The Uttar Pradesh government has put up hoardings of the anti-CAA rioters in prominent intersections in state capital Lucknow, including their names, addresses and photos for unleashing violence and damaging public property during the riots in December last year.
According to the reports, the posters have been put up on the streets of Lucknow following the orders passed by CM Yogi Adityanath. The rioters, who were accused of damaging government property during the anti-CAA protests, have been given notices of recovery for damaging properties. The rioters are asked to pay the penalty amount within a month.
Yogi govt. installed posters of rioters, with their Photo, Name, Amount to be paid money and other details at Hazratganj Chauraha of Lucknow, Not only in Lucknow I saw such posters at West UP also.
This is Yogi governance model, Other states should take inspiration?☺️ pic.twitter.com/GjGcnMrw1b
— Troll Indian Politics (@TIP_Pradhanjii) March 6, 2020
Reportedly, the posters have been put up at Lucknow’s Hazratganj intersection and many such posters have been put up in other areas of the city. The hoarding states that the property of the accused will be confiscated if the rioters fail to pay the penalty within a month.
Lucknow DM Abhishek Prakash also confirmed that many more posters and banners will be installed across Lucknow to identify the accused who unleashed violence. He also added that the properties owned by the accused will be confiscated if they cannot pay a penalty for the damages. The recovery order against the accused rioters has already been issued from a city court in connection with the violence in Thakurganj and Kaiserbagh area of the city, he added.
DM Prakash further added that 57 people have been found guilty in anti-CAA riots in the city. He said that the administration has estimated that the losses to the properties are worth Rs 1 crore 55 lakh rupees, which is to be recovered from the riot-accused. He said that all the people have been identified and their names have been put up on the posters.
Following the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act, violent Muslim mobs had descended on to streets to protest against the law. The mobs had resorted to vandalism and had gone on a rampage on streets, vandalising properties and attacking police officials.
However, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced tough measures to combat violent riots and arson. He had promised to seize the property of every rioter and use the funds to repair the damaged public property. The Uttar Pradesh government had also identified at least 498 properties to seize them, which belonged to rioters who vandalized public properties in the state during the anti-CAA protest.
Following the ruckus created by the Congress MPs inside the Lok Sabha, the government is mulling to seek termination of Lok Sabha membership of Congress’ Assam MP Gaurav Gogoi for his continuous unruly behaviour inside the Parliament.
According to reports, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday said that the government will seek further action including termination of membership of one Congress member who snatched papers from the Speaker’s table and threw at him on Thursday.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi did not disclose the name of the Congress MP, but it is reported that Gaurav Gogoi will be the person who is likely to be terminated.
If such a decision to terminate Gogoi is taken by the Lok Sabha, then Kolibor MP Gaurav Gogoi has to face another by-election just within one year of the Lok Sabha elections.
The minister also said that the government will request the Speaker Om Birla to constitute a committee to inquire into the conduct of Congress members. Attacking the Congress party for repeated disruptions inside the parliament, Minister Pralhad Joshi had stated that tearing paper and throwing at the speaker was “unprecedented” and an insult to the Speaker’s chair.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi was among the seven Congress MPs suspended on Thursday from Lok Sabha for the remaining part of the Budget session for “gross misconduct”.
A motion in this regard was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha. The suspension is for the remainder of the session until April 3 and it was approved by a voice vote. All the seven members were suspended for the remainder of the Budget Session under Rule 374.
The decision to suspend Congress MPs came after they were seen snatching and throwing paper near the speaker’s chair despite repeated warnings from speaker Om Birla. Parliament Party Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had moved a resolution asking them to be suspended for the rest of the session.
The suspended MPs are identified as TN Pratapan – Member of Parliament from Thrissur, Kerala, Benny Behnan – Member of Parliament from Chalakudy, Kerala; Dean Kuriakose – Member of Parliament from Idukki, Kerala; Rajmohan Unnithan – Member of Parliament from Kasargod Kerala, Gaurav Gogoi – Member of Parliament from Kaliabor, Assam, Manickam Tagore – Member of Parliament from Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu and Gurjit Aujla – Member of Parliament from Amritsar, Punjab.
Meanwhile, BJP has welcomed the decision to suspend seven Congress MPs from attending the current session. BJP General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav said that the conduct of the MPs was shameful and the members who disrespect the chair should get maximum punishment.
The ruckus in Parliament took place against the backdrop of the Anti-Hindu riots in Delhi that shook north-east Delhi last week and led to more than 45 people being killed and several being seriously injured.
We, at OpIndia, have spent a lot of time discussing and reporting on the undue influence that foreign-funded NGOs exert over the institutions of our country and the narratives that drive politics in the media. We have reported extensively on the manner in which foreign-funded NGOs are using the Judiciary in order to meddle the internal affairs of India via elements like Harsh Mander.
We have also explored the manner in which foreign-funded NGOs that receive funds from Western governments seek to meddle with the politics of our country. Furthermore, we have elaborated on the manner in which foreign-funded NGOs are collaborating with domestic organizations that have intimate relationships with internal security threats in order to undermine our country’s sovereignty. In short, we looked into the dark underbelly of ‘civil society’ and found the abyss staring right back at us.
One individual we have focused on greatly is Harsh Mander of the Centre for Equity Studies, a foreign-funded NGO. Apart from being associated with George Soros, Harsh Mander was also a member of Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council which drafted the nauseatingly anti-Hindu Communal Violence Bill. He has also been very active in filing petitions in the Court and has found himself in the heart of the violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
During our investigation into Harsh Mander’s background, we discovered that he is a senior member of a little known organization called the Ara Pacis Initiative (API), an organization that was unheard of to us until this moment. He is a member of the API’s Council for Dignity, Forgiveness, Justice and Reconciliation. On further investigation, we discovered some startling facts about the nature of this organization that casts Harsh Mander in extremely dangerous light.
The Ara Pacis Initiative
The API was founded by one Maria Nicoletta Gaida, an Italian actress who is unknown to us. But it appears she is quite influential in the circles of power. We were also surprised to learn that Leymah Gbowee, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is a founding member of the API. However, there were other much more startling details about the organization that raises many eyebrows. As it turns out, the organization appears to be an arm of the State of Italy.
The API’s website states, “The Ara Pacis Initiative was inaugurated on April 21, 2010, by the Mayor of Rome, with the High Patronage of the President of the Republic of Italy and under the auspices of the Office of the Prime Minister of Italy and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” It further states, “The Latin inscription on the south side of the Monument is the political and philosophical testament of Caesar Augustus, who after having “conquered” peace in the “known world” with weapons, bestows the peace on the people, entrusting them with its safekeeping and encouraging them to believe in the possibility of enduring peace.”
From the website of the API
What really caught our attention was not the symbolic connotations of the location and name of the initiative and the invocation of the Pax Romana, of which there are many, but the language used by the organization to describe itself in the first line. API says that it was inaugurated “under the auspices of the Office of the Prime Minister of Italy and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs”. It is the clearest indication of the fact that it is solidly backed by the Italian government and in many ways, is an arm of the Italian Government.
Our suspicion appears to be confirmed by the linked.in profile of Gaida, who also serves as the organization’s president, which describes API as a “global, not for profit organization dedicated to the human dimension of peace”. The word nongovernmental does not find a mention. Furthermore, Gaida’s profile also says, “Since 2011, she has created programs to address issues of acknowledgement, healing, justice and reconciliation in Libya and Syria, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has advocated internationally for the rights of victims of rape and sexual violence in conflict and for the right of peaceful civil society to be heard”.
From Gaida’s Linked.in profile
Our doubts were removed once and for all when we came across a Reuters report that described API as “an organization dedicated to conflict prevention and resolution that is backed by the Italian foreign ministry.” Thus, we can say without a doubt that the API is indeed an initiative of the State of Italy. As it turns out, it has worked to achieve Italian state objectives in the recent past.
The Libya Initiative of the API
In 2017, at an event promoted by the API and sponsored by the European Commission, fifteen government and tribal leaders from three bordering countries, Chad, Libya and Niger, at the presence of the then Italian Minister of Interior Marco Minniti, signed a joint statement of concrete cooperation to “support peace, development and security on their borders and beyond, because “there is no peace without security, there is no security without development, and there is no development without peace.” The API report on the matter was headlined “We’ll turn the Sahara from a desert of blood into a garden of peace”.
While API claimed that it was an event to promote peace in the region, Foreign Policy in a report published in January this year stated that in the said summit, efforts to control uninhibited migration from the region in conflict into Italy were discussed. An Italian official in the Italian Foreign Ministry also said that the Italian secret service was also involved in organizing the said summit.
FP further stated in the report, “In her concluding remarks at the 2017 summit, Ara Pacis’s chief, Gaida, asked for the backing of her guests to help them turn the group’s approach—based on linking development to cutting migration and treating it like organized crime and terrorism—into a model for the EU.”
It added, “When Foreign Policy approached her for comment, Gaida denied that migrant centres were ever discussed at the Ara Pacis meeting. She insisted that the summit was a good faith effort to take into consideration “the needs and aspirations of tribal leaders on the borders.” She also questioned the media’s right to publish details regarding the presence of De Caprio at the meeting: “I’m telling you that you can’t. And if you do we’ll just deny that it happened,” she said.”
Sergio De Caprio, known by the public as Capitano Ultimo, has been a legendary figure in Italy since arresting the godfather of the Sicilian mafia Totò Riina in 1993. His exploits inspired novels and a TV series. He was transferred to the Secret Service in 2016-17 as per the FP report. As per the admission on its own website, the API’s Libya Initiative was “supported and funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was held under the patronage of the President of the Libyan National Congress, Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf.”
Thus, we see that Harsh Mander is a member of an organization that is backed by the Italian Foreign Ministry and hands in gloves with the country’s secret service. Furthermore, the ‘bleeding-heart’ Indian activist who is overzealous in his attempts to restrict Indian action on illegal immigrants has no qualms in being the member of an organization that aids the Italian government in curbing migration from Libya. It does appear hypocritical to say the least. Harsh Mander is not an ordinary member of the organization. He is one of the “major international experts” who “devised and currently teach the Ara Pacis Methodology” as per its website. He is a ‘trainer’ at the organization.
The Syriaza
The API’s website states, “From the 18th of July to the 4th of August, 2015, with funds from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an intergenerational, interethnic, and interreligious group of 30 Syrians convened in Viterbo, Italy, for phase one of the Syriaza project: capacity building.” Syriaza is, on the face of it, “a Syrian-to-Syrian storytelling, archiving, and dissemination project for peace-building, created by the Rome-based international organization Ara Pacis Initiative and led by Syrian poets, defenders of human dignity and human rights, community leaders, and citizen journalists.”
The second phase of the Syriaza project, funding for which is being sought, is titled, “Narrative Development and Dissemination”. The participants of the phase one of the project will “gather, archive and disseminate stories told by Syrian political detainees, the displaced, combatants, women and members of civil society – both inside Syria and across the Syrian Diaspora” in the second phase of the project.
API claims that the documentation of these narratives will “help relieve trauma, preserve history, support human rights advocacy, foster hope and build a movement for peace and justice in Syria.” “These activities will counter the ideologies of control and violence currently claiming the most media attention focused on the war in Syria, and instead spread a message of unity that demands an end to the conflict and the initiation of processes for reconciliation and peace,” it adds.
In short, through the Syriaza project, the West will continue to exercise control over the narrative of the war in Syria. One of the many partners that the API collaborated with was Radio Rozana. We will look further into this particular project because the USA until Donald Trump was elected President wanted to remove Basshar al-Assad from power and had a huge role to play in the creation of the Syrian Civil War. From the timeline of this project, it is clear that all of this happened under the Obama Presidency.
The Syriaza Project
The Syriaza apparently “gained the interest of Syrian satellite radio, Radio Rozana, which agreed to host a weekly Syriaza corner, reverberating the peaceful voices of Syrians from different backgrounds.” The API claims that Radio Rozana is a ‘Syrian Satellite Radio’ but the reality is a bit different.
Radio Rozana
Radio Rozana is a radio station that was established by Syrian journalists in 2013, two years into the Syrian Civil War. It is funded exclusively by the governments of European nation-states and non-profits that receive or have received funds from the US Government. It is funded by the Canal France International (CFI), a French media support agency funded by France’s foreign ministry and the International Media Support, another organization that receives funding from the governments of Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
Radio Rozana has also received funding from the Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders, RSF), an organization funded by the US government related to its foreign policy. We again reiterate that the USA has funded the Civil War in Syria. Therefore, all of it needs to be seen in that particular context. Despite the source of the funding, however, Lina Chawaf, programme editor at Radio Rozana, maintained that the radio would remain independent.
“Rozana had no “overseas agenda” or political objective” claimed Chawaf. She told Reuters in 2013, “The priority is to hear the voice of Syrians inside Syria. They are suffering and being killed every day. We want to support them.” In 2014, CFI stated, “From 5 to 15 December, fourteen young field journalists from Syria who work for Radio Rozana will be taking part in a training course focusing on producing news programmes for the radio and the Internet.” The said course was to take place at the Syrian Media Incubator, which CFI opened a few months prior in Turkey. If people are not aware, only recently, Turkey was in serious conflict with Syria which has now been settled.
IMS funding for the year 2018
Thus, we are expected to believe that Radio Rozana which is funded by Western powers that seek to remove Basshar al-Assad from power, whose field journalists were trained in Turkey, another country that Syria is in conflict with and has aired content produced by a project funded by the Italian Foreign Ministry will be ‘politically neutral’ and ‘independent’. We cannot speak for others but we do find it difficult to believe.
This is precisely what RSF asks us to do. In its January 2016 report titled ‘Independent Syrian radio goes on air from Paris’, the RSF states, “With close to 100,000 civilian casualties and over 80 news providers killed over the past two years, Syria’s need for independent, professional journalism has never been greater. Radio Rozana sets out to fill the information gap.”
“In the ongoing Syrian conflict, there is a massive need for independent, professional journalism to keep citizens and refugees informed about political, social and humanitarian developments in the country to contribute to the development of a free and democratic society in Syria,” Chawaf told RFS. “Radio Rozana seeks to meet this need by covering the daily life in the shadow of the conflict by giving a voice to civilians caught in it, and through critical analyses free from political, religious or other types of bias,” she adds.
If any of this was true, why did Radio Rozana agree to air content manufactured by a project funded by the Italian Foreign Ministry? Even so, it needs to be remembered that buzzwords such as ‘development of a free and democratic society in Syria’ hold much different meanings in the Middle East than they do in our country. The USA’s wars in the Middle East that have plunged the region into chaos were cloaked under a noble desire to establish Democracy in the region when, in reality, it was all a ruse to achieve specific geopolitical objectives.
Therefore, when someone like Chawaf whose Radio Rozana is funded by western powers espouses rhetoric that demonstrates a commitment to Democracy, it betrays political biases that favour the Western narrative. In addition to all of this, Chawaf has also claimed that the “Syrian revolution was for freedom of expression” when it was a US-backed uprising against the Assad government. Considering all of this, if Radio Rozana espouses ‘independent journalism’, then there is nothing such as propaganda. According to The Asfari Foundation, Radio Rozana is also supported by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation (OSF).
What all of this means for India
To reiterate, Harsh Mander is a senior member of the Ara Pacis Initiative, an organization backed by the Italian Foreign Ministry that works in tandem with the Italian Secret Service as well. In other words, Harsh Mander is a member of an organization that is an arm of the State of Italy’s Foreign Policy. API is a weapon in the arsenal of the Italian State and Harsh Mander is a member of it. Through the Radio Rozana, we learned that the API also collaborates with propaganda outlets funded by Western Powers, the purpose of which is to create a narrative in order to benefit the foreign policy objectives of the said power.
In India, Harsh Mander and his NGO the Karwan-e-Mohabbat have been very active in the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Harsh Mander spoke on the ‘importance of solidarity’ and “how we can practice civil-disobedience in today’s India”. Karwan-e-Mohabbat urged people to join the protests at Shaheen Bagh. He has landed himself in trouble after a video where he can be seen inciting Muslim mobs against the Indian State and judiciary went viral on social media.
Harsh Mander has been engaging himself in elaborate propaganda to undermine the authority of the Indian State. He has also made several judicial interventions to portray the Indian State in poor light. It is only natural for other countries to foment civil unrest within India because it weakens our country and makes us more vulnerable to foreign exploitation. The Indian Govt certainly has reasons to investigate if Harsh Mander is a tool in the hands of foreign governments who do not wish for India to become truly strong. Because a strong country is much tougher to negotiate with and exploit than a country that is weak, it is in no one’s interest to see the rise of a strong India. All things considered, what we see with foreign-funded NGOs today is merely colonialism under the garb of ‘activism’.
A day after the suspended Aam Admi Part councillor was arrested for his alleged involvement in the Delhi Anti-Hindu riots and the brutal torture and murder of young IB sleuth Ankit Sharma, the Delhi police is now looking for Hussain’s brother, Shah Alam, who has reportedly been named in the Chand Bagh violence during the Delhi riots.
According to an India Today report, the brother of accused Tahir Hussain, Shah Alam’s name has come up during the investigation into the Chand Bagh violence. According to the Delhi Police Crime Branch, Shah Alam was also present in that now-infamous multi-story building that belonged to Tahir Hussain when the riots were ongoing.
It is pertinent to remember that it was in this building owned by Tahir Hussain where the young IB sleuth was brutally tortured and then murdered by an Islamist mob. Now, the witness statements recorded by the police last week have pointed to Hussain’s brother being present inside the building as well.
While no FIR has been filed against Alam yet, the Crime Branch wants to interrogate him about what transpired last month, however, Shah Alam is currently absconding. The police is in the process of trying to find him, reported India Today.
The dead body of an Intelligence Bureau constable was recovered from a drain in North East Delhi amidst anti-Hindu riots in the national capital. Ankit Sharma, who lived in Chand Bagh, was returning home on Tuesday evening when he was allegedly attacked by a violent mob on the Chand Bagh bridge and beaten to death. The Muslim mob had thrown his body into a drain.
The family of the deceased Ankit Sharma had accused AAP leader Tahir Hussain and his Muslim mob of dragging their son and brutally murdering him.
A day after Sharma’s family alleged his role in the riots and his murder, many crates of petrol bombs and stones have been found on the rooftop of the AAP leader.
Addition to that, in the anti-Hindu riots that erupted in North East Delhi earlier this week, AAP leader Tahir Hussain has emerged as one of the main kingpins. Videos have emerged which show hundreds of people throwing stones, petrol bombs from the roof of his building. Other videos show Tahir Hussain himself supervising the stone and petrol bomb pelting from his building, with a lathi in his hand.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren who ran for US Presidential Elections 2020 on ‘economic populism’ has reportedly decided to drop out the race on Thursday.
The decision comes at the backdrop of her failure to win a single Super Tuesday state, including her own. Following the exit of Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic Party is left with only one female in the race, Tulsi Gabbard.
Warren’s campaign was a promising one. She was able to draw large crowds in places such as Washington state and Minnesota. Her foot soldiers on the ground laid out a sprawling political infrastructure for her.
The Senator received impressive funding from her supporters despite shunning big, traditional donors. She also laid out detailed proposals for her ambitious plans such as cancelling college debt, containing the coronavirus and so on.
The 70-year-old received strong support in the wake of the #MeToo movement after several female Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. She also made headlines for her proposed ‘structural changes’ to the American political system that included a 2% wealth tax on households worth more than $50 million.
But, her momentum soon faded away. Even though she endorsed the proposal of “Medicare for All”, she repeatedly dodged questions that centred around increasing taxes on the middle class. This was very unlike of her who had earlier laid out detailed proposals about her policies.
Earlier, she had hit out at moderate Democrats such as former Vice President Joe Biden for not being “ambitious enough” to roll back Trump’s policies. She had courted controversy even before the start of her campaign by undergoing a DNA test to prove her alleged “Native American” lineage. This prompted Trump & Co. to label her “Pocahontas” besides offending many tribal leaders for “cultural insensitivity”.
In direct contrast to Bernie Sanders, Democratic Socialist and supporter of Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir, who advocated for Congressional approval on “Medicare For All” during his first week in the White House, Elizabeth Warren called for a 3-year-transition-period. Her “flip-flop” and inability to explain the financial sustainability of her ambitious Health policy also drew her supporters away from her.
Her over-emphasis on the gender issue and lack of a clear stand on the Political Action Committees (PACs) witnessed the gradual erosion of her promising campaign. Warren had said, “I cannot say, for all those little girls, this got hard and I quit. My job is to persist.”
But, her strong base of volunteers and staffers could not ensure her electoral victory. The Senator failed to rank higher than third in the First Four State Caucausses before losing out on Super Thursday. When the news of her quitting the Presidential race became public, Donald Trump, American President, took a jibe at her.
Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren, who was going nowhere except into Mini Mike’s head, just dropped out of the Democrat Primary…THREE DAYS TOO LATE. She cost Crazy Bernie, at least, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas. Probably cost him the nomination! Came in third in Mass.
He said, “Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren, who was going nowhere except into Mini Mike’s head, just dropped out of the Democrat Primary…THREE DAYS TOO LATE. She cost Crazy Bernie, at least, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas. Probably cost him the nomination! Came in third in Mass.”
Elizabeth Warren had earlier vowed to “fighting for the rights and freedom of the people of Kashmir”. The comments against India were made in a new plan Elizabeth Warren released on Tuesday for Muslim Communities in the USA. The abrogation of Article 370 and Kashmir figure into the political equations of the USA because Radical Islamists in the country consider Kashmir to be a matter that concerns the Ummah.
The Massachusetts Senator’s plan for American Muslims appeared to be a desperate attempt to pander to the one community that had been left out of her pandering efforts thus far. As part of her pandering initiative, Warren had earlier announced that if she’s elected president, then any future Secretary of Education will need the approval of a transgender child she met last year. She had said that the transgender child will interview the potential Secretary of Education before any appointment is made. As it so happened, it didn’t help her with her voters and she continues to fail at winning the support of the electorate.
An Irish national, suspected to be carrying the coronavirus, had absconded from SCB Medical College and Hospital in Odisha’s Cuttack late on Thursday. The affected person was admitted and was kept in the isolation ward as he was suspected to have been infected with COVID-19.
As per latest reports, the Irish national was later found in a private hotel in Bhubaneswar.
According to the reports, the Ireland national reportedly had high fever running when he landed in Bhubaneswar International Airport and was immediately taken to the hospital for a mandatory thermal scanner screening after officials suspected him of carrying the virus. He was taken to SCB for in-detail testing from where he is said to be missing.
The hospital has lodged a case against the Irish national at the local Mangalapur police station, said emergency official B Maharana of the SCB Medical College. Maharana has stated that the patient went missing after the hospital decided to keep him in the isolation ward.
As per reports, the Irish man was accompanied by another person. In the meanwhile, a couple from UP who had arrived at Paradip port in a Singapore ship and were suspected of infection have tested negative. Odisha authorities have sent another blood sample of a Dubai returned man from Sonepur district. The results are yet to be received.
In a similar incident, a patient from Kerala who was under watch for coronavirus in the isolation ward of the Ernakulam Government Medical College had fled the hospital on March 2. The 25-year-old man, who had arrived at the Kochi International Airport from Thailand, was kept in an isolation ward as he had symptoms of the virus.
However, the patient ran away from the ward without the knowledge of the nurses in the isolation ward. Later, the authorities traced him to Muppathadam near Kochi and directed him to follow the quarantine guidelines. Later in the day, the patient returned to the hospital.
The number of people infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has gone up to 30 in India. Apart from three patients, all of them are in hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR). Two patients are in Jaipur while the other one is quarantined in Hyderabad.
Coronavirus is a deadly respiratory disease which has killed more than 3,110 and so far more than 97,0000 cases are reported globally, according to the World Health Organisation.
The transmission of the virus takes place when someone who is infected comes in contact with another person. According to medical experts, coughing, sneezing or even shaking hands with an infected person can cause exposure.
The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported from Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019. Outside China, 1848 cases were reported in 48 countries. 80 per cent of those cases are from just three countries: the Republic of Korea, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Italy.
As per latest reports, Capital Hospital director Ashok Patnaik has stated that the report of escapade is wrong. He has told media persons that the concerned Irish national was was unwilling to get admitted into SCB Medical College and has returned to Bhubaneswar.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday auctioned luxury cars, sculptures and personal objects of value including watches and designer handbags, belonging to fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and his wife Ami Modi, fetching Rs 53.45 crores.
As per a report in The Hindu, a total of 112 luxury items in 40 lots including 15 artworks, a 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost and a selection of limited-edition luxury handbags, watches went under the hammer on Thursday in Mumbai.
The 1935 Amrita Sher-Gil painting, titled, ‘Boys With Lemons’ fetched the highest price of Rs 15.68 crore. Another painting by MF Husain titled ‘Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12’ fetched Rs 13.44 crore. Raja Ravi Varma’s Untitled artwork was sold for Rs 2.8 crore at the auction.
Among the bids were VS Gaitonde’s Untitled, which was auctioned for Rs 9.52 crore, and Manjit Bawa’s Untitled, dated 1992, sold at Rs 6.16 crore. Apart from paintings, Nirav Modi’s Rolls-Royce Ghost was sold for Rs 1.68 crore. Luxury watch Girard-Perregaux wristwatch got sold for Rs 95.2 lakh, Audemars Grande Complication wristwatch for Rs 78.4 lakh and Patek Philippe’s gold-diamond wristwatch fetched another Rs 72.8 lakh for the ED.
The sale also featured several branded handbags, including the iconic Birkin and Kelly lines by luxury goods manufacturer Hermès. A Hermes Kelly Blue Atoll bag tripled its estimate to sell for Rs 17.9 lakh.
Besides Thursday’s live auction, another 80 lots, including handbags and wristwatches, were auctioned online by Saffronart and raised Rs 2.04 crore.
The auction conducted by Saffronart was a complete success, raising Rs 53.45 crore for the enforcement directorate (ED). It is the first time a professional auction house had been appointed by the ED to conduct an auction of seized assets in the country.
The auction, sanctioned by court order, is part of efforts by the government to sell assets confiscated in criminal cases with the proceeds used to repay the debts to the banks. The Mumbai-based auctioneers Saffronart was selected to host the sales on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate.
Fugitive businessman and prime accused in the Rs 14,000 crore PNB scam, Nirav Modi is currently lodged in the Wandsworth jail in southwest London and has been denied bail on four occasions. Modi had been arrested in London on March 20, 17 months after he fled India.
In a setback to Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, Congress MLA Hardeep Singh Dang has reportedly sent his resignation to state assembly Speaker NP Prajapati on Thursday.
According to reports, Hardeep Singh Dang, a legislator from Suwasra assembly seat in Mandasur, was among the four disgruntled MLAs who were allegedly in touch with the BJP in an effort to bring down the Congress government in the Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker, NP Prajapati: I have received the news of Hardeep Singh Dang’s resignation. He has not tendered his resignation to me in person. When he submits his resignation to me, I will consider it as per the rules & take necessary action. (file pic) https://t.co/mnHKrOizfepic.twitter.com/KplyfWy8Pp
The other disgruntled Congress legislators are Bisahulal Singh, Raghuraj Kansana and Independent MLA Thakur Surendra Singh. The family of Bisahulal Singh on Thursday had even lodged a missing person’s complaint in Bhopal.
In his resignation letter written to Speaker Prajapati, Hardeep Dang said despite getting the people’s mandate for a second time, he is constantly being ignored by the party. “None of the ministers are ready to work as they are part of a corrupt government,” his letter read.
In the resignation letter scripted on Dang’s official letterhead, the MLA alleged gross apathy and negligence in his own government and said he had been unable to work for his constituency since the Congress came to power. He claimed that ministers were not listening to him and his workers were required to make rounds of Bhopal to get even small work done.
However, the speaker has said he is yet to receive the resignation letter sent by Dang. “He has not tendered his resignation to me in person. When he submits the same to me, I will consider it as per the rules and take necessary action,” Speaker Prajapati said.
Reacting to Dang’s resignation, Chief Minister Kamal Nath said, “I have received information about Hardeep Singh Dang’s resignation. I have not yet received any letter from him or discussed the matter in person. Until I meet him personally, making comments over it will not be appropriate.”
Reportedly, Hardeep Dang is the only Sikh in the MP assembly and was expecting a ministerial berth as he belonged to a minority community. In fact, Dang was the only Congress MLA elected from Mandsaur district in the 2018 state assembly elections.
Earlier, the panic-stricken Congress leadership had accused the BJP of ‘kidnapping’ its MLAs and had alleged that their MLAs were taken to either Bengaluru or Chikmagalur in Karnataka. The Congress claimed that the BJP had ‘abducted’ 14 MLAs to bring down its government in Madhya Pradesh.
However, the BJP denied the Congress’ allegation that the saffron party was trying to poach its MLAs to bring down the Kamal Nath government.
The Kamal Nath government has 120 MLAs – four over the majority mark of 116 in the 230-member assembly. Of them, 114 are from the Congress, two from the BSP, one from the Samajwadi Party and four independents. The BJP has 107 MLAs and two seats are currently vacant.
Days after Islamist mobs ran riots in Delhi, engaging in arson, vandalism, stone-pelting, brutally massacring innocent Hindus and damaging public properties running in Lakhs, the Shaheen Bagh protestors, who have been occupying the protest site in Delhi for almost 3 months, causing grave inconvenience to the lakhs of daily commuters, seem to have vacated the protest site now.
According to a report by The Republic TV, the protesters at Shaheen Bagh seem to have deserted the protest site on Thursday as only a handful turned up for what they claimed their democratic right to protest against the government’s move to bring in the CAA.
It is being believed that the main reason behind this sudden development in the fact that the media partners who had thronged the venue regularly earlier have stopped visiting the place now.
One protestor who remained there, while speaking to Republic TV, said that a Hindi news channel that used to send up to seven anchors to the protest isn’t sending even a single reporter anymore. What’s more disturbing is that their regular serving of food at the venue, the Biryani specifically, has also been disrupted.
The area which was once a witness to an enormous gathering of Islamist fundamentalists shouting anti-India, anti-government and Azaadi slogans was on Thursday visited by only a handful people, exceedingly outnumbered by the security personnel deployed there to ensure their safety. Republic said that there were 500 security personnel for just 25 protestors at Shaheen Bagh.
Since December 15, 2019, protesters gathered at Shaheen Bagh and blocked one of the arterial roads in Delhi against the Citizenship Amendment Act. The protest site was accused of being an independent enclave where participation of people was regulated based on their political inclinations and past predispositions. It also witnessed anti-India and pro-Azaadi slogans being chanted by the demonstrators.
The protests at Shaheen Bagh is fuelled by Islamic supremacy beside causing unprecedented traffic woes for daily commuters have also led to job losses.
According to reports, at least 250 retail stores and commercial outlets have been shut for the past three months, owing to the protests at Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). This has affected approximately 3000 workers and resulted in a loss of ₹150 crores worth of business transactions.
The Supreme Court had appointed “interlocutors” to resolve the deadlock, however, it was reported that the Shaheen Bagh protestors had put up seven conditions to the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors to decide on vacating the protest site, which they have illegally occupied since December 15, 2019.
On one side these protests raged on, while on the other side Delhi was gripped by anti-Hindu riots as Islamist mobs had taken over the streets of Delhi. What started as protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which expedites citizenship to persecuted minorities of neighbouring Islamic Nations, turned into full scare anti-Hindu riots soon.
‘Eminent journalist’ Ravish Kumar has called fellow ’eminent journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai a dukaandaar (shopkeeper) and a balancer. He made the comment during an interview to Sandeep Chaudhary of News24 at the Isomes Manthan. Ravish Kumar called Rajdeep Sardesai a shopkeeper in response to a question from Manak Gupta, the executive editor of News24.
Manak Gupta asked Ravish Kumar, “Aren’t you too negative? For instance, Rajdeep had come yesterday…”. Even before Manak Gupta could complete his question, Ravish Kumar interrupted him and said, “Manak, I am not a shopkeeper.” He continued, “The person you have mentioned, I am not a balance-vadi. It is a fact that the media is organizing the murder of democracy. This is not a matter of Sakaratmak or Nakaratmak…”.
“If you don’t call a murder a murder, what else would you call it?” He asked.
When Manak said that not only Rajdeep, but many other journalists also feel that for the split of media into two sections, both sides are responsible, Ravish disagreed with him. He said, “this is completely wrong, there is no balance. If 90% of media becomes one side then one should not run this shop that people from both sides have separated”.
Ravish accused Rajdeep Sardesai, and most of the media, of trying to do ‘balancing’ when there is none.
It may be noted that both Ravish Kumar and Rajdeep Sardesai were once colleagues at NDTV. While Ravish remained in NDTV, currently heading its Hindi channel, Rajdeep had moved on to CNN-IBN, and later joined the India Today channel. Rajdeep Sardesai was the Managing Editor of both NDTV 24X7 and NDTV India, means Ravish Kumar had worked under him at that time.
The NDTV journalist has not been having a good time lately. He was mocked by people on social media after the Delhi Police arrested the Delhi shooter Mohammed Shahrukh who Ravish Kumar claimed could have been one ‘Anurag Mishra’ in his show.
Days after ‘journalist’ Ravish Kumar spread misinformation stating that the February 24 shooter who fired at Delhi Police personnel was not Mohammad Shahrukh but a Hindu man named ‘Anurag Mishra’, the victim of the Ravish’s fake campaign – Anurag Mishra started receiving a lot of threats online.
