

Another disturbing video had surfaced of an isolation ward in M.R.Bangur Hospital in Tollygunge in West Bengal that narrated the deplorable conditions under which suspected Coronavirus patients have been quarantined. 45 seconds into the video, the man holding the camera points towards a dead body lying unattended on a bed for over 2-3 hours.

The man alleged that no provisions had been made by the hospital authorities to dispose off the body. He then directs the viewers to another dead body that is concealed behind black curtains. The video creator then highlighted the lack of proper social distancing provisions in the ward by citing the example of two other suspected Coronavirus patients who are in close proximity to the body of the deceased.

West Bengal sitting on a Time Bomb

The suppression of facts and fudging of data has become a major worry for authorities and health experts in West Bengal, which has now snowballed into a huge controversy between the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government and doctors who are whistleblowing against the state government for forcing health authorities not to declare deaths from coronavirus unless certified by a state government-nominated panel.

According to a Sunday Guardian report, the manipulation of data on coronavirus cases by the Mamata Banerjee-led government, expectedly, has come under fire from officials of the Kolkata-wing of the Indian Council of Medical Research, who have blamed the TMC-led government for slowing down the mandatory tests related to the deadly virus.

The troubling part is that the state government has not even responded to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Central government’s declaration that the whole of Kolkata city and some of its districts should be declared as Coronavirus hotspots.

Mamata Banerjee Defiant

On April 20, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the formation of the Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCT) constituted by the Central Government for quick redressal of coronavirus crisis in states claiming that it is ‘not consistent with the spirit of federalism’.

Patanjali paid the dues of Ruchi Soya after acquiring it, Congress party falsely accuses RBI of writing off the loan of ‘rich capitalist’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Patanjali paid the dues of Ruchi Soya after acquiring it, Congress party falsely accuses RBI of writing off the loan of ‘rich capitalist’

In reference to the list of top 50 bank defaulters in the country released by the RBI, the official Twitter page of Karnataka Congress today posted a tweet claiming that the apex bank had written off loans worth Rs 68,000 crores to those who could afford to pay it. Accusing the government of favouring rich capitalists over poor people, the tweet mentioned that a staggering Rs 2,212 crores of debt by the Ruchi Soya Industries, which belongs to Patanjali group, have been written off.

Through the tweet, the Congress party has insinuated that the BJP has been helping its “capitalists friends” by writing off their loans while turning a blind eye towards the miseries of the underprivileged people. It cited the case of Ruchi Soya Industries, which belongs to Ramdev baba’s Patanjali group and whose loan worth Rs 2212 crores was written off by the banks. The Congress party alluded that the close relationship between Ramdev Baba and the BJP is the reason why an astounding loan amount of Rs 2212 crore by Ruchi Soya Industries was written off.

The Karnataka Congress’ allegation against the BJP came after it got hold of a response by the RBI to an RTI in which the central bank listed the top 50 wilful defaulters accused of cheating Indian banks and loans taken out by them that have been written off. The RTI query was filed by a man named Saket Gokhale who claims himself to be an RTI activist.

However, there is little merit in the accusations levelled by the Congress party. Though Saket Gokhale had sought the list of defaulters as on February 16, the RBI provided the information on top 50 wilful defaulters and their sum of the funded amount outstanding and amount written off as on September 30, 2019, claiming that the requested latest information was not available with the central bank.

As of September 30, 2019, Ruchi Soya Industries was an independent entity, having no links with the Ramdev Baba’s Patanjali group. Headquartered in Indore, Ruchi Soya, once one of the largest processors of edible oils, filed for bankruptcy in December 2017. Its accumulated debt was Rs 12,000 crore; sales had fallen from Rs 31,500 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 12,000 crore in 2017-18.

In December 2019, the Patanjali group completed the transfer of the equity and debt portion for its acquisition of Ruchi Soya through proceedings under insolvency and bankruptcy resolution. In this deal, Patanjali had infused Rs. 1,150 crore as equity and the remaining Rs. 3,200 crore had been raised through bank debt. After Patanjali acquired the company, all the dues of the company were paid off, as informed by the Patanjali group.

The funds transferred by the Patanjali group for Ruchi Soya’s acquisition would have come as a boost for the banks as they would have been able to write back the amount received from the resolution. Since the list shared by the RBI is from September 2019, the updated list of defaulters will not have the name of Ruchi Soya as it became a Patanjali group firm in December 2019 and all its dues as pegged by the National Company Law Tribunal(NCLT), which presided over its insolvency proceedings, were settled off by the Patanjali group.

However, this nitty-gritty of Ruchi Soya’s acquisition was lost on the Congress party which had shared outdated data to assert that the government is hand in gloves with the capitalists while ignoring the plight of poor people. The Patanjali group followed the Insolvency and the Bankruptcy Code to legitimately acquire the Ruchi Soya Industries without seeking any special favours from the Modi government. It also paid the dues owed by the lenders of the Ruchi Soya, thereby reducing the write-off loans of many banks, including SBI, one of the largest lenders to the Ruchi Soya Industries group. With the aim of painting the BJP as a purveyor of crony capitalism, Congress deceitfully shared old data to assert that the central government has written off loans of organisations whose founders have ideologically aligned with the ruling dispensation.

Another important point is that writing off a loan does not mean it has been waived and the borrower no longer need to pay it. Writing off a loan means the bank acknowledges that a loan has gone bad and the borrower is unable to service it. This is an accounting procedure to reflect the true picture of the finances of the bank, because if if is not listed as non-performing asset (NPA), it will continue to show as good loan in the book of bank. Such not listing NPAs in time has resulted in collapse of banks like Yes Bank and PMC Bank. Even after a bad loan is written off, the banks continue the efforts to recover the money. It is done by selling the pledged assets and securities, and if it involved criminal charges, the law enforcement agencies also take over the properties of the defaulter. For example, properties worth crores have been seized from defaulters like Viyay Mallya, Nirav Modi etc, and banks can get their dues from such assets.

Leftist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who is notorious for spreading fake news, had also made the same claim as Karnatak Congress and accused the govt doing undue favour for the Patanjali group. But in a surprisingly rare move, later he apologised to Bab Ramdev after he was informed about the details of the transaction. Although Prashant Bhushan is not known for accepting that he has spread fake news and mostly he brazens it out after his fake news is pointed out by netizens, today due to some reason he accepted his mistake and offered an apology.

5,450 tonnes of free rice to 2,985 mosques, 47 temples have to pay rupees 10 crores: Tamil Nadu government order

OpIndia Staff
-
0
5,450 tonnes of free rice to 2,985 mosques, 47 temples have to pay rupees 10 crores: Tamil Nadu government order

The Tamil Nadu government has asked 47 temples to donate total of rupees 10 crores to the CM Relief Fund to fight Chinese coronavirus. But on the hand, the state government has ordered the distribution of 5,450 tonnes of free rice to 2,985 mosques of the state on April 16 in the month of Ramzan, so that those who were keeping Rojas would not suffer. This rice at Rs 21/kg will cost the Tamil Nadu government little over Rs 11 crore.

At a time, when the struggle to free the temple administration from the clutches of the government is intensifying, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department(HR and CE) of the Tamil Nadu government has set aside 47 temples in addition to the amount earmarked for taking care of poor. CM Relief Fund has directed temples to provide an additional 10 crores.

BJP requests free food distribution in temples

BJP’s Tamil Nadu President L Murugan on Saturday urged the AIADMK government to resume Annadanam(serving food to the hungry) in temples maintained by the Hindu religious and charitable endowment department in the state to provide food to the poor and sadhus. Murugan said that the government has respected the pleas of the people of the Muslim community and allocated free rice for Ramzan dinner.

The main reason for the Tamil Nadu government’s criticism of this directive is also that it has not been given to Christian and Muslim institutions that receive grants from government annually. Earlier the Madras High Court had rejected petition, refusing to interfere with the Tamil Nadu government order to distribute free rice to mosques in the month of Ramzan.

For this the bench set aside the Supreme court statement in which the apex court had said that the government was not opposed to the idea of providing any pilgrimage support to any community. For example, the government had mentioned the cost of Kumbh and helping Indian citizens in their Mansarovar pilgrimage. However, the bench did not mention what to do with the government’s decision in such a situation when temples are closed due to coronavirus lockdown?

47 Temples of the state are under control of HR and CE

HR and CE secretary K Panindra Reddy directed all the officials working under him in 47 temples including Madurai, Palani, Thiruchendur, Tirutani, Thiruvannamalai, Rameswaram, and Mayilapur to contribute a surplus amount of 35 lakhs to feed the poor due in the lockdown. Other temples have been directed to pay from 15 lakh rupees to 25 lakh rupees. All 47 temples have to pay a surplus fund of 10 crore to CM Coronavirus relief Fund.

It is noteworthy that HR and CE manage 36,612 temples in Tamil Nadu. These temples are renewed/protected and restored by the surplus funds. A lot of priests depend entirely on donations from devotees. They are now stranded and facing starvation due to the coronavirus epidemic and the nationwide shutdown. The state government instead of helping them, has targeted the property of Hindu temples to pursue appeasement politics.

Tamil Nadu govt order

At the beginning of the festival of Ramzan, the Tamil Nadu state government announced a major benefit to Muslims. The late CM Jayalalithaa had started it as appeasement politics. Tamil Nadu government had announced that 5,450 tonnes of rice would be given to 2,895 mosques this year for preparing porridge.

Unlike Muslims, Hindus don’t get anything in festivals

No similar help or plan is given to prepare offerings to the village deities of Hindus during Chaitra and other months. The Tamil Nadu government collects more than Rs 3000 crore per year from Hindu temples through Handi collection, offerings, darshan tickets, special program fees, etc., while only Rs 4-6 crores are given for maintenance. Rest 2,995 crore rupees remain with the government.

At the same time, Srivilliputhur Vaishnavit Math Chief Sadgopa Ramanuj Jiyar urged the Tamil Nadu government to spend the temple money to give to the priests and servants. Dr. Krishnaswamy, the head of Puthia Tamizhagam has appealed to the CM to refund the amount of Rs 10 Crores received from the temples.

Lucknow: The process to recover damages from the Anti-CAA rioters has been put on hold amid the coronavirus lockdown

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Lucknow: The process to recover damages from the Anti-CAA rioters has been put on hold amid the coronavirus lockdown

The Anti-CAA rioters who indulged in arson and destruction of public properties during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act have got a temporary breather. The process to recover damages to the tunes of 1.41 crores has been put on hold due to Wuhan coronavirus lockdown.

As per a Times Now report, Lucknow District Magistrate Abhishek Prakash stated, “The process to recover damages and of attaching properties of those involved in the state capital is on hold as only essential activities are going on. Once, the lockdown is over, action will certainly be taken.”

The Lucknow administration had served notices to 53 vandals on the basis of FIRs. The deadline to pay the amount was the first week of April, after that, the process of attachment of the properties had to commence. Due to coronavirus pandemic, a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 25 that was later extended till May 3.

As per reports, in the Khadra area, some 13 protesters were identified and a loss of property was estimated at Rs 21,76,000. In Parivartan Chowk, 24 persons were identified and loss was estimated at Rs 69,65,000. In the Thakurganj area, 10 persons were identified and the loss was Rs 47,85,800, and in Kaiserbagh six protesters were identified and the loss there was Rs 1,75,000.

53 people were served recovery notices by the administration and were told to pay the recovery amount failing which the authorities were to start auctioning off their properties. The Yogi Adityanath government had also put up hoardings carrying names, addresses, and photographs of anti-CAA rioters, who were accused of damaging public property.

However, the Allahabad High Court had ordered the UP government to remove the hoardings, saying that there is no law backing the action of the government. The High Court has said that the posters were unwarranted interference in the privacy of people. But the Yogi government had filed a plea at the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order, saying that those vandalizing public and private property have no right of privacy. The apex court had referred the case to a larger bench.

Later, the UP government introduced an ordinance named the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damage to Public Properties Ordinance, 2020, thereby providing the authorization to the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh to confiscate properties of individuals involved in damaging property during riots in the state, including the recent anti-CAA riots.

Home Ministry allows movement of stranded migrant workers, students, tourists and others to their home states by bus

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Home Ministry allows movement of stranded migrant workers, students, tourists and others to their home states by bus

Further relaxing the nationwide lockdown, the union home ministry today allowed the states to facilitate the movement of people stranded in various states, including migrant labours. This move will allow students, migrant workers, tourists etc to go to their homes from their current locations.

The order issued by the home ministry has issued guidelines for movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students who are stranded at different places due to the lockdown. The centre has asked the states and union territories to designate nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for sending and receiving such persons. The movement of people will happen only by road.

Persons willing to move will be screened and only those having no symptoms will be allowed to move. Both the sending and receiving states will have to coordinate on the movement, and the states that fall in the route will allow the transit of such buses. On arrival at the destination, the persons will be again screened and they will be kept in home quarantine if found asymptomatic. They may also be kept in institutional quarantine, if that is felt necessary after health checkup.

This move will bring a huge relief for lakhs of people who are stranded in different states due to the lockdown. As migrant workers have no work, and students have no classes to attend, all of them want to go home to be with families. Several incidents of migrants violating lockdown and coming out in large numbers demanding to be sent back to their home states have also happened in various states lie Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi etc. Earlier some states had evacuated small number of people stranded outside their states. But now after the MHA order, large scale evacuation of people to their home states will be possible.

The nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Coronavirus was imposed from 25th March, which was to expire on 14th April. But the lockdown was extended and now it is scheduled to end on 3rd March.

Today’s decision just four days ahead of the lockdown ends gives a hint that the lockdown will not be lifted completely after 3rd May. Even if limited relaxations are granted in green zones, at least train, flight and inter-state bus transit will most probably remain prohibited.

Bollywood entertainer Richa Chadha wants RBI to ‘write off’ everyone’s EMI. Here is why it is not possible, ever

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Bollywood entertainer Richa Chadha wants RBI to ‘write off’ everyone’s EMI. Here is why it is not possible, ever

There have been countless occasions when Bollywood actors have made a fool of themselves by weighing in on topics completely out of their intellectual grasp. Recently, actor Richa Chadha enlisted herself in the list of Bollywood celebrities who have displayed shocking disregard and brazen antipathy for logic and rationality. As the country reels under the economic shadow of coronavirus lockdown, Ms Chadha today asked the Premier Bank of the country, RBI, why it can’t “write-off” everyone’s EMI.

Taking to Twitter, Ms Chadha asked, “Why can’t the RBI also write off everyone’s EMIs?” The tweet by the Fukrey actor was in reference to the RBI list of top 50 wilful defaulters who are accused of cheating Indian banks. However, the Masaan actress seemed to have conflated the two disparate concepts of “waive off” and “write off” to wonder why the RBI cannot write off everyone’s EMIs.

It is also pertinent to note here that the Reserve Bank of India doesn’t write off loans. It is the banks that write off the loans that are granted by them. In this case, the apex bank of the country had simply provided with the list of top 50 defaulters to an RTI query. Therefore, Ms Chadha’s demand that the RBI should write off everyone’s EMIs is patently wrong and impossible to be fulfilled.

Difference between a Waive off and Write off

‘Write-off’ is a process of balance sheet cleaning up exercise undertaken by concerned banks to depict the real status of the bank’s assets and liabilities. The write-offs are not loan waivers as implied by Ms Chadha in her above tweet.

The banks usually write off loans (an asset to the bank) given to borrowers, which have now shown signs of weakness. The borrower is still liable for repayment. If banks fail to write-off these loans, it is reflected as a high-quality asset and the returns-on-assets should be classified as an income to the bank. However, the quality of a defaulted loan has deteriorated for some time now, which results in giving the wrong picture of the true assets of the bank. It is just a normal practise to clean balance sheets and achieve tax efficiency.

Write-offs are a purely technical, accounting entry. Loans, which may not be repaid by the borrower in the normal course of business are written off. Even when these loans are written off, various recovery procedures like recovery suits filed before the Debt Recovery Tribunal and action initiated under SARFAESI Act continue. Hence, the writing-off a loan is not simply a ‘waive-off’.

Waive off, on the other hand, means that the banks have no means for recovery. For example, loans of farmers who face crop failures are waived off which means they don’t have to repay the loans.

India’s FM Nirmala Sitharaman slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over misinformation

Earlier yesterday, the Reserve Bank of India had released the list of top 50 loan defaulters which included names of Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi among others. The former Congress President lapped on to the list to mount an attack against the government, accusing them of waiving off their loans. However, the Finance Minister of the country, Nirmala Sitharaman rubbished the unfounded claims made by the Gandhi scion, stating that the Wayanad MP is spreading misinformation again by terming ‘bad loan write off’ by banks as ‘loan waiver’.

Largest Ozone hole formed over the Arctic heals, scientists say coronavirus lockdown has nothing to do with it

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Largest Ozone hole formed over the Arctic heals, scientists say coronavirus lockdown has nothing to do with it

The unusual Ozone hole that developed earlier this spring and eventually turned out to be the largest one has been healing, the scientists involved in the observation process revealed.

The ozone layer is a region of earth’s stratosphere that absorbs the ultraviolet radiation coming from the sun. It had set a new record earlier this month when a huge depletion occurred in the northern hemisphere. The depleted area can easily cover the size of Greenland and stretched over the top of the polar icecap.

In the late last week, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) declared that ozone in the arctic region is healing. Scientists said, “previous smaller holes have appeared in the ozone layer over the northern hemisphere before but it was the first time you can speak about the ‘real ozone hole’ in the Arctic.”

CAMS revealed that due to unusual weather conditions the hole had been formed. According to the organization, cold temperatures and powerful winds formed a “polar vortex,” that created a frigid condition that led to ozone depletion.

The organization tweeted, “Although it looks like the polar vortex has not quite come to an end yet and will reform in the next few days, ozone values will not go back to the very low levels seen earlier in April.”

Healing of atmospheric layer not an impact of coronavirus lockdown

The CAMS revealed that the healing of the ozone has nothing to do with Coronavirus lockdown. They said, “This Arctic ozone hole actually has nothing to do with corona virus-related lockdowns, but rather was caused by an unusually strong and long-lived polar vortex.”

As per reports, scientists had earlier mentioned in a report, “While we are used to ozone holes developing over the Antarctic every year during the Austral spring, the conditions needed for such strong ozone depletion are not normally found in the northern hemisphere.”

The Scientists added, “This ozone hole was basically a symptom of the larger problem of ozone depletion, and closed because of local annual cycles, not long-term healing. But, there’s hope: the ozone layer is also healing, but slowly.”

The thickness of the Ozone layer in the Southern Hemisphere changes with the season

The thickness of the Ozone layer mutates with the season. The freezing winters lead to a high altitude cloud combining with the Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which are highly damaging to Ozone layer, which has been contributing towards thinning out the ozone layer from decades.

As per reports, depletion has been causing annually for the last 35 years. After the ban on CFCs, the ozone in the southern hemisphere is recovering. The 2019 Antarctic hole was the smallest one after the crisis was discovered.

As it was formed due to unusual weather circumstances, the Arctic ozone depletion was a different case and because the weather is warmer, therefore, the same high-altitude clouds do not form.

Comic artist wishes death on Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar while mourning actor Irrfan Khan’s demise

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Comic artist wishes death on Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar while mourning actor Irrfan Khan’s demise

Comic artist Rachita Taneja, the founder of webcomic Sanitary Panels, took to Twitter today to wish for the death of Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar while mourning actor Irrfan Khan’s demise. In her tweet, Taneja wrote: “Take back Akshay Kumar and give us Irrfan Khan back”.

The now deleted Tweet

This comment probably drew her a lot of criticism which impelled her to deactivate her Twitter account. Her handle @visualfumble has now been deleted.

Rachita Taneja’s deleted Twitter account

Backlash on social media

Taneja’s tweet drew a lot of criticism online.

She also found support in her hate. BuzzFeed employee of Pakistan origin too chimed in.

Actor Irrfan Khan’s death

Bollywood actor Irfan Khan passed away in Mumbai today. He was rushed to Kokilaben Ambani hospital on Tuesday following colon infection and was admitted to the ICU. In 2018 he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour.

Akshay Kumar a vocal supporter of PM Modi

Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar has never shied away from expressing his admiration for PM Narendra Modi. He has been quite vocal about his support for PM Modi and the initiatives taken by the Prime Minister over the years. His film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Padman were also, in fact, along the lines of what the prime minister has been talking about for the past three years.

Akshay Kumar had vociferously supported the ‘Janata curfew’ called by PM Narendra Modi to fight the coronavirus pandemic and was also one of the first actors to announce a donation of Rs 25 crore to PM Modi’s CARES fund to help the cause.

Rachita Taneja’s past hateful tweet

This is not the first time Taneja has been hateful.

Rachita Taneja’s tweet from her now deleted account. (image courtesy: @896rudra on Twitter)

Following the Supreme Court verdict on Ram Janmabhoomi case where the apex court decided in favour of constructing the Ram Mandir, Taneja had taken to Twitter to abuse the temple. Taneja’s comics which many times reek of Hinduphobia has been commissioned and published by various international publications like Forbes India.

Irrfan Khan’s Islam: Read how the seasoned actor believed that faith is about introspection, criticised practices of killing goats for ‘Qurbani’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Irrfan Khan’s Islam: Read how the seasoned actor believed that faith is about introspection, criticised practices of killing goats for ‘Qurbani’

Actor Irrfan Khan died on Wednesday in Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, where he was being treated for a colon infection. The versatile actor, one of Indian cinema’s most respected thespians, battled a tumour for several months and had returned to Mumbai some months ago after being treated in London. 

Netizens not only remembered his magnificent acting career but also the progressive ideas of Irrfan Khan, who had time-and-again expressed his idea of practising religion, despite being well aware of the fact that he would be admonished by the hardliners.

On Jule 25, 2016, Irrfan Khan had appeared on Times Now’s ‘The Newshour’ show with then Editor-in-Chief of Arnab Goswami, where he took part in a discussion expressing his ideas on Islam and his own way of practising his faith.

In the debate, Irrfan had shared his experience of being a Muslim and topics such as Ramazan and Roza were also discussed along with the issues of terrorism and the global perspectives. The other panellists on the debate were Mohandas Pai, Zafar Sareshwala, Mufti Mohd Manzur Ziyaee of the Haji Ali Dargah Trust and Tasleem Ahmed Rehmani, President, Muslim Political Council of India.

The debate was on the backdrop of a controversy which had erupted after actor Irrfan Khan had made certain comments on the need of observing Roza during the Ramzan and also sacrificing animals during the Islamic festival of Bakrid.

In 2016, during an event in Jaipur, Irrfan Khan had stated that in today’s practises, the actual meaning of Qurbani (sacrifice) has been lost. He had added that purchasing a goat from the market and killing it after two days is not ‘Qurbani’. He had added that the essence of the Islamic festival is about giving up, sacrificing something that is important to oneself. Khan had faced widespread criticism from Islamic clerics and even the AIMPLB for his remarks.

Muslims are fighting against terrorism

At around 1.40 minutes of the show, Irrfan Khan speaking to Arnab Goswami said, “We don’t see the whole picture. There is a huge chunk of the Muslim population that is fighting against terrorism. We only see Muslims in India. When you go abroad, you see there are people who are fighting terror… and trying to put Islam, the way they have understood, in the right perspective”.

“The way I have understood Islam is through some incidents. And there are various delicate experiences that teach you these philosophies, which have multiple layers. It’s not a single dimension and that’s why it continues for years and years,” he said, revealing some incidents that he heard in his childhood.

Irrfan Khan added that the ideas have become transactional and the seeking part has been eliminated in the religion. “Mercy and compassion are the basis of Islam”, said Irrfan Khan as he spoke about the misconceptions people have about Islam and terrorism.

One should introspect before performing rituals

In every religion, there is an aspect of practice and there is an aspect of discovery, said actor Khan. When you stop seeking, the practices take over, added Irrfan Khan. In the show, Irrfan’s challenged the clerics about some of the rituals observed by Muslims during Ramzan and Muharram.

Irrfan had openly said that instead of observing fast during the month of Ramzan, people should rather introspect. He has also spoken against sacrifice during Muharram and how one is supposed to mourn in that period and not celebrate it like a festival.

‘Rather than fasting during Ramzan, people should self-introspect. Animals are being slaughtered on the name of Qurbani,” Irrfan had said in the show.

Faith is a house with many rooms: Irrfan Khan

At around 45th minute of the show, Irrfan Khan while talking about the subject of faith, presented his views on Islam and faith by citing a reference from his Oscar-winning film ‘Life of Pi’. Khan said, “A dialogue from the film says, ‘Faith is a house with many rooms.’ The other person asks him, ‘Is there no room for doubt?’’ he says, ‘Plenty, on every floor. Doubt is a useful thing, it keeps your faith alive. Until and unless you test, your faith is not alive.’ That is what I do. I test. I test my teachings and I experience myself, that’s how you work on your soul.”

We do not need mediators to seek god

Later, Khan said that he did not need mediators to seek God, to which the maulana replied saying that intermediation was necessary. Questioning the Maulana present in the debate, Irrfan Khan had said why does he need anyone in the middle to understand his faith. My faith is between me and my god, he said.

When the Maulana said, you need Quran and a knowledgeable cleric to help someone understand the religion, Khan said he will himself try and introspect about his religion and he did not need a middleman to connect him with the god.

“One man comes and he imparts his understanding of the Quran, a second man comes and he can give a different understanding, and the third man can give a third understanding. Take translation, for example, the same thing is interpreted in various ways, and that sometimes sends people down the wrong path,” Irrfan Khan had noted in the interview.

1...5,3925,3935,394...7,585Page 5,393 of 7,585